lista zespołów Folk Death Cadaverous Condition Burn Brightly Alone

I’ll have to admit that my very first encounter with Cadaverous Condition was not what people would call “love at first sight”. Intrigued by the “Folk Death” label, I had acquired “The Lesser Travelled Seas” and found it not to my tastes. But then it was some ten years ago and everyone is entitled to change their mind in this Timeframe while bands may grow up and offer something altogether much better. It was then with some apprehension that I pressed “PLAY” for my first listen of Cadaverous Condition’s latest album “Burn Brightly Alone".

The verdict is unquestionable. As 2011 will soon end and everyone will look up to “elect” and “vote” for the best records released throughout the year, Cadaverous Condition made a serious jump in my own appreciation of this year’s releases and considerably shook up what I thought would remain a stable hierarchy.

Beginning with “Ghost" and “Driftwood” the album does not let it go all the sudden. The song is a great Death Metal track, groovy and dark at the same Time and one cannot but think of the many similarities the band shares with Pungent Stench. You’d think the comparison would be a bit too easy since both bands come from Austria but there is a real linkage between them: we find that not overpolished Death Metal almost raw in production, Wolfgang Weiss’ vocals also quite similar to those of the Don, etc.

Still, please do not expect some Pungent Stench clone out of Cadaverous Condition. While musically they undeniably share many aspects, the overall tone is quite different. Here, there’s no question of butchering your loved ones or other joyful activities. Cadaverous Condition are more melancholy, delving into the human soul with almost the feeling of impending doom most often found in Doom Death acts.

Past the first two tracks, we then discover the “Folk” side of Cadaverous Condition which, for people not used to it, may be a great surprise. Piano, acoustic guitar, clean voices, all the sudden, the reference to Pungent Stench seemed very far away as if it never ever were here from the start. Only Weiss’ growls remind you it’s the very same band that had you grooving all around two tracks ago.

Needless to go into track-by-track by now. Cadaverous Condition intelligently distilled tracks that are either full-blown Death Metal weapons with killer down-tempos and acceleration or songs that verge on the pop or folk side of the spectrum. I cannot stress out enough how everything is uber-catchy, be it in the more conventional songs than in the more folkish ones, there is some fantastic maturity in those tracks that witnesses how experienced the band is served by the best possible production: natural (not raw!) and powerful.

I never thought that beauty and ugliness, melancholy and groove, depth and emotion could be all expressed in one single album but here it is all intricately displayed on “Burn Brightly Alone”. I’ll find myself wanting to smash my neighbor’s face on “Use Your Blood” before I felt like cuddling with my girl on “We Both Go Down Together”… such an array of various emotions that leaves me speechless. Incredible record. I’m spellbound!