What, where, when, how, why? Were immediate questions that hit me when this unexpected body bag turned up in my digital review files. A quick look affirmed that yes, this was the correct Cadaver, the Norwegian one, that had arrived, a new EP on the day of release, with little in the way of fanfare. Talk about resurrected from beyond the grave, now I was rather excited. If you need an introduction, Cadaver’s form of necrotic, medical textbook death sees the band stretching right back to the late 80’s. They delivered Hallucinating Anxiety, the debut album in 1990 and followed it up quickly 2 years later with …In Pains. That particular album had a long-lost favourite song on it called ‘Mr. Tumour’s Misery’ and it was that gnarly nugget that first drew my attention to them after a friend plumped it on a mix tape. From there I found myself really into them, the name-change to Cadaver Inc and Earache release ‘Discipline’ in 2001 affirming my love. However, it was the benchmark Necrosis disc that really blew me away in 2004, an album that if I was covering today would without a doubt get a 10/10 and remains one of my all-time favourite albums in the death metal universe. It was a raging slab of gruesome nastiness that was simply put Necro As Fuck! Also a show at The Subterania London with Extreme Noise Terror in Dec 2001 and the Mean Fiddler with Mayhem in 2004 was the icing on the cake as far as my memory serves. Then pretty much silence until now!
The line up now appears to be principally founding- member Neddo aka Anders Odden who has played in everyone from Apoptygma Berzerk, Pigface, Doctor Midnight & the Mercy Cult and live with Satyricon and Celtic Frost. Along with him we have drummer Dirk Verbeuren who has been in so many great bands a list would double my wordcount. Unfortunately, those on my favourite album such as Czral and Apollyon (the Aura Noir duo) are no longer present but I guess I can go with that especially when noting that a live incarnation including Secthdamon and Destruchtor seems to be in the offing for future appearances when everything gets back to normal…
But what of the music you ask? Well its just 3 tracks and a little over 10 minutes playing time to get back into the rancid groove once more and that we do first with the title track which in case you were wondering stands for Don’t Give A Fuck! The artwork heralds back to that debut release and so to many extents does the sound. There’s chunky doom-laden riffs and grinding guitars. Pace is a stumble rather than full pelt and the vocals are suitably grim and gurgling. A sudden upsurge allows the drumming to belt out and a screaming guitar solo is injected. Amidst all this it should be mentioned that none other than Geoff Walker of Carcass is involved here and the stomping, gravid groove and flow of the number gets right under the skin. What more do you need? An accompanying video; ok then!
‘Deformed Insanity’ is a little bit Morbid Angel and another slice Entombed, rotting and rolling over the tombstones and sounding old-school as the onset of rigor-mortis. The vocals have a touch of the Necrophagia about them and there’s a sudden touch of sci-fi invasion via Voivoid which really made me grin too. Sticking with the D’s we get ‘Disgrace’ moving from screaming guitar solo to bone-breaking gallops with the subject title being rasped out and some mad surging, chaotic flourishes being flung out with abandon before the coffin lid is slammed down once more; hopefully not for another 16 years.
So, a good and foul taste of vomit consumed, Cadaver are back. I can only assume an album is being prepared and we can but wait patiently. These 3 tracks will do nicely till then.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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