Cadaver

Norway’s Cadaver are a different beast indeed, combining the lightning-fast blasting of death metal with a chaotic sloppiness that brings to mind a pissed up/off punk rock attitude (also the blueprint for Impaled Nazarene, incidentally). It works wonders, making the band a far more enjoyable listen than many of their peers. On Necrosis, their fourth album (second since reuniting in 1999; first since dropping the Inc. from their name), the band has retained their manic, frantic edge, loosened up the production reins a bit (those drums just don’t sound produced at all, it’s great) and kept their subtle sense of humour, shown in such light-hearted moments as when singer Apollyon yells out "Come on, come on: fists in the air!” in the soothing lullaby "Decomposed Metal Skin.” The demented kid’s nursery rhyme pattern of "Evil Is Done” also makes one crack a smile in between all the heads one no doubt cracks while listening to music this brutal. Some of this stuff is almost memorable; again thanks to the simple punk rock riffs I hear creeping in there. And back to the drums, this guy (whose name happens to be Czral, since you asked) steals the show here, with his manic, snare-driven fills and relentless blasting coming through that strange, raw production sound loud and clear.