Cavalera Conspiracy - Inflikted Review

Posted by Jeff Modzelewski on 04.18.2008

After more than 10 years, the almighty Cavalera Brothers are back together. Is there any way this can live up to the hype?

To call the Cavalera brothers heavy metal legends would be an understatement. These brothers from Brazil hit the heavy metal scene in the mid 80’s, moving from death metal to thrash to groove metal with tribal rhythms. The band’s popularity was at it’s peak in 1996, when Max split from the band due to the band firing his wife as their manager. Max went on to form Soulfly, and Igor and the rest of Sepultura would continue with a new singer.

More than 10 years have passed since the last time Max and Igor Cavalera have worked together on music. 10 years where these brothers didn’t speak, after over a decade of success. Fans have been begging for a Sepultura reunion. Sadly, that still doesn’t appear to be in the cards. However, after Igor decided to call his big brother and bury the hatchet (you can read about that in MM’s very thorough interview with Max) they decided it was time to get back together to make some music. The result is Inflikted.

From the fan’s perspective, the focus of the band is on Max and Igor Cavalera. Max is on vocals, rhythm guitar, and is the primary songwriter for the band. Igor is behind the kit on drums. Max recruited Marc Rizzo, who plays with him in Soulfly, to handle guitar. The band is rounded out by Joe Duplantier from Gorjira on bass.

My main question before listening to this album was “Would people listen to it if it wasn’t Max and Igor Cavalera?” This album is going to be successful no matter what, since everyone’s been clamoring for Max and Igor to get back together. The challenge, then, is to live up to those expectations. I knew that would be difficult, but I also knew that this band had the capability to meet my expectations.

The album leads off the title track, a solid up-tempo song with a great groove to it. It’s one of those songs that you can just picture a mosh pit going to. The drum work is solid, and it’s got a great rhythm to it. Rizzo actually stands out on this song, providing a lot of the detailed guitar work that keeps the song from being too basic, along with a blistering solo. What the track really does is set the tone for the rest of the album, letting you know that these guys aren’t just going to rely on name recognition.

They get heavier and faster on “Sanctuary,” with pounding drums that don’t let up. Rizzo lets out another amazing solo, and the guitar work of both he and Max are really the standout elements of the song. The band mixes up the tempo on the next song, “Terrorize,” moving from a slow paced intro to a blistering chorus and back again. “Black Ark” has some of my favorite guitar work on the whole album, and some drum work in the bridge that reminds me of some of the tribal beats used on “Roots.”

“Ultra-Violent” is probably my favorite track on the album, with a great chorus and a fairly simple verse. This is a tack that shows that the Cavaleras aren’t just masters of thrash metal, but of groove metal as well. Great drum work and a crunching guitar riff highlight the song. The band knows what they do well, and throughout the album they keep figuring out ways to do that and make it sound interesting. “Hex” and “The Doom of All Fires” follow, and are, in my opinion, the two weakest tracks on the album. That’s not to say that they’re bad in any way, but they’re much closer to speed metal than the groove metal that is on the rest of the album. They do a great job of pulling it off, but the songs don’t seem to fit in the middle of the album.

The band gets back to a more groove and thrash oriented sound on “Bloodbrawl.” This is another song that I can’t stop nodding my head along with while listening. Marc Rizzo lays down yet another spectacular solo (a real theme for the album) and the song ends with a minute and a half acoustic guitar outro. I didn’t expect that on this album, but with Rizzo on guitar, I’m not too surprised.

That acoustic outro leads right into “Nevertrust,” a straight forward thrash song. 2 1/2 minutes of pure energy and power. “Heart of Darkness” and “Must Kill” close out the album with the same intensity of the other tracks. Nothing comes across as unexpected or surprising, but everything is solid.

I don’t think that Cavalera Conspiracy broke any new ground with this album. Instead, they went to what their individual members do best. Groove and thrash metal, with a little bit of personality. For me, most of the highlights of the album would be the amazing solos of Marc Rizzo. I was expecting an album that put Max and Igor in the lead with the bass and lead guitar to play supporting roles, but that wasn’t the case at all. The whole band is present on the album and given ample time to shine. Max and Igor are great, but they don’t overshadow the work of Marc or Joe Duplantier.

If the test for the Cavalera brothers was to make an album that would satisfy Sepultura fans waiting for a reunion, I’d have to say they were successful. When held up against Arise and Chaos A.D., Inflikted lives up to those standards. When taken out of the context of a Max and Igor reunion album, Inflikted still holds up as an amazing record. 11 heavy tracks, no let downs, and plenty of metallic variety. Inflikted is easily an early candidate for Metal Album of the Year.

The 411: Max and Igor Cavalera reunite to bring 11 tracks of thrash and groove metal excellence. The Cavalera brothers are metal royalty, and Inflikted shows us exactly why. When these guys work together, they put together music that’s much stronger than anything they’ve done apart.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]