Grand Cadaver has finished its new EP
Still signed to Majestic Mountain Records, the supergroup brings together Mikael Stanne (vocals, Dark Tranquillity, The Halo Effect), Christian Jansson (bass, Pagandom, Dark Tranquillity), Daniel Liljekvist (drums, ex-Katatonia, ex-In Mourning), Stefan Lagergren (guitar, The Grifted, ex-Tiamat), and Alex Stjernfeldt (guitar, Child, Novarupta) unveils The Rot Beneath.
Mikael starts roaring even before the HM-2 explodes on Blood Red Banner, the first track, and it didn’t take me a second to bang my head to the sound of this avalanche of violence, which clearly knows how to be more haunting to create an oppressive sound before speeding up again. The band’s Old School roots come into their own on this track, whose agonizing break ultimately amplifies the melancholy before letting the eponymous The Rot Beneath tear us apart in turn, multiplying the harmonics before revealing a catchy blast combined with devastating riffs. Everything about this track calls for violence, especially when the wave reaches its full potential in the finale, leading into the explosive The Endless Dead, which follows almost immediately after a jerky intro and reveals a virulent rhythm that makes it impossible not to bang your head, while the piercing leads gradually appear. Unfortunately, the track is a bit short, but Darkened Apathy welcomes us with disturbing, trippy notes before moving forward at a fairly moderate pace and finally igniting and enveloping us in its abrasive sounds until the very end.
From their very first single, Grand Cadaver has established itself as a true staple of Swedish Death Metal. The Rot Beneath only has four tracks, but they are incredibly high quality and capable of taking us from pure violence to anguish or melancholy.
95/100
