It was december 1996 when the metal world was shocked with the split of Sepultura. A band that had released legendary albums with Beneath The Remains and Arise became a band without the charismatic frontman. Of course we all know what happened next, Max Cavalera formed Soulfly and Sepultura continued with a new frontman.

 

Since I always was a great fan of Sepultura I was trilled with joy when I heard Max and his brother Iggor where jamming together with the possibility of a new album. Well several months later I found the promo of Cavalera Conspiracy on my doormat. With the heart in my throat I was shocked by the first tones of Inflikted. After a short intro the song ‘Inflikted´ comes crashing out of my speakers, terrorizing my ears with the typical Sepultura riffs I had to miss for so long. With almost tears in my eyes I got back to my senses to conclude that this was one hell of a beginning of the album.

 

With my common sense coming back to reality I realized I still had to write some decent words about this album which of course has to be something more than this is a great album. So I switched onto critical view during the rest of the album starting with ´Terrorize´ which made me think a bit of Soulfly. Continuing with ´Dark Ark´, where Max has hired his son Richie for some vocals, and ´Ultra-Violence´ with Rex Brown from Pantera on bass.

 

Continuing with the rest of the album I realized this album is more or less a great mixture of the older Sepultura work and the later Soulfly work. On the other hand that’s not very strange considering the second guitar player is Marc Rizzo who is also active in Soulfly. Add to this Joe Duplantier from Gojira and you come up with Cavalera Conspiracy. Finally I have one question that’s still circling in my head. Is this just another project or do we have to consider this a real band? Oh, and for the album, it is definitely a great one!