The reuniting of the Cavalera brothers after Max's acrimonious split from Sepultura fifteen years ago was greeted with unbridled joy amongst the metal community. Their debut album, "Inflikted" was a decent effort, but for me was overrated. Many critics were effectively reviewing the album before even listening to it, judging it simply on the fact that Brazil's meanest metal duo were back together. Even though there were some genuinely good moments on the first record, such as the title track and "Sanctuary", Soulfly's sixth record, "Conquer" which came out in the same year was arguably Max's best record since "Roots", with stronger, with better songwriting and more diverse material.
Cavalera Conspiracy kind of music is like fast food - it gives you an instant, gratifying, but not very deep hit of metal. The songs are all straight to the point and never meander unneccesarily. Max's lyrics are of the usual banal nonsensical variety which he has become known for, but the man's vitriolic vocals are still as angry as ever. He can never be accused of mincing his words : "Torture, motherfuckin' torture" he screams on the second track, and the rest drip with similar rancour. Marc Rizzo, Max's second guitar player since 2004, and arguably the guy who reignited his career, is once again on fire here. If you were to pick the most memorable moments from the last 7 years of Soulfly/C.C., a great deal of them would be Marc's solos - always tasteful and melodic yet displaying the amazing dexterity of a modern shredder. "Killing Inside" has some rather delightful lead work on it, as does the title track.
Undoubtably the material on here isn't as memorable as the debut album. Songs like "Torture" hardly inspire, but I can imagine that live these songs would be pretty energetic and exciting. I'll be spinning this record for a week or two but I can hardly imagine myself going back to it regularly in the coming years.
6.5/10
Highlights : "Killing Inside", "Warlord".
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