Cavalera Conspiracy – Inflikted
Roadrunner Records (03/24/08)
Metal
While it may have seemed inevitable, no one was quite sure how long the world would have to wait before Max and Iggor Cavalera, the brothers behind the founding of Sepultura, would reunite. Max had left the band to form Soulfly in 1996, while Iggor left the group more recently, in 2006.
A blistering combination of Arise-era Sepultura and Nailbomb, Cavalera Conspiracy merges thrash metal with a punk ethos, to great result. Iggor, a vastly underrated metal drummer, is a force to be reckoned with on Inflikted, incorporating a mix of thrash and straight-up metal drumming with tribal beats and elements (listen to “Black Art” for the best example of Iggor’s method of attack). And after sounding a little stunted on the past couple of Soulfly albums, Max seems rejuvenated, with more explosive riffs and intense vocals.
In the press leading up to Inflikted‘s release, Max talked about a monster being released after being pent up for 10 years. Indeed, this album explodes out of the gates and somehow manages to continuously get more and more intense and frantic as it unfolds. The opening title-track, “Sanctuary” and “Terrorize” force their ways out of the speakers like an out-of-control freight train. “Black Art” (with Richie Cavalera doing one hell of a job on guest vocals) gets a little more extreme, with some fantastic tribal drumming and a little bit of death-metal vocals. Then everything begins to unravel in the best possible way—”Ultra-Violent” with its methodic, chug-a-chug attack (and a nice cameo of Rex Brown on bass); the speed-metal drumming and twisted vocals on “Hex”; “The Doom of All Fires” with its punk-meets-metal assault; the breakneck pace of “Nevertrust”.
Twelve years since the release of Roots—the last time the Cavalera brothers worked together—it seems the world might have forgotten what the duo is capable of. As an added bonus, the time away from one another would ultimately lead to a creative explosion like this.
For anyone looking for a crushing barrage of metal, you need look no further than Cavalera Conspiracy. Sure, it’s a little short, and the approach could have been a little more varied, but overall, Inflikted is the type of unexpected assault metal fans crave.
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