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Cadaveria: Horror metal
20/03/12 || SwornToTheBlack
Cadaveria is an Italian band made up, in part, of former members of Opera IX, most prominently vocalist Cadaveria, who lends her name to the group. “Horror metal” is their fourth album, and the band’s first release since 2007.
Writing about a lead woman in metal is a bit of a challenge for me. It’s not that I believe women are somehow inferior or that they aren’t capable of incredible things that the penis-burdened could never achieve, but metal is certainly something of a guys club. It may just be due to label bias determining which artists get published, but it seems that when women do choose to venture into the ball-sweaty basement of metal, they often find their niche in the typically horrible (to hell with objectivity) symphonic, goth, and power subgenres. So when an artist like Cadaveria comes along it’s a real treat, though a bit of a task to give her appropriate praise without sounding like you’re handicapping her for having a vagina. In light of that sentiment, I will state very clearly: this girl is good. Not good for a chick, but good for anyone. With that out of the way, let’s begin the review!
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what kind of music Cadaveria plays. This is one of those cases where bluntly saying “metal” seems to fit better than any further description, but since this is a review, and I’m supposedly qualified to write about the genre, I guess I’ll give it a shot.
The composition is a surprising satisfying despite being so simple, as it adheres to just about every standard but amazingly avoids most of the annoying clichés. Stylistically it falls somewhere between melodeath and industrial without any of the industrial sounds… Several of the songs downright resemeble “Dead Heart in a Dead World”-era Nevermore. Take out Loomis’ madman soloing (though the guy here is no slouch) and you’ve got a great idea of the guitar work. There are also some symphonic elements, but this is isn’t Dimmu Borgir. Apart from a few modestly short intros, they are mostly incorporated as accents to the guitar-driven riffs.
The music doesn’t get too deep, but it really rocks throughout without a real dull moment. I almost try to dislike it for its overt simplicity, but it keeps kicking my futile attempts at disinterest in the ass. My biggest complaint about the album is that it does run a little long for the style. With this kind of approach, I usually prefer a forty minute run time to nearly an hour, but maybe I’m just old, cranky, and not getting enough fiber.
Without a doubt, the most standout aspect of the album is vocalist Cadaveria’s performance. It is so refreshing to hear a female vocalist that doesn’t partake of the tiresome operatic bullshit that is so rarely warranted. This chick sings across a diverse range in her common voice. In addition to her singing, Cadaveria spends an equal, if not greater, portion of the album growling with a throaty, black-metalish snarl. Perhaps the most defining thing about the music as a whole is that while “Horror metal” is a guitar-driven album, Cadaveria’s use of unconventional modes makes it predominantly vocal-oriented. The combination is superb and accounts for a tremendous portion of the album’s success.
I came to “Horror metal” with low expectations. Between the hokey cover art and my presumptions about most women in metal, I certainly wasn’t anticipating it to rock my balls so hard. True, there is a limit to the profound enjoyment to be had by music of this style, but this album capitalizes on just about every bit of its potential.
- Information
- Released: 2012
- Label: Bakerteam Records
- Website: www.cadaveria.com
- Band
- Cadaveria: vocals
- Frank Booth: guitars
- Dick Laurent: guitars
- Killer Bob: bass
- Marçelo Santos: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Flowers in fire
- 02. The night’s theatre
- 03. Death vision
- 04. Whispers of sin
- 05. Assassin
- 06. The days of the after and behind
- 07. Apocalypse
- 08. The oracle (of the fog)
- 09. Requiem
- 10. This is not the silence
- 11. Hypnotic psychosis
