“10 years is a long-ass time not to see your brother, especially in the case of me and him, because we spent so much time together growing up and touring. Not having him around for more than 10 years was really strange, but I’m glad it worked out good…”
At least for now, half of a Sepultura reunion is going to have to do. And truth be told, for most fans, brothers and band founders Max (guitar/vocals) and Iggor Cavalera (drums) are the half that really matters anyway. After 10 years of literally not speaking, following Max’s abrupt departure from the groundbreaking Brazilian quartet at the end of 1996, the Cavaleras have reconciled. They’re now performing together again, too, as Cavalera Conspiracy, with Soulfly guitarist Mark Rizzo and Gojira guitarist Joe Duplantier, here playing bass, filling out the ranks. On the phone from a recording studio in Brazil, Iggor spoke about reconciling with his brother, the genesis of Cavalera Conspiracy and the prospects of a full-blown Sepultura reunion.
“So far the response to Cavalera Conspiracy has been very good, very positive. People really dig the record, they like the fact that it’s a very straight-forward metal album with Max and me playing together. It’s been a lot of fun. There’s been a lot of excitement and interest, not just from fans but all around.”
The band’s debut, Inflikted, was released March 25. And as “next-best things” go, it’s about as good as it gets, recalling the thrash metal fire and aggression of pre-Roots Sepultura and the balls-out venom of old-school hardcore, while nicely sidestepping rote metal-core trappings and largely omitting intrusive tribal embellishments.
“Keep in mind that 90 percent of these songs are new. Max wrote them with me in mind. The only song that’s not is Inflikted.” Max put it on the [Soulfly MySpace] site when it was coming together, and a lot of fans got to hear how Max recorded with a drum machine and no bass, just guitar, so that song did exist. And that song, a lot of people liked it, I liked it, so even though that was a full song that was written to be a Soulfly song, we used it open the Conspiracy album.”
“But everything else, Sanctuary, Doom of All Fires; they all came afterward. It’s cool because it gave me some kind of kick-start on the direction,” explains Iggor. When max showed me Inflikted, he was like, ‘This is cool, but I want to do more’. That got me thinking of other ideas for faster songs and more hardcore songs like Hex and Nevertrust. You’ve got to start somewhere and Inflikted was a good start for the whole record. It lets you know what you’re in for [laughs].”
There’s definitely nothing tentative about Inflikted, as Iggor and Max seem to have picked things up musically right where they left off. And the urgency brought on by a decade of being apart only gives the album that much more energy. It’s sonic proof that time does, indeed, heal all wounds. And there were some pretty big wounds to heal. Max walked away from Sepultura after Iggor (then Igor) and the other band members – guitarist Andreas Kisser and bassist Paulo Jr. – informed him that they did not want to renew their contract with manager Gloria Cavalera, Max’s wife. The timing could not have been worse, given that Dana Wells, Gloria’s son and Max’s step-son, had been killed in an auto accident a couple months prior. So when given a choice of business or family, Max chose family and cut off all contact with his former bandmates, Iggor included.
“The last 10 years have been pretty crazy in my life,” Iggor explains. “It’s almost like I was in exile, and 10 years without Max.”
Once family matters were in order, the musical aspect of the brother’s existence was not far behind. “If we tried to not talk about music,” Iggor tells me laughing, “there would be an hours of silence between us.” The emotional release of playing together mixed with the response of the fans demanded some kind of collaboration. Max jumped at the idea, even coloring his pitch to Iggor with a bit of revisionist history. “Max said to me, ‘Let’s do a record together, I have a bunch of stuff written for it’. I really had nothing, and I was in trouble. I dived into writing, spent all my time coming up with riffs and parts.”
The immediate and expected reaction to the brothers being together again is a full Sepultura reunion or to have Iggor join Max on Soulfly, something Iggor or Max were not interested in from the get go. “The way I see it was not to bring back Sepultura and Soulfly was not the gig for us. I wanted to start a new chapter in our lives from scratch. I think that was better for us, with Sepultura there was too much history.”
Initially, Max wanted to name the band Inflikted, after a ritual he had witnessed of self-inflicted pain in Indonesia. That idea had to be scrapped when it became obvious that a myriad of others had already laid claim to the title. Max and Iggor were stuck, but stuck in a place they were used to when it came to naming things. Max and his brother seem to have been long haunted by name confusion.
“When we had finished Chaos AD it was originally called Propaganda and we didn’t like it. It was down to the very last minute and I came up with Chaos AD. I’ve never been good with names. I’ve learned that the secret to band names is the dictionary. I found so many cool names there.”
Instead of turning to Websters, Max and Iggor found inspiration with their own names and settled on Cavalera Conspiracy (naming the album Inflikted was apparently fine). The moniker captures the enigma of the reunion and the emotion, according to Iggor. The interesting thing about Cavalera Conspiracy is that the songs, while definitely possessing the trademark Max/Iggor style, aren’t carbon copies of other projects the two have worked on.
During the recording process, Max welcomed the assistance of everyone involved with the project. He gives full credit to guitarist Joe Duplantier, who brought to the table ideas from his progressive metal band Gojira, as well as inspiration from Morbid Angel and other darker, heavier forces. Once Inflikted had been completed, the daunting task of releasing it to the public appeared on the horizon. In an interview prior to the albums release, Max made a point that he viewed the unveiling of Cavalera Conspiracy as actually easier on him then introducing a Sepultura-starved music world to Soulfly.
“The problem with the Inflikted record is that we’ll never be able to do it like this again, on this level. From not talking to Max and everything that happened we won’t be able to repeat this level of emotion again. We’ll definitely do another record but it won’t be like this.”
It seems as though things have come full circle. Soulfly’s debut was filled with the powerful emotion of personal tragedy, a family torn apart and the end of Sepultura. Cavalera Conspiracy’s debut is a record with the same level of emotion, but based on the positive outcome of a reunion long overdue and the first steps in healing. As the interview ends I must ask the question everybody is asking. What does Iggor say to those who are pressing for a full Sepultura reunion?
“Maybe they should go get some of those Voodoo motherfuckers,” Iggor laughs. “Voodoo is strong shit – maybe that will help.”
That’s all Iggor will say about it, leaving me to feel that we shouldn’t hold our breath waiting to see the original members of Sepultura on stage. This isn’t about Sepultura though, or even really what the fans want. Bands aside, tours aside, albums aside, this is the story of two brothers who are enjoying a long overdue reunion and working to repair a decade long scar within their family.
Inflikted is out now courtesy of Road Runner Records. Get those fists in the air!
