Italian singer Cadaveria has led a sometimes strange path from a career that started off in cult act Opera IX to the present. Since leaving the aforementioned band and striking out under her own moniker along with ever present partner in crime drummer Flegias aka Marcelo Santos, the music has gone through a fair few changes. The last one saw her singing along to songs which I described as having a “nu Slipknot kind of metalcore groove,” it was certainly an unexpected turn up for the books. It kind of makes me wonder if ‘In Your Blood’ might have been an end of label get out clause before moving onto the present but it was a full four years ago since it was released so Cadaveria has been rather quiet since then. Now they are back with former label Scarlet albeit it on a subsidiary of the parent company and it seems as though the band shots and album title are very much at pains to enforce the idea that musically they are back to their old self and far removed from the sound of the last album.
Before playing this I approached it with severe caution. For one thing very few can do horror metal properly, in fact the only band that really has it down to a fine art are Cadaveria’s former label mates Necrophagia. One thing I was really hoping was that this was not going to be some sort of clichéd camp Gothic metal parody. Luckily the 11 songs here are serious and far from cheesy. Starting off with ‘Flowers In Fire’ we get both harmonious clean and fragrant vocals as well as gruff deathlike ones and that more venomous high pitched yell. The guitar, drums and bass backing it are nice and chunky with aggression and extremity as well as melody rife in the mix and this should certainly be to the liking of anyone that remembers the music of 2002 album The Shadows Madame as well as at its most venomous the early blackened feel of Opera IX. ‘The Night’s Theatre’ could give Arch Enemy a run for their money with both it’s chops and hooks as well as the voice, mind you if Angela ever attempted adding a splash of clean vocals to her songs they too could be that bit more interesting.
There is not a huge amount of atmosphere here but the songs are solidly played rather than trying to invoke a real feeling of horror in the filmic sense. The stand out point of the album comes at the halfway mark with ‘The Days Of The After And Behind,’ which with a flailing guitar weave running though it is incredibly memorable and strikes as the song that if a single were being released it would surely be this one. There is also a break for a ghostly and macabre choral chant in the background giving this that missing sense of atmosphere and finally exuding a mise-en-scene of pervading horror. There are a few moments which do surprise on the album too, a sudden Southern sounding stoner groove on ‘Apocalypse’ being a case in point. The blackened thrash of ‘Requiem’ hits a stride in the vein of Flegias other group Necrodeath at their prime but having heard their latest offering as well as Opera IX brand new album (reviewed this section) as far as I am concerned it easily surpasses both.
It would be really nice to see Cadaveria performing some of these songs over here, the material is certainly good enough and with a bit of theatrical Grand Guignol the band could put on a really good show. It would be particularly welcome considering the fact that to my knowledge they have only made it to England once before supporting Electric Wizard and Daemonia in 2005, so it’s well overdue.
http://www.cadaveria.com
Pete Woods
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