Cavalera Conspiracy Returns to Chaos, Binding Us Together Like It’s 1995 Again

When Sepultura’s fifth album, Chaos A.D., was released in 1993, critics believed it sounded like nothing else. The album brought groove and slowed down the tempos compared to previous thrash material, yet it still had a heaviness and rawness to it. 

Former Sepultura vocalist, songwriter and guitarist Max Cavalera is definitely aware of the impact. “When Chaos A.D. came out, for a lot of people, it changed the landscape of metal. And I think we showed a new way of making metal that was a bit slower with more groove,” Cavalera says. 

There were tribal elements rarely heard in metal, and political themes like colonialism and police brutality that are still relevant to issues both in Brazil and worldwide. It’s a landmark album by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera, and still just as influential today in bands like Knocked Loose, Gojira and Slipknot. 

More than 25 years later, Chaos A.D.’s enduring legacy isn’t just the music itself; it’s the ongoing connection that the album has had with different demographics of fans.

“What trips me out the most is how it attracts so many different people. You have punk rockers, you have gothic people, industrial metal fans and hardcore fans. They all love this record,” Cavalera says. 

Cavalera Conspiracy has been performing Chaos A.D. in its entirety for their ongoing Return to Chaos Tour, which kicked off in September. Playing the album live again is a new yet familiar experience. Almost every night while on tour, Cavalera says, “Welcome to 1995,” because it does indeed feel like they’re back in that era, just with a new crop of audiences. 

“We know it’s 2025 and everything is different. But the love, the passion for the music is the same as it was in 1995,” Cavalera explains. “I think everywhere we’ve been, it’s been almost like, I don’t want to exaggerate, but it feels really communal, like some sort of gathering of the tribe.”

Many Dallas-Fort Worth metalheads reminisce on Ozzfest, the multi-band touring festival spearheaded by Sharon Osbourne that ran from 1996 to 2018. Cavalera Conspiracy was one of the bands that performed in 2008 in Frisco, a highlight of that year’s Ozzfest, for which people still unearth the Observer’s full-page ads from that era, remembering the good times from the lineups.

One of Cavalera’s favorite memories of playing DFW was similarly communal. With Cavalera’s other band Soulfly, he performed numerous times at Gas Monkey. 

One particular memory he has of playing there has stuck with him. “I remember the moon was shining, the pit is going. It’s open air, we’re playing some awesome Soulfly tribal shit. It was like, ‘Yes, this is it. This is what I was made for right here!'”

He has always appreciated Texas crowds and their enthusiasm. Cavalera even jokes that Texas is “the Germany of America” because of the Germans’ love for metal. 

As Cavalera Conspiracy gears up for their Texas shows (they’ll be hitting Austin and Houston before Dallas this weekend), he expresses his love for the new generation of fans who will get to experience Chaos A.D. live. 

“I think it’s amazing to play that live. Every time we play every night, it feels like there’s this connection. It’s kind of like a big family. A thousand people singing, hung onto every word,” he says as he reflects on the tour so far.

“It’s just an amazing feeling when everybody’s connected like that. It’s like a spiritual thing happens.”

Cavalera Conspiracy will perform on Saturday, Oct. 18, at 7 p.m. at Ferris Wheelers, 1950 Market Center Blvd, Dallas. Tickets are available starting at $44.84 on eventim.us.