Cadaver // The Age Of The Offended // Album Review

The Norwegian goliaths of death metal have returned with a new offering. A psychedelic trip into the death metal realm!

Formed in 1988 Cadaver is one of the leading death metal exports from Norway. Their 1990 debut album “Hallucinating Anxiety” now a cult classic was one of the blueprint albums for the early 90s death metal scene.

Following quickly with “…in Pains” the band saw huge growth but sadly in 1990, the band ended. With a return in 1999, a ton of touring & some fantastic albums under the rebrand of “Cadaver Inc”. Anders Odden, the band’s creator, continued the band up until 2004 until they took a hiatus again.

Luckily in 2019, Anders Odden resurrected Cadaver with the help of Megadeth & ex-Soilwork drummer Dirk Verbeuren. Released their first album in sixteen years with the highly acclaimed “Edder & Bile”.

Now with their next chapter, Cadaver gives us “The Age Of The Offended”. A huge slab of surprising, exciting & challenging music. A hefty thirteen tracks with a thick near forty-five-minute run time, you are getting your money’s worth!

Right from the opening of the album, “Sycophants Swing” is a lucid & chaotic intro, Giving you a taste of what direction the band are taking you this time. Featuring trombone player Svein Johannessen who also plays on the “Hallucinating Anxiety” album, this track is a jazz-crazed death metal fury. Unsettling in the nerves & giving you that uncomfortable feeling but not too far where it becomes too distracting for the listener.

Single track “The Age Of The Offended” brings the groove & lets the band sit back & give you a show. Full of swagger & menace this song gives vocalist & guitarist Anders Odden a real chance to experiment with his vocal delivery & also the tone of the track.  This more stripped track give’s drummer Dirk Verbeuren’s strength in percussion time to shine. Driving the tracks swing & heavy groove theme the chance to shine.

“Death Revealed” is a perfect example of what this new chapter of Cadaver is creating. An aggressive blackened death metal track but underneath are guitar lines & sections that give this great unnerving presence. In the album press  Odden proclaims “I really wanted it to be totally psychedelic. It’s a very weed-friendly album! It will be really

scary on mushrooms, I think. But you can hear the signature sound in all the albums somehow, in the riffs.”

This is totally the M.O of this album. In its D.N.A Cadaver’s signature tone is there, but within “The Age Of The Offended” there are layers that will provoke & make the listener feel uncomfortable. Where the bands last album “Edder & Bile” was a great showcase in top notch death metal, here the band have chosen to think outside of the box & not do the same thing twice which i hugely commend them on.

The stand out track on the album for me is the doomy, sludgy “The Drowning Man”. Feeling much like its title, it’s a bogy & swampy, ethereal sound that gives it that touch that makes it feel like it would fit perfectly in a cult 80’s b-movie soundtrack. It’s a stomper of a song. Featuring a blazing solo in the bridge section, it ticks all the right boxes. Give that primal death metal sound but dipping its toe in the albums mission statement of something different.

Closer “Freezing Isolation” is another example of how consistent the album is. A celestial sound using black metal style chord progressions, mixed with heavy chugs propel the track into cult status. A strong track to end the album & show that Cadaver have still got it.

Bringing in elements that a band might of not used before might be a bit unnerving to a listener but luckily “The Age Of The Offended” sound is a great continuation of where the band left off with “Edder & Bile” but also adding a new weapon to the bands arsenal. This album may be a jolt to the listeners ears but it is one of the most exciting & diverse albums the band have crafted to date.

Joseph Mitchell

The Age Of The Offended is out 21st July 2023 via Nuclear Blast