The Brothers Cavalera release the rage on album number three.
It’s now seven years since Max and Igor Cavalera put their sibling rivalry and disputes aside to reunite and form Cavalera Conspiracy. The metal world keeps on shifting in genres and sub-genres but these Brazilians have always forged their own path, be it with Sepultura or Soulfly.
Both Inflikted (2008) and Blunt Force Trauma (2011) have shown the impact that the brothers have together is more than the sum of it’s parts. However Pandemonium takes it up another level on their most brutal and uncompromising release to date.
By beefing up the energy and power on their third release the band are in effect making a statement of intent and statements don’t come much more blatant than the opening track “Babylonian Pandemonium”.
During the making of the album, in an interview with Loudwire , Max advised that he told his brother ‘Fuck the groove, get out of the groove and go back to fast.” That pretty much sums up the opener as Max’s guttural and distorted vocals and driven forward by the relentless pace of Igor’s drumming. A theme that continues for every track on offer. There’s no time to stop.
“Bonzai Kamikazee” picks up the baton like a sprinter who has swapped a bottle of Lucozade Sport for crate of rocket fuel.
New bassist Nate Newton makes himself and his intense delivery known from the off and even finds time to share vocal duties with Max on suffocating track “The Crucible”.
Unsurprisingly there is more than a whiff of Sepultura & Soulfly that permiates the air. Rather than take that as a negative it should be embrace that the Cavalera style in noticeable in all they do. It’s a signature style and sound they marks them out and puts them up a level or two above the majority of their contemparies.
The track “Apex Predator” is unlikely to be a tribute to WWE star, and Metallica fan, Randy Orton, but it is an RKO (one for the wrestling fans) sized slab of agressive and riff-driven mania that the brothers have exceeded in for the past twenty years or more.
Sometimes you didn’t know you wanted something until you got it. The Cavalera’s have always had it and now so will you.
Donnie Rating: 8/10
The album is now available in UK and Europe so go and get yourself a copy.
