Cadaver - Necrosis (2004)

Cadaver's third full-length Necrosis was a re-branded return to the death metal roots that spawned the band, but by no means was it a retread of their seminal efforts Hallucinating Anxiety (1990) and ...In Pains (1992). The years spent in the Cadaver Inc incarnation had rubbed off on the group, and they sought to pursue a more original approach which, like Discipline, which incorporated a number of genres into a fresh and compelling terrain. In many ways, this is the most creative album of the 'pure' Cadaver canon (discounting Discipline), and the first case where they no longer sounded an also-ran of a prior established act. That's not to imply that it's their best work, but certainly as a catalyst for future innovation, this was a decent setup, and I only wish that they had chosen to capitalize upon it. Alas, busy schedules with other acts as diverse as Aura Noir and Apoptygma Berzerk stood in the way of the band really being a 'thing' again, but they've reformed for shows in recent years, so it's not beyond possibility that we'll ever hear a studio follow-up.

Cadaver has very often been branded a 'death/thrash' hybrid, but nowhere is that more apparent than on this record, which clings only by a tenuous thread to the former genre. Traces of the Cadaver Inc black metal years remain in some of the more accelerated and abusive paced chord progressions, and also in the clever use of dissonance to provide a more cognitive mood to the rhythm guitar arrangements; but in general, the album is composed of incessant tremolo picking that straddles the border between a modern Slayer-like speed/thrash and similar classic death and grind sources which once inspired their early albums. One of the most striking components of Necrosis is its guitar tone, which is less distorted than in the past, creating a boxy and humble fluidity that feels more fulfilling than some brash, over saturated gain. Thanks to this choice, even the most familiar and uninteresting riff patterns feel so manic and full-bodied that the disc retains a sense of thrill and potency throughout its entire playtime. In addition, the use of melody is far more precise and memorable than on any prior Cadaver release. As a quirky, atonal spike in the opening of "Heartworm". A cutesy tremolo fill in "Decomposed Metal Skin". A bluesy, jangling minimalistic lead in "Odium". Cadaver had often seemed to avoid lead-work, and while these aren't full-on, indulgent cases of shred-work, they do well to enhance the reach of the music.

One element I wasn't entirely sold on here was Apollyon's vocal style. Gone are the visceral rasps of Discipline, or Ole's growls from the first two records. Instead, we've got the straight up, gruff bark that he uses in Aura Noir, only it seems more monotonous here, and less given to a sense of tormented variation. At times I was reminded of a Nocturno Culto, but other than a few interesting lyrical strategies, like the counted up chorus in "Evil Is Done", I felt that they were a fraction too blunt and indifferent. Not to a 'deal breaker' level, because the music is simply too efficient to allow much disappointment or distraction, but more of a nuanced style (even using the same singer) would have been preferable. On the other hand, the rhythm section here sounds quite fantastic. Drums are brutal without feeling brickwalled or unnatural, and the bass lines have more of a mid tone than on Discipline, not to mention that the lines just stand out more from the rhythm guitars. All in all, there's definitely a bit of a dry, natural, jam-room feel to the record, as if they didn't decide to just drown everything in reverb, and so almost all the atmosphere comes through the riff delivery, which in this case is entirely acceptable.

In terms of songwriting quality, the first ten rampant minutes to this thing are positively phenomenal, really setting up the listener for a mood of blasphemy and destruction. Love the little subtleties to the riffs, but I felt that the middle of the album sagged marginally as far as its creativity. Granted, it's still pretty damn consistent, and nothing lacks focus or vital energy, but a few of the tunes like "GoatFather" and "Unholy Death" were not as massively memorable as "Decomposed Metal Skin" or the intense finale "Heartworm". Ultimately, though, this was a very positive transition for the band. New label (Candlelight), and a new sound with which to win over new fans and hopefully bring back some of the originals. Hallucinating Anxiety remains my personal favorite of the band's discography, despite its more derivative nature, but with Necrosis I would not argue that they captured a more personal, defined sound that I preferred to either ...In Pains or the Cadaver Inc sidetracking. When looking back over their history, its a blessing that they've yet avoided repeating themselves. Each of the four efforts (again, including Discipline) brought something new to their table...Necrosis just happened to do the same for our tables.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (as our machinery slithers forth)

http://www.myspace.com/cadaver

Cadaver - In Pains (1992)

Hallucinating Anxiety had technically already been released through Earache Records, or rather Necrosis, a short-lived sub-imprint run by Carcass members; but for its followup ...In Pains, the Norwegian band was shifted over to the primary label. This increase in visibility, and also availability, coincided with a more professional, tightened direction for the group musically, and thus it's no shock that the sophomore was the disc to land them onto the radars of the underground death metal audience, who had begun expanding their collections as the genre truly took off with a number of important releases in the early 90s. Quite like the previous album, ...In Pains was hardly pursuing the most unique of identities, but where Hallucinating Anxiety fused a smattering of influences into a grisly, primitive and entertaining melting pot, its followup was more or less standing in the shadow of the Floridian band Death, who had at this point released their highly popular Human.

...In Pains is no direct bite off that record, but it's similar in structure. I'd characterize it as a more simplistic alternative to Human or Spiritual Healing, with a lot less guitar finesse, melody and lead-work, and a few mildly inventive embellishments in instrumentation: flutes, double bass, etc. Other comparisons I could make would be to Dutch bands like Pestilence (Testimony of the Ancients) or Creepmine (Shadows). The 'progressive' influence isn't quite so overt or spastic as a Cynic or Atheist, but it's largely felt through the swerving bass performance or the slightly jammy, dissonant nature inherent to several of the bridge sections. By and large, though, it's pretty much pure death metal, alternating between palm muted chugging and the expected tremolo picked patterns. Both were present on the debut, but to be blunt: ...In Pains is different enough due to its increased production standards that the two discs might as well be from separate bands. The UK influences like Bolt Thrower, Napalm Death and Carcass have been all but erased; you might hear a few similarities to Necroticism, perhaps, but that cruddy feeling, that grime, and that grind have been sacrificed in favor of a tighter, controlled, bass-heavy mix which was far more accessible to the death metal initiate, or the more musically demanding following who were already installed.

Gone are the repulsive, distorted bass-lines, and replaced with a more pulsing, pumping fusion, jazz or funk  influenced tone that competes with the drums and rhythm guitar for volume. Ole's vocals aren't much different than before, but the syllabic structures feel a bit more blunt and slack. His drumming, on the other hand, is better balanced and engineered, with more prevalent bass than the debut. Some of the power and charm has been leached out of them, and the construction of the riffs doesn't lend itself to much intensity, since there is a taut but lazy playfulness to the album which is like a recreation room at a mental hospital. The rhythm guitar tone is rich and propulsive, lending a thicker viscosity to the power chords, and the airier melodies and brief leads help flesh out the music (something that was admittedly absent on the debut). There are points through ...In Pains (like "Blurred Visions" or "Ins-through-mental") where the composition becomes very chunky and reflexive, the guitars and rhythm in a dextrous, acrobatic union both reflexive and interesting, and quite modern for their day, even if some of the aforementioned acts were doing it more successfully or with a more obvious experimental edge.

Granted, the heightened emphasis on bass guitar, and the few existing lines of flute or string instrument are about as 'far out' as Cadaver's sophomore is willing to go, but overall it conveys a real sense of evolution that was not at all unwelcome. In retrospect, though the busyness and effort placed into this record are to be admired, and most of the tracks have at least a temporarily interesting or catchy twist, I do feel that the contemporary atmosphere and polish of ...In Pains has never really given me that same thrill of pathos and nostalgia that the debut evokes. It's a solid album, I'd hazard even a 'good' album, with an understandable appeal. More psychological and subtle than its precursor, unquestionably. Yet for the same reasons I'd rather be driving some vintage muscle car over a 21st century economy auto, I favor their first full-length. But if you've any natural predilection towards records like Human, Individual Thought Patterns, Testimony of the Ancients, Erosion of Sanity, Unquestionable Presence, Hallucinations, Considered Dead, or even Necroticism, then certainly check this one out.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (a culture of anxiety)

http://www.myspace.com/cadaver

Cadaver - Hallucinating Anxiety (1990)

Cadaver has long stood out to me one of the earliest indicators of a 'second generational' death metal act, largely because the aesthetics present on their debut Hallucinating Anxiety felt as if they had been borrowed or built upon a number of other albums which had already arrived by the later 80s. Granted, for Norway, a scene that has to this day always been associated with black metal more than its handful of death groups through the decades, one might place this 1990 record well ahead of its time, but to primeval adopters of the death and grind niches, it's components were already familiar. Not to imply that Hallucinating Anxiety is necessarily a half-assed, uninteresting listen, because in fact I find it their best full-length to date, but they weren't exactly bringing any fresh or innovative elements to the medium; one of the first examples of an also-ran, but they just happened to be a pretty damn good one.

Hallucinating Anxiety is more or less a clash of US and British influences. Riff construction is a mix of clinical grooves circa Carcass or Bolt Thrower, and evil tremolo picked note sequences highly redolent of Death, to the point that they might have fit in rather well with a Scream Bloody Gore or Leprosy. The cover artwork of this album, and hell even the band's name and song titles, were quite close to Carcass in nature, though lyrically they weren't dealing in pure gore and surgery. Beyond that, the grimy guitar tone is derived from a clear Repulsion lineage, and some of the faster, grinding bits are not unlike the first few Napalm Death records. Like a lot of other seminal death metal groups, the pulse of thrash is still quite evident, coursing through the more oppressive, brutal architecture. There are certainly a fair share of faster progressions which wouldn't have been out of place among the more extreme acts of its parent genre like a Dark Angel or Slayer. Hallucinating Anxiety is a mild divergence from its closest stylistic relatives (influences) as far as Old Bjerkebakke's vocals, which while bloody and appreciably menacing, did not stand out quite so much as a Schuldiner, Tardy, van Drunen or Glen Benton; more an impish relative of early Willetts.

The production on this thing is a fusion of the sterile and saturated, the latter thanks to the tone of the guitar, and has proven a bone of contention for many old school death metal aficionados who have a preference for Cadaver's sophomore, ...in Pains, but I actually disagree on that point. As fibrous, rugged and raw as the debut sounds, it only contributes to the charm of its pathological and frightening subject matter. The bass is soaked in a beautiful distortion throughout, most notable where it's grooving alone at the intro to "Bodily Trauma", but hanging in right at the edge of perception throughout the remainder, churning along grotesquely below the more dominant and obvious rhythm tone. Speaking of which, these guitars could serve as a rust remover, so unnatural and soaked in aural chemicals. Even if they seem slightly dry, since there isn't a lot of background atmosphere to the album, they're still very effective at giving the riffing sequences that morbid, otherworldly edge that helped it stand out against the sea of thrash records so prominent in this period. As for the drums, they're a bit raw and disparate from the guitars, often congested into walls of cymbals. You can't really feel much of the kick drum, but it's there, and some early kicks and double bass patterns are woven against the riff cycles, moreso at least than on, say, Leprosy.

Though the songwriting is fairly consistent throughout the 39 minutes of material, I always felt that there were a few offerings on Hallucinating Anxiety that stood out from the remainder. Namely the opening track "Tuba/Ignominous Eczema", a barrage of strutting, evil grooves with a wicked sounding, noisy intro, and a killer tremolo lick around 1:50 that I very much remember learning on the guitar and playing repeatedly at band practices (to the point that I think I even changed the notes and included a similar phrase in some shitty original). I also really enjoy the song "Corrosive Delirium", which was structurally related to a number of Symphonies of Sickness tunes via Carcass. There are a number of other sick songs like "Hallucinating Anxiety" itself, but I definitely felt it was front loaded with its most memorable riffs. The only other complaint I have is that some juicy, dissonant leads would have given the record yet another dimension of cool. Most of the music here does feel as if it's lacking that one added element, but by no means does it cripple the sum experience of wretched, gut wrenching viscera that the musical and visual imagery manifests.

I realize Cadaver was lost among a whole crowd of 'C' bands in its day, from Carcass and Cannibal Corpse to Carnage, Cyanide and Cancer, but pundits for the punishing sounds of antiquity should totally track this down if it remains foreign to them. I mentioned that many point out the Norwegians' sophomore as their magnum opus, and I can somewhat sympathize since the production is far more professional and the album has a more progressive bent, but I found it more derivative of a single source (early 90s Death) than the debut, and Hallucinating Anxiety possesses a very rare personality due to its production 'flaws' that I just can't imagine doing away with. Definitely evokes the same stench of bodily ruptured nostalgia that I feel for other classics around 1990, and has held up well for two decades plus.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

http://www.myspace.com/cadaver