Conquer (album)

Conquer is the sixth studio album by the band Soulfly. It saw official release on July 23, 2008, in Australia, although the album has leaked early onto file-sharing networks. It was released on July 29, 2008 in Canada and the United States and debuted at #66 on the U.S. Billboard 200 — Soulfly's highest Billboard peak since their 2002 release, 3.

Production

The album was recorded in late 2007 in bassist Bobby Burns' studio, and mixed by Andy Sneap in early 2008. In promotion for the album, Max Cavalera stated that he had been heavily influenced by Bolt Thrower, Napalm Death and Slayer in writing for this album, which he deemed would make Dark Ages sound like a pop album.

A bonus edition of the album was released containing three bonus tracks and a DVD. The DVD features a full live concert from Warsaw, Poland and the music video for "Innerspirit" from the previous album, Dark Ages

The track "Unleash" was released as the first official single on June 24th. The accompanying video was directed by Robert Sexton, and features Dave Peters of Throwdown, who also appears on the album version.

The album sold over 8,400 copies in the U.S during the first week of its release

Critical Reception

Conquer has thus far garnered universal praise from most media outlets and review websites. Chad Bower of About.com calls it "outstanding", with "great musicianship and songwriting" and "new styles, sounds and experiments, which also hit the mark." Nikos Patelis of Metal Invader notes the "hardcore beatings, extreme thrash speeds and many implements of weird sounds that have nothing to do with metal" and deems the album "dark as hell". In comparison to Cavalera Conspiracy's debut earlier this year, Dominic Hemy of Planet Loud considers Conquer "tighter, heavier, more diverse, more original, and far more engaging than Inflikted".