Igor Graziano Cavalera is a Brazilian musician. He is best known as the former drummer for Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura, which he co-founded with his brother Max in 1984. Max left the band in 1996, and Iggor would depart ten years later. The brothers have since reunited in the band Cavalera Conspiracy.
Background
He, along with older brother Max, were the founding members of the Brazilian thrash metal band Sepultura. Igor is now the drummer for Cavalera Conspiracy. He has played in the bands Nailbomb and Strife, and guest drumming in "Brasileiro", a song by Titãs. As his hip-hop influences grew stronger he began to DJ. Cavalera is one half of DJ duo Mixhell, a project he founded with his wife Laima Leyton.
In 1996 he started the fashion label "Cavalera". He currently lives in England.
Career
Igor started playing drums at a very early age. When Sepultura was formed, Igor was the youngest member at the age of 13, his brother Max was 14 at the time. Sepultura was a big success and gave Igor an early start. On April 21, 1984, Igor played, for the first time, on a real drum kit, which was borrowed from Helinho of the band Overdose, that also played that night.
After the band split with his brother Max (lead vocals/rhythm guitar) in 1996 their relationship underwent a crisis. In recent times their relationship has improved, with Max stating in an interview that a reunion with Sepultura was possible. Igor joined Max's current band Soulfly on stage at the 2006 tenth annual D-Low Memorial Show, to play the Sepultura songs "Roots Bloody Roots" and "Attitude". It was the first time the brothers had played together in ten years.
In 2006 with the release of Dante XXI, he began spelling his name "Iggor", saying there is no special meaning to this, he just prefers the way it looks. On 13 January 2006, it was announced that Iggor was taking a break due to the birth of his fourth child. He left the ranks of Sepultura temporarily. On 12 June 2006 with the release of Dante XXI, Iggor announced that he was quitting Sepultura due to "artistic incompatibility." Sepultura replaced Iggor with Jean Dolabella.
Igor was scheduled to collaborate with underground hip hop artist Necro, on a project described by Necro as in the style of "old-school '80s thrash/death metal." However, Necro mentioned later that the project will not go ahead. In 2008 he released the album Inflikted together with his brother Max in a project named Cavalera Conspiracy.
He is credited as having made a guest appearance on Biohazard's 2001 release Uncivilization on the track "Gone".
Throughout his career, Cavalera has been widely recognized as a hard-hitting drummer (acknowledged by producer Scott Burns during the recording of Beneath the Remains). In later years, Cavalera adopted a drumset conformation with upright toms and fewer cymbals, as seen in "Live in São Paulo". In reference to his work on the Sepultura album "Nation", Allmusic wrote "Drummer Igor Cavalera's timing and tempo couldn't be more perfect as the adrenaline heightens until the album's intensity burns right through the speakers."