With a somewhat convoluted history stretching right back to 1988, Cadaver have essentially set up their body disposal shop over three periods, each to date releasing two albums in relatively short succession and then splitting up and going on hiatus for a long period of time. For me it was the 1st of these comebacks in 2001-2004 when the group adopted the Cadaver Inc moniker for part of it and released ‘Discipline’ and the monstrous ‘Necrosis’ with Apollyon and Czral of Aura Noir in the line-up that particularly resonated. After laying things to rest then, there was silence until almost 16 years later they were resurrected once more by founding member Neddo aka Anders Odden along with renowned drummer Dirk Verbeuren and album number five ‘Edder and Bile’ was spewed out. I loved the immediacy and downright viciousness of it and although shifting the template somewhat musically it retained the wrath and coarseness of its predecessor leaving the legacy of the band brutally unsullied for listeners both old and new.

So three years later and true to form it is time for follow up ‘Age Of The Offended’. Obviously the title has a message for those living in far more politically correct times than when the band first appeared. You can be thankful and enlightened by what has come to pass or rue things and think it has all gone too far. Indeed, you can weight things up and count both the positives and negatives of it all. That’s not for here though or for this writer to ram opinions down throats. We can but take things for what they are and come to the conclusion that as My Dylan once stated ‘the times, they are a changing.’ Next thing to take into account here is that both the running time of the album has been ramped up from the last one a bit and so have the number of songs with 13 crammed in here. I have to admit that with this the immediacy has been waylaid a little and it actually is a fair amount of material to take in.

Starting with an intro piece ‘Sycophants Swing’ with strange tones and jazzy dissonance we suddenly swoop into the more ‘Postapocalyptic Grinding’ style we are accustomed to. There’s some oddness about this too as amidst plenty of groove there’s some psychedelic tones swooping and diving away giving it an unhinged feel. Neddo’s gurgling tones sound as though there are some effects on them making it all the odder and hallucinatory. He has stated that it’s an album he considers to be ‘weed friendly’ and although I have yet to test it in this fashion I can easily believe that. ‘Scum Of The Earth’ goes into delirium and mania with a hugely catchy melody and all sort of strange shapes and tentacles slithering out around it and the title track actually has a bit of a stoner swagger riding roughshod over its indignantly offended lyrical discourse. There some good old school shredding going on too and its only now reading up on things I see that much of this is provided by Ronni Le Tekrø of TNT which came as a bit of a surprise.

There’s a fair bit of diversity going on and although a plethora of numbers most are trimmed of fat at just over the 3-muinte mark. From the rampant thrashy stew of ‘Death Revealed’ with Verbeuren beating time like an octopus to the lurching slower paced ‘The Shrink’ leaving you uncomfortably propped up on the psychiatrist’s couch, speeds are varied too. It takes a fair few plays before the individuality of the tracks start to unveil themselves though and like the cover-art perhaps suggests it at times seems a random collage all flung together.

I particularly like the plunging bass tones that are highly reminiscent of Necrophagia and The Ravenous on ‘The Drowning Man’ and as the ghastly ‘The Sicker The Better’ thumps toxically away one cannot help thinking Killjoy would have approved on his video nasty surrounded pit in the basement of hell. There’s actually plenty to appeal to the gore-grind freaks here actually those relishing the gruesome stuff like Impaled and Ghoul should certainly get a kick out of ‘Dissolving Chaos’ and anyone will be able to happily bang heads with abandon to the self-described romp that is ‘Deadly Metal.’

So something here for anyone who ain’t easily offended and like a wart, give this time and it’s a grower. It was a real bastard shame that the proposed European tour including London dates of Keep of Kalessin, Dødheimsgard, Cadaver was scuppered due to uncertainty over sales; this album should see fans hungry to catch Cadaver in action. Fingers crossed they don’t go and do the split-dog again like they have historically done in the past and Odders brings this line-up to a third album. For the time being though they continue and naturally D.G.A.F.

(8/10 Pete Woods)

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