💀 Waking The Cadaver - Perverse Recollections of a Necromangler (2007) 💀
Favorites: Tire-Iron Embludgeonment; I Know the Insides of Women; Blood Splattered Satisfaction; Connoisseurs of Death
If you're looking for something brutal and simple in musical nature to listen to, look no further.
This album checks sooooo many of the boxes that make a heavy album great!
First off, the vocals. The vocals.
The legendary Donald Campan absolutely graces this album with his (literally) throat ripping, guttural vocals. When he is producing these noises, don't expect to catch a single word of it. The sounds he emits from his throat range from an ultra low, liquidy, gurgle (which is awesome), to a more mid-range but still very much powerful and gritty vocal. He also has plenty of pig-squeal vocals; which at times these can sound crackly and unstable, but it makes them all the more excellent. There's just something about that damn tone, it's like, the sound an alien would make as it's draining the blood from it's prey after it has fatally wounded and tortured it without an ounce of hesitation or remorse. Either that or a sound a person would make as they suffocate in space. The vocal tones are absolutely golden on this album the whole way through. To get the very best of the tone right at the start of the track, just listen to the start of the new version of "Chased Through the Woods". And the last great point I have to mention with the vocals, is that they just groove. There are certain parts when Don is following along perfectly with the guitars, that shit just grooves so hard. The start of "I Know the Insides of Women"; it's just pure head-bobbing material.
The guitars are great as well. The actual sound and production of them sound more akin to something that would be in an older black metal release. That is, they have almost a tinny and lo-fi production style? However, it just mends perfectly with the rest of the soundscape. They are played very nicely as well, many great catchy riffs here and there, and they help to bring some melody, and of course, lead the tracks into crushing slams. The melodic riffs lead into buildups into Devourement-esque slams. They are quite tasty indeed.
The drums are well played too! The tone is very nice, and although at first the reverb and tinny-ness and... harshness, I suppose, of the snare might be off-putting, I promise that it's an acquired taste. The drummer's really damn fast as well. Gotta love the reverb when the blasts get fast! Also, the double bass triggers just produce a damn satisfying sound.
In general, the mix of the album, it's just soothing. Probably the last thing you'd expect from a brutal slamming death metal release, but it just has a nice, crispy sound to it all around. It's a simple album for sure! It's one of those albums where, when you're first listening to it, all the tracks kinda blend together? But, just keep this on in loop in the background, this is one of my favorites for sure. I absolutely recommend this album!