Cavalera Conspiracy - Blunt Force Trauma

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".

Sepultura, Gama Bomb and Taint, live at the Millennium Music Hall, Cardiff, 16th July

Two gigs in the space of 24 hours, this time heading for the Welsh capital...

Local lads Taint play to a sparsely popultated crowd, and it seems once again that their awesome unique music will once again slip under the radar of the masses. Jimbob is a master of the riff and although some may be dissapointed that the bands magnus opus, The Ruin of Nová Roma, is largely ignored.

Next in line are Irish thrash metallers Gama Bomb. One cannot fail to be enamoured by frontman Philly Byrne's enthusiasm and the songs are the enjoyable party thrash you would expect from a band like them. No boundaries broken, but smiles all around the venue.

Finally Brazil's finest export Sepultura take to the stage and give a heavy as fuck lesson in metal. The band have been controversially selling this tour as a celebration to celebrate 25 years of the bands existence - only the bass player has been with the band throughout its existence. Much has been written about Max Cavalera's acrimonious departure from the band, but one must bear in mind that he has done more albums with Soulfly then he did with Sepultura, and that Derrick Green has appeared on more Sepultura records than Max. Time to move on then? Well, not really. This evening is all about endulging in the past, consisting of an undeniably awesome set featuring all the classics from Arise, Chaos A.D and Roots. Derrick has a prodigious stage presence and has the banter to go with it.I was particularly impressed with the new sticksman Jean Dobalella, whos job of replacing Igor Cavalera, one of the most innovative and intense drummers of the 90's, is no walk in the park. The crowd, although featuring its fair share of idiots, lapped up the performence and for moments it was as if the Cavaleras never existed.

Soulfly are playing the same venue on 3rd August, its a shame I'm not around to go to the gig as it would have made an interesting comparison.

Jack