Cadaver Coils is a recently activated solo project out of Athens, Greece and while I could likely take a few guesses as to whom the fellow is it’d prove pointless and uninteresting trivia. Much of this debut full-length suggests it is either his first solo venture in the death metal realm, or, (the one guess I will venture) that this is death metal from the perspective of someone well-rooted in black metal or bestial black/death idealism. ‘Offerings of Rapture and Decay‘ is the best sort of nowadays homebrewed cult underground release for the sake of it being an amateur project destined to sit and stew as an irregularly cut gem of uncertain qualities. With no accessible point of interest given up front beyond aesthetic only the most curious and morbid will engage with its finer points, the divination of its innards will inevitably be resigned to surface level reading of an ambitious yet modest first lungful of breath. I’m sure we can do better than that, though, even when given absolutely no reason to beyond great album art.

The way I’ve read Cadaver Coils‘ ambitions at face value is a dramatic stroke of blackened death metal which hasn’t yet found the “heavy rock” resolve of their lead guitar elements in sensible placement and/or linkage to tracks written around structurally sound rhythm guitar directive (movements vs. riffs) rather than vocal cadence. In this sense the major voice of the experience wanders in and out as if motorik at times, eerie lead guitars drop in regularly with distracting and somethings unrelated whipping or even the occasional alluring wail into cavernous dread. The irregular harmonization of lead and rhythm guitars provides a sense of disarray which doesn’t have a sensible ‘old school’ application in pure death metal canon unless we consider earlier “war metal” or bestial death metal avenues, at least not until we consider the perhaps far more idiosyncratic and singularly stated vision of a group like Desecresy. Pale-faced and possessed mid-paced death metal with strong atmospheric intent should be the initial takeaway upon introductions.

The provided literature is the only guide available in terms of intent, gearing us to records like Mythos‘ ‘Pain Amplifier‘ for a brilliantly deep cut from one of black/death’s ugliest post-‘Ugra-Karma‘ ascendant forms but, the average listener today might find something in the realm of Embrace of Thorns‘ ‘Darkness Impenetrable‘ instead, though we’re only securing general linkages of oeuvre and nothing Cadaver Coils does is quite as rabid or brutally set as, say, Archgoat. It is worth considering some elements of the ‘Moulded in Clay‘ as an somewhat obvious parallel line drawn, such as the adventurous use of tremolo riffing over very straight forward death metal rhythms and a generally blackened snarl feeding deliberate semi-melodic movements yet Cadaver Coils doesn’t feature an earthen, soil-bound death metal basement tape feeling. This is largely due to the drumming, I am not sure if the drums are programmed here or not but a certain rigidity in their movement (think: ‘Dethrone the Son of God‘, bare yet effective) adds to the comparisons made.

Five 6-7 minute riff driven pieces provide the bulk of this ~37 minute album, while we could spend a fair amount of time debating the finer points of sub-genre and influences the experience itself reads as a 90’s death metal album in spirit but perhaps a later decade record with most of the latent brutality of thrash metal’s last gasp fucked off for the sake of darker, more sinister black and doom metal destitution. The slower paced aspect generally shows up in the form of mid-paced grooves (“Fruits of Avarice”) which features as a distinctly ‘evil’ Scandinavian warp at its best or as a loosened more fluid Necros Christos-esque gloom (“Arid Sand Tomb”). These are the moments which make this relatively modest record stand out and bear a bit more personality than expected, ensuring these longer form pieces each contribute an overstated vibe which adds to the overall character of ‘Offerings of Rapture and Decay‘.

Maybe it’ll seem trite to the most jaded abounding but there is something to be said for a song that gets the leg kicking, the head lunging forward with the hit of a strong-ass riff, and in this sense Cadaver Coils have won me over by simply presenting an actual metal record with riffs. Sure, the leads aren’t all squared away and the rhythm section needs the touch of an expert to realize the greater ambitions of this songcraft but ‘Offerings of Rapture and Decay‘ definitely still hits the mark as malevolently creeping, murderous death metal with considerable arcane atmosphere. The aesthetic, the riffs, and the greater concept definitely deserve elaboration and/or iteration. A moderately high recommendation.

Info:
ARTIST:	CADAVER COILS
TITLE:	Offerings of Rapture and Decay
LABEL(S):	Iron Bonehead Productions
RELEASE DATE:	May 27th, 2022

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