It’s always nice to hear new material from ex Opera IX vocalist Cadaveria and despite the album title there should be no worries as backed up by her Lynchian cohorts she has plenty to say here. Following up 2012 album ‘Horror Metal’ with her 5th album in her own right we have eleven new songs which are apparently “unveiling the soul of their author as never before” dealing with both the afterlife and reality.
‘Velo (The Other Side Of Hate)’ quickly battens down the hatches with a hefty blackened cleave and those instantly identifiable rasps. The song progresses to open up with a really good somewhat maudlin melody that embeds in your head before the whirring thick set riffs and battering drums gallop back in. It’s definitely a quick launch into the album and one that dispenses completely with the need of any intro throwing us straight into the action. There is time for some clean choral vocal parts before this biting monster is done with us as well as some fiery fret work and it’s a great opening statement to get attention much in the same way the band set things up with ‘Spell’ on debut album ‘The Shadows Madame’ 12 years ago. Clean vocals are next to be embraced on ‘Carnival Of Doom’ and they joust with the more rabid and gravid parts along with the ever present solid drum battery from Necrodeath cohort Marcello Santos. There’s plenty of whiplashing parts on this and it’s far removed from the gothic black clown music that certain bands flirting with similar styles and themes (oh I have to say it Cradle Of Filth) have descended into. This keeps things real and goes against commercial conventionality whilst naturally exuding an appeal that should touch pretty much everyone into black metal, thrash, gothic and beyond.
Cadaveria’s vision has always been strong and each of these numbers have their own personality and do a real good job of lodging in your head. There’s little to compare the music to, perhaps at times and it could be due to the fact that they are fellow country folk I may think of Theatres Des Vampires and find myself wishing that the two bands would tour together. From memory Cadaveria has only played here once at a memorable show with Claudio Simonetti’s Daemonium and Electric Wizard. It’s high time she came back.
Tracks here are compact and well-honed, not overstaying welcome at all and vocal patterns always keep things interesting amidst the constant neck bracing rhythmic musical thrusts. It’s easy to remember the singers more beastly rasps but when she sings clean the harmonies really are beguiling and entrancing and on numbers like ‘The Soul That Doesn’t Sleep’ I find myself caught up in their fragrant waft. There’s a lot of drama and Italian flare like tolling bells adding a grand-guignol feel on ‘Existence’ and the air of the macabre from the last horror enhanced album permeates the atmosphere here well. At times I am also reminded of Necrophagia and their more recent material too, maybe not quite so brutal but it feels like they are all reading from the same book. A spot of ghostly piano work never does a song any harm either. At most ravenous and feral sounding as on the thrashing full moon madness of ‘Out Loud’ the singer sounds suitably possessed, whether by wolf bite or unveiling her inner witch the juries out but she also uses this short sharp shocker of a song to billow out a patch of her most majestic clean vocals amidst the beastly craft. ‘Death, Again’ brings more in the way of moribund doom to the palette and starts quite reflective before getting anger on; it’s definitely an album of contrasts amidst expressive emotions once you dig deep within it.
There’s nothing in the way of any wimpy ballads found amongst this selection, the closest to touching something like one is ‘Almost Ghostly’ for a few brief moments but as it sways away there’s no chance to get a lighter out without being burned by another full on chugging surge within the music as it gallops off through the deep dark woods. Finishing with a sultry melody, moving into fast choppy grooves ‘Strangled Idols’ wraps up a strong album from the always reliable act. It’s another one to go on the shopping list as these sounds of silence are truly golden.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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