Review Summary: Time and time again, Max Cavalera has proved that he is capable of pulling off great riffs and vocals, but this time around he's added something more: bad spelling.
Choosing Inflikted as the subject of my next review was a rather obvious choice considering my last review was Soulfly's most recent release; Conquer. Not surprisingly Inflikted isn’t much of a departure from Soulfly, it just has less Brazilian influences, in fact the Cavalera Conspiracy itself is mostly a resurrection of Sepultura by Max and Igor. That’s not to say it isn’t good, because this album kills.
Lyrically and vocally, Inflikted is identical to anything that you might hear from Sepultura or Soulfly. It’s all based around a general feeling of hatred, war and violence as obviously suggested by titles like: "Must Kill," "Ultra-violent," and "The Doom of All Fires." In fact one of the lines from "The Doom of All Fires" sounds disturbingly similar to a line from Soulfly's single Unleash. As I mentioned in my Conquer review, Max's song writing skills are nothing to be proud of. His themes are overused and uninspiring, and his constant usage of explicit language is rather appalling. However, despite all of this, he has a very brutal voice that can unleash some pretty nasty screams like the one in "Hex."
The most obvious difference between Soulfly and the Conspiracy is the lack of Brazilian influences. Conspiracy is a more pure form of thrash/death metal, with growly riffs and stinging solos. Great examples of this are the title track "Inflikted" and "Bloodbrawl."
I didn’t really expect the guitars to be much different considering the guitar lineup of the two bands is identical. No surprise here, the guitar is mostly the same. One of the best guitar pieces on the album is "Nevertrust." Unfortunately, capping off at 2:20 it’s a bit short.
The drums of Igor Cavalera are another high point of this band. He is definitely far above average as far as his skill goes. He seems to be able to adapt to the different speeds of the guitar throughout the album and mesh perfectly with the constant riffing of his brother.
As the album progresses it becomes painfully obvious that the loss of the tribal-themed interludes of Soulfly has affected the bass greatly. There are only a few moments where the bass comes through the influx of guitar riffs, and it’s so brief that it’s hardly noticeable.
In conclusion, Inflikted is a decent first release for the Cavalera Conspiracy. It’s not especially long, or as repetitive as Soufly's new album, but nor is it as unique. It’s not especially hard to find an album like this these days...
Recommended tracks:
Inflikted
Nevertrust
Bloodbrawl
Hearts of Darkness
