CAVALERA CONSPIRACY: Inflikted

Produced by Max Cavalera
Released: March 25, 2008

Just over ten years ago Max Cavalera walked out on his brother and the band they started as impoverished teens in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Since then Igor has gone on to make some infuriatingly ordinary albums and his sibling some exasperatingly bombastic ones. Time seems to have served to heal the wounds that tore them asunder however, as they have now teamed up once more and with Soulfly's Marc Rizzo and Joe Duplantier from the insanely cool Gojira helping to spread the hate around Max and Igor present the Cavalera Conspiracy.

For those who have refused to accept anything the brothers have done since 1993, this could well be the album to fill in the great big hole in the CD collection that exists after Chaos AD. There is definitely more of the Sepultura than the Soulfly about Inflikted, a feeling that begins right away with the similarity the opening and title track has to "Slave New World"; if one were to sum this album up quite briefly, then suggesting something of a combination of the simplistic groove thrash of Chaos AD with the aggression of Arise might be a reasonable place to start. Teaming up together again after more than a decade certainly appears to have revitalised the Cavalera brothers and rekindled a spark for making metal again instead of the turgid, self-indulgent and odious volumes they've both been responsible for since the mid-1990s.

That said, with Inflikted they have lifted their game without really getting on top of it. After listening to the album only once I could barely remember a single thing about it except that "Heart of Darkness" sounded a bit like "Refuse/Resist" and "Black Ark" had some big pounding tribal rhythms but none of Soulfly's pomposity, although it is the track most closely related to much of that band's work. With repeated listenings however, Cavalera Conspiracy's merits become a little more apparent. "Hex", for example, is the fastest and most full-on thing these guys have done in absolute ages and "Terrorize" and particularly "Sanctuary" are really reminiscent of when Max and Igor had a raging fire in their bellies. "Bloodbrawl" is a clear highlight, kicking in with some raw, rabid thrash before moving into a huge, almost plodding groove that then becomes a tasteful acoustic coda which in turn fades to didgeridoo. In Soulfly guise, Max would overplay this aspect but the understated handling he gives it here actually makes it rather effective, especially as it immediately cuts to the urgent, punkish "Nevertrust". Other songs like "The Doom of All Fires" and the frustratingly generic "Ultra-Violent" don't quite hold up against the bulk of Inflikted however.

Despite some repetitious moments and a few songs that sound like Max is not-so-subtly pilfering from his own back-catalogue, Inflikted is something of a return to form for the former Sepultura pair, as if a decade or so of separation and a string of poorly received hardcore albums and overblown solo vehicles has revived the old passions. If only they could find a way to get the old band name back, this could well mark a promising new beginning.

1. Inflikted
2. Sanctuary
3. Terrorize
4. Black Ark
5. Ultra-Violent
6. Hex
7. The Doom of All Fires
8. Bloodbrawl
9. Nevertrust
10. Hearts of Darkness
11. Must Kill

Rating: 71%