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3
3
3rd album by Soulfly
Released on JPN: June 12, 2002
EU: June 24, 2002
ROTW: June 25, 2002
Record label Roadrunner
Produced by Max Cavalera
Number of tracks Standard edition: 14
Japanese edition: 15
Limited edition: 18
Duration Standard edition: 57:12
Japanese edition: 61:18
Limited edition: 75:14
Genre(s) Nu metal, groove metal, death metal
Alternate title(s) Soulfly 3, Om
Previous album
Primitive
Next album
Prophecy
Limited edition cover
3 limited

3 (or Soulfly 3) (stylized as ) is the third Soulfly album, released in 2002. The album reached #46 on the US Billboard 200 chart. 3 is the first Soulfly album where Max Cavalera is the lone producer. The album title was inspired from the spiritual powers of the number three, though none of its lyrics mention about that. The sacred icon om is prominently shown on the album cover. 3 encompasses many different genres, including tribal, folk, pop, rap, lounge, and experimental, though most of its music is metal.

Notable songs on this album are "Downstroy", "Seek 'n' Strike", "One", "Tree of Pain", "One Nation", and "Call to Arms", as well as the silent track "09-11-01" that give tribute to the victims of 9/11. This album includes three songs that has numbers in their titles, including those two notable songs mentioned, but it doesn't include 'three' in any of their song title despite its album title, making 3 the one of three Soulfly albums that doesn't have title nor quasi-title track — the others are Conquer and Omen.

Background[]

Lineup[]

Prior to the recording of this album, drummer Joe Nunez left Soulfly to join the Chicago-based band Stripping the Pistol and replaced by returning member Roy Mayorga who played drums on the debut album. Other than that, 3 has the same lineup credits as the previous album Primitive—frontman Max Cavalera on vocals and guitar, Mikey Doling on guitar, and Marcelo Dias on bass. In addition with the main instruments playing, all of the members occasionally perform percussion on this album, including Cavalera doing percussion arrangement.

Production[]

In early September 2001 following world tour in support of Primitive, they begin writing for their third Soulfly record. Since no other members leave nor join the band since Soulfly formed at that time, they have the same lineup on Soulfly 3 as it was on Soulfly. On October 16, 2001, it was confirmed that Max Cavalera will be producing the album in development, which went on to produce four consecutive Soulfly albums. The album was recorded in Chaton Studios in Phoenix, Arizona under the working title Soulfly III: Enterfaith. Then Max visited a school near the studio to visit his sons Igor Jr. and Zyon, and recorded the Pledge of Allegiance in the classroom for addition to the track "One Nation". After they were finished, the recordings were mixed in the same recording studio as well as in The Record Plant studio in Hollywood. The finished mixes were then sent to Sterling Sound in New York to be mastered.

Release[]

On February 13, 2002, the album was set to be released on May 21, 2002, then a fortnight later it was pushed a month later to June 25. The third Soulfly album was first released in Japan on June 12, 2002. It was released in Europe twelve days later, and then in US and Australia a day later. 3 was released through the label Roadrunner. To go along with its numeric title, Soulfly released three different editions of 3 — standard edition contains 14 tracks, limited European edition contains 18 tracks, and Japanese edition contains 15 tracks.

Charts[]

3 charted on the US Billboard 200 for four weeks, peaking at #46. 3 has the highest peak of any Soulfly album on the Ö3 Austria Top 40, reaching #12, the highest peak of any chart for the album. GfK Entertainment in Germany has the second highest peak of any country for the album as well as the second highest of any Soulfly album at #14. The album has each been charted on Austria and Germany charts for nine weeks, while Swiss Hitparade is close behind at eight weeks. 3 is the first Soulfly album since the World Top 40 chart was founded. The new chart welcomed Soulfly 3, reaching #36 on the World Top 40 and been on that chart for one week. The only other chart and the only country chart where 3 had been charted for one week was UK Albums Chart, which ranked #61 on that top 100 chart.

Chart Weeks Peak
Australia Top 100
2
#24
Austria Top 75
9
#12
Belgium Ultratop 200 (Flanders)
2
#27
Belgium Ultratop 200 (Wallonia)
2
#34
Dutch Top 100
5
#44
France Top 150
6
#28
Germany Top 100
9
#14
Swiss Top 100
8
#43
UK Top 100
1
#61
US Billboard 200
4
#46
World Top 40
1
#36

Title and cover art[]

Max said about how 3 was titled for this album, "it's a number that has historically and traditionally been steeped in myth and divine spirituality. There's definitely something powerful about the number three. It's probably one of the reasons why I didn't even want a title for the album and decided to just call it 'Soulfly 3'. Plus I've always been a big fan of band's third records. When Metallica did Master of Puppets and Black Sabbath with Masters of Reality, those third records were awesome."

Max Cavalera later admits that he could've name this album Downstroy as he likes that name better, but he wants at least one Soulfly album to be titled like the first four Led Zeppelin albums, which are numerically self-titled (e.g. Led Zeppelin III). However he calls this album Downstroy. This name would've been ironic as the first track, "Downstroy", was the first song to be recorded for this album, written just after 9/11.

The album artwork shows the om, the most sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. According to Max, the symbol represents the "sound of the universe" in Hindu philosophy. He believes that every sound has a symbol for it, such as guitar, wind chimes, nature and tribes, which are all heard in this album. The background represents the color of the desert sand in Phoenix, Arizona where this album was recorded. Neville Garrick created the artwork for Soulfly 3 with little assistance from his son Nesta. Due to its prominence on the album cover, 3 can be referred by fans as Om.

Music and lyrics[]

Like the previous two albums by the band, 3 deploys crunchy, downtuned, hip-hop influenced guitars, though thrashier than their previous two. Nu metal and groove metal are dominant on this album, plus influences of thrash metal, tribal, South American folk, funk, pop, rap, acoustic, lounge, experimental, and oriental music. The album showcases plenty of special audio effects via audio editor or designer.

Despite its title, the album 3 doesn't have lyrics about the number three and their divinity. Most of the album has lyrics mostly about fighting, as well as few others about the soul, state of politics, government, protest, terrorism surrounding 9/11, and even Brazilian culture.

Songs[]

Both of the first two tracks were the only singles released from the album — "Downstroy" and "Seek 'n' Strike", both of which were released on June 17, 2002. The title "Downstroy" (portmanteau of 'down' and 'destroy') was inspired from the way the World Trade Center was destroyed on 9/11, while "Seek 'n' Strike" was inspired from the Metallica song "Seek & Destroy".

The song "One" fuses growling vocals from Max Cavalera with gripping vocals from Ill Nino’s Christian Machado. The song uses this title as first word of the two-word clauses — One soul / One heart / One man / One truth / One tribe / One life / One God. "L.O.T.M." (acronym for "Last of the Mohicans") is a Native American-themed metal song named after the 1826 novel of the same name. "Brasil" is a Brazilian metal song, featuring berimbau and several percussions performed by Cavalera. "Brasil" is about overcoming the poor government of Rio de Janeiro by praying the past.

"Tree of Pain" is noted for its pop ballad featuring female vocals by Asha Rabouin lasting 2.3 minutes on both ends of the track with metal riff with Max and his son Richie growling and screaming in the middle. This song tributes to Max’s stepson Dana, who was killed in a car crash.

"One Nation" plays a recorded Pledge of Allegiance by Max's sons Zyon and Igor and few others in Larkspur Elementary School in Phoenix, to begin and end the song, since 'one nation' appears in the Pledge of Allegiance. "One Nation" was originally recorded by the thrash metal/groove metal band Sacred Reich. "09-11-01" is a one minute silent track used to tribute this album's listeners to the victims of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks that killed thousands and destroyed the World Trade Center. "Call to Arms", inspired from 9/11, is about the relationship between terrorism and religion.

"Four Elements", formerly titled "Throwdown", has much of the lyrics copied off the Sepultura song "Clenched Fist". "Soulfly III", the third eponymous song by Soulfly, is a tribally lounge instrumental. "Blood of My Neighborhood" is English for the Portuguese song title "Sangue de Bairro". The Portuguese-infested lyrics is about decapitating members of the Brazilian gang. "Zumbi" is an experimental instrumental containing two distinct parts or cantos, the first features percussions and berimbau and the second, titled "Símbolo da Liberdade", features a soft sitar strumming, wind chimes and few environmental sounds.

The limited edition of this album contains four more tracks than the standard edition. The first two are non-remix studio versions, though neither were made by Soulfly first. "I Will Refuse", which is also included on Japanese edition, is the only Soulfly song where Max Cavalera performs the bass and is a Pailhead cover. The bass solo lasts for the first 40% of the song. "Under the Sun" is a Black Sabbath cover where one of the writers credited to this song is very legendary Ozzy Osbourne. The last two bonus tracks are one of the songs played on each of the previous two albums live at Ozzfest — "Pain" and "Eye for an Eye".

"Maracatu" and "Stomp" were recorded and was tentatively be included as 8th and 9th tracks respectively, but Roadrunner removed these from final track listing due to offensiveness of the lyrics to music culture in Brazil. "Maracatu" would've speak about the performance genre of the same name in Brazil, while "Stomp" would've speak about the heaviness of maracatu music. Meanwhile, the proposal of the song "Africa" to be included on Soulfly 3 was cancelled by Max as he's not into Africa stuff, thus he wouldn't want to travel across the Atlantic just to record those tribes for one song. This thought may have inspired his plan to travel around the world to record several tribes for their next album.

Tracklist[]

  1. "Downstroy" (released as single) – 4:24
  2. "Seek 'n' Strike" (released as single) – 4:27
  3. "Enterfaith" – 4:46
  4. "One" (feat. Cristian Machado) – 5:21
  5. "L.O.T.M." ("Last of the Mohicans") – 2:35
  6. "Brasil" – 4:56
  7. "Tree of Pain" (feat. Asha Rabouin and Richie Cavalera) – 8:19
  8. "One Nation" (Sacred Reich cover; feat. Greg Hall and Wiley Arnett) – 3:43
  9. "09-11-01" (silent) – 1:00
  10. "Call to Arms" (alt. titled "Drop the Bombs") – 1:23
  11. "Four Elements" (orig. titled "Throwdown") – 4:19
  12. "Soulfly III" (instrumental) – 4:59
  13. "Sangue de Bairro" (Portuguese for "Blood of My Neighborhood") (Chico Science & Nação Zumbi cover) – 2:18
  14. "Zumbi" (instrumental; contains the hidden track "Símbolo da Liberdade") – 5:35

Japanese edition bonus track

  1. "I Will Refuse" (Pailhead cover) – 4:06

Limited edition bonus tracks

  1. "Under the Sun" (Black Sabbath cover) – 5:44
  2. "Eye for an Eye" (live at Ozzfest 2000) – 4:09
  3. "Pain" (live at Ozzfest 2000) – 5:01

Tentative track listing[]

This was the tentative track listing as of April 8, 2002:

  1. "Downstroy"
  2. "Enterfaith"
  3. "Seek 'n' Strike"
  4. "Last of the Mohicans" ("L.O.T.M.")
  5. "Throwdown" (since re-titled "Four Elements")
  6. "Brasil"
  7. "Call to Arms"
  8. "Maracatu"
  9. "Stomp"
  10. "Soulfly III"
  11. "Tree of Pain"
  12. "One Nation"
  13. "Sangue de Bairro"
  14. "I Will Refuse" (bonus track)

Trivia[]

  • "Soulfly III" is sort of the title track since fans commonly call this album Soulfly 3.
  • 3 is the only Soulfly album to have more than 3 cover songs.
  • More little kids collaborated on this Soulfly album than any others because of the Pledge of Allegiance on one of its tracks.
  • 24 lyricists and composers were used in this album, more than any Soulfly album that didn't release a bonus DVD.

Reviews[]

  • Bradley Torreano of AllMusic (2.5/5) – "The music sounded like a brilliant musician trying to find his place in a metal scene that he has jumped so far ahead of that he's spinning his tires trying to get back with the pack."
  • Martin Popoff of Bravewords.com (8/10) – "3 is a call to arms with tons of mashing metal, steamrolling beats and frankly, dozens of Sepultura postures. The soundtrack to a sound thrashing at the hands of rural Mexican police, 3 will leave your body looking like a black and blue map of the third world."
  • gasmask_colostomy of Encyclopaedia Metallum (31%) – "This album was unnecessarily overdone. They wasted so much fucking time putting a lot of boring crap in the middle, as well as adding worthless and annoying studio effects. These drag out to almost an hour when it could have been done in 35 minutes and had double the impact."
  • mulambo15 on Epinions.com (5/5) – "Max returns back to his roots with this album, bringing back a more intense, heavy album, while still keeping the trademark Soulfly sound."
  • Metalorecenzje (5.25/10) – "Although compositions are average and well-written lyrics give positive message, most tracks on this album are quite boring and do not attract much attention."
  • Victoria Segal of NME (6/10) – "Another clench-jawed grind through seven kinds of hell...Soulfly must be the only band who can make the obligatory minute of Sept. 11th silence seem loud."
  • Adrien Begrand of PopMatters – "3 has its missteps, but its finer moments win out in the end."

Personnel[]

Band performers

Guest/session performers

Songwriters

Engineers

Supervisors

Cover artworkers

  • Max Cavalera – cover art concept, photography
  • Neville Garrick – cover art, art direction, graphics, photography
  • Nesta Garrick – cover art
  • Glen La Ferman – photography
  • Kevin Estrada – photography
  • Nicholas Steever – photography
  • Leo Zulueta – Soulfly logo

Booking agents

  • Gavin Hitt – booking (USA)
  • Rod MacSween – booking (worldwide)
  • Scott Thomas – booking (worldwide)

Album navigation[]

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