Cavalera started playing drums at around seven years old. He was into
samba music as a child but, after seeing
Queen live in 1981 along with his older brother Max, he started listening to rock music. When Sepultura was formed, Cavalera was the youngest member at the age of 13, his brother Max was 14 at the time. Sepultura was a big success and gave Cavalera an early start. On 21 April 1984, Cavalera 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 1997, In 2006, with the release of
Dante XXI, he began spelling his name "Iggor", preferring the way it looks. On 13 January 2006, it was announced that he was taking a break from the band due to the birth of his fourth child, initially leaving Sepultura temporarily. He later announced that he was quitting Sepultura due to "artistic incompatibility". Sepultura replaced him with
Jean Dolabella. Cavalera 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 Cavalera released the album
Inflikted together with his brother Max in a project named
Cavalera Conspiracy. In 2012, Cavalera performed drums for the entire
Strife album
Witness a Rebirth, released via 6131 Records. In 2017, he played drums for
Soulwax on their album
From Deewee and in their live tour, along with two other live drummers. In 2018, he formed the
noise music duo Pet Brick with Wayne Adams of Big Lad and Death Pedals. ==Playing style==