Igor Graziano Cavalera

Birth name Igor Graziano Cavalera
Born September 4, 1970 (1970-09-04) (age 38)
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Genre(s) Heavy metal
Electronic music
Occupation(s) Musician
Instrument(s) Drums
Associated acts Sepultura
Cavalera Conspiracy
Nailbomb
Mixhell

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 is the younger brother of Max Cavalera. He played in bands besides Sepultura as well, including Nailbomb, Strife, and 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.

Igor started playing drums at a very early age. When Sepultura was formed, Iggor was the youngest member at the age of 13. Sepultura was a pretty big success and gave Iggor an early start. On April 21, 1984, Iggor played, for the first time, on a real drum kit, which was borrowed from Helinho of the band Overdose, that also played that night.

In the first albums his drum playing was chaotic following the thrash norms of the 80s. This style he had mastered by 1988-1991 (in the Beneath the Remains and Arise albums). However, the era when he created a new school of drumming began after 1993. His innovative style in the album Chaos AD brought tribal elements into the songs. One classic example of his contribution to extreme music is the introduction of the song "Territory" (1993, Chaos AD). He went on to take this style to a new level in the 1996 Roots album, adding more tribal elements to Sepultura's music. Through all his career, though, Cavalera has been widely recognized as a notoriously hard-hitting drummer (acknowledged by producer Scott Burns during the recording of Beneath the Remains). In later years, Cavalera adopted a drumset conformation with almost no cymbals and upright toms, as seen in Live in São Paulo.

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. Iggor even joined Max's current band Soulfly on stage at the 2006 tenth annual D-Low Memorial Show, to play the Sepultura classics "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. However, this could be to avoid confusion with his nephew Igor, also a drummer, and who has also played onstage with Cavalera Conspiracy.

On 13 January 2006, it was announced that Iggor was taking a break due to his becoming a father for the fourth time. 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."

Iggor was scheduled to collaborate with Underground Hip Hop artist Necro, on a project described by Necro as "old-school '80s thrash/death metal type of shit".[1] However, Necro mentioned later that the project will not go ahead. In 2008 he released an album called Inflikted together with his brother Max in a project named Cavalera Conspiracy. In 2009, he appeared on Violent J's The Shining on a track called "Fight Club", also featuring Necro.

He is also credited as having made a guest appearance on Biohazard's 2001 release "Uncivilization" on the track "Gone".