Cadaver plunges into the past.
After its resurrection in 2020, the project led from Norway by Anders “Neddo” Odden (guitar/vocals, Order, ex-Apoptygma Berzerk, ex-Satyricon live…) unveils this year in collaboration with Listenable Records Hymns of Misanthropy, a rather unusual seventh album made up of compositions begun in 1993, but abandoned following a temporary halt.
Credits also mention Ole Bjerkebakke (drums) and Eilert Solstad (bass), who were in the band’s line-up at the time of the tracks’ creation.
Maltreated Mind Makes Man Manic kicks things off in an eerie way, letting the heady rhythm and macabre vocal parts melt over us. There are occasional more ethereal touches that bring the Black Metal roots to the fore, but the sound gets heavier with Chained To His Fate, becoming relatively catchy by integrating effective Thrash elements and sharp leads that develop a certain coldness. The same is true of Nowhere To Hide, which features piercing harmonics to complement its jerky rhythm and rather strange construction bordering on Prog, as does Sunset At Dawn, which continues with this rather chaotic approach, complemented by a few calmer and sometimes even rather dissonant touches. From The Past returns with a touch of guitar madness to develop hypnotic patterns between two waves of pure aggression, as on the energetic Breaking Through, where the bass rapidly takes on a more prominent role. The track remains intriguing in its sometimes more complex guitar playing, while on Misanthropic Anthem we see a return to violence, thanks in particular to this ferocious blast, but the break will again tint the riffs with that imposing lugubrious touch. The piercing leads also appear on Death Has To Wait, where the band moves from moments of fury to horrific passages without batting an eyelid, before reaching Through The Pain, where a more straightforward approach is complemented by those dark airy touches, but complexity will of course resurface. The album closes with Drowned in Dreams, which picks up on the sinister elements of the previous tracks and is adorned with aggressive Old School patterns to complete the picture and leave us on a wilder note.
With Hymns of Misanthropy, we realize that Cadaver‘s morbid and aggressive influences are not new, but have always been in their DNA. It would have been a shame to leave these compositions aside, and the band understood this!
80/100