Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Album Of The Month: BACKYARD MORTUARY`s “Lure of the Occult” / CADAVERIC FUMES` “Macabre Exaltation” - The face-off is closed, the winner is metal!

Indecision is the word that best describes this article, June album of the month article. We ran into two extremely rotten works that are focused in the same basis: build up darkness with tons of brain melting death metal. and after listening to these two bands, we couldn´t simply chose one for the album of the month page. There were too many factors in hand to leave one behind and when we decided that we had reached a dead end the resolution was very simple… A two band article. This is a different path for us in the way that two bands will share the spotlight and will be compared in a death metal face-off.

12"LP (release date: June 10th)
In one side we have the death/doom metal band BACKYARD MORTUARY rooted deep within the ancient art of mega heavy chainsaw notes and grinding sound with “Lure of the occult” vinyl release and in the other side we have CADAVERIC FUMES liberating the incomparable French death metal with a unique sound like a breed between black atmospheric metal and death metal with “Macabre Exaltation” also bringing back the joy of the “live sound” of the good old friend vinyl

The Australians BACKYARD MORTUARY aren´t joking around and experience tells that they really know what they are doing. They´ve been around since 2002 and released one demo in 2002, a self-title debut EP in 2005 and the “Lure of the Occult” album in 2012. This quintet is all about giving life to old school hazard environment. Despite there´s nothing new in here I think they’ve done an awesome work that surpasses many death metal bands in many ways. The sound really stands out mainly due to the constant brutality of every song, the variation of speed that is always changing between fast mode, mid-paces and slow rhythms, the great vocal work and the five stars production. I have to say that my favorite lines of the record are the slow ones and when those small but great anti melodic solos hit you like a truck after a riffing speed session, that´s just honey for my ears.

One of the things that really surprised me was the excellent production of the album that so you can understand the quality involved it was self-released and yet with a high level of professionalism only comparable with giants. I´m sure that the vinyl quality will be even greater but that´s my purist point of view. All the dark magic surrounding the record will be unleashed like you were listening to the band playing in an underground basement; it will be the rebirth of the old school in its proper essence.

The opening song of “Lure of the Occult”- “Last Rites”- is what one may call by super heavy weight doom and what an entrance! The slow and head crushing doom chords prepare the listener for the forthcoming musical chaos that will progress with intelligence and a dark elegance that can´t be “seen” many times. The continuity of the music is always interesting and won´t become boring; believe me you will spend all the time headbanging while listening to all songs. The last track is called “Demons Blood” and by far my favorite with eight minutes of really slow and heavy doom for you to savor… killer song to end this killer work.

For a band that´s around for some time this shows that they´ve been working their asses off to unleash good death metal and in my opinion Australians can be very proud of BACKYARD MORTUARY at least I like them and I’m Portuguese.




If you are from Australia you have to travel many miles in NNW direction to find the invokers of death, the exhumers of chaotic melodies and the precedents of a metal cultural blend the French CADAVERIC FUMES.

Well… I have to say that CADAVERIC FUMES are at least the realization of my most morbid nightmares. Listening to this band is like hearing conjurations of spells and curses in the vilest atmosphere. The quartet is recent but fuck me they play as if doomsday was coming but we could see that coming in a way, CADAVERIC FUMES were born in 2011 but all of them played in other bands and still play (Romain Gibet – THROAT OF OBLIVION; Wenceslas Carrieu – GROTESQUE STRING MANIPULATOR; Léo Brard – PULSATION FROM BEYOND; Reuben Muntrand – INFRASONIC DOOMBRINGER.)


12"MLP (release date: June 10th)
After listening to BACKYARD MORTUARY and CADAVERIC FUMES you can instantly perceive that the difference between Australian death metal and French death metal is huge. The First one is an old school death/doom with few details but heavy as hell and with many variations of rhythm while the second one is a much more melodic death metal with some black metal lines to it and many details in the background. It’s easy to understand that while Australians seek old influences the French try to find new ways to represent their unmistakable innovative sound. Each one of them in perfect harmony and lucidity in their own path.

In terms of production CADAVERIC FUMES´ “Macabre Exaltation” isn´t so well produced as “Lure of the Occult” but that doesn’t mean it´s less good because it´s supposed to sound like if a building is being demolished. In this case the rawer the better! Why would you expected an overproduced death metal with black elements that presents a gore ambient? You don´t… So In my opinion the production is good as it is and period!

“Macabre Exaltation” starts with the title song a ritual like track that will give you a shiver down the spine with creepy demonic voices. After the title almost 19 minutes of classic death metal follows but wrapped in a solid and very audible background of melodic elements such as the use of the organ and many effects (check out the song “Gravecrusher”) that compose all the details involved in this 5-piece work.


Like BACKYARD MORTUARY, CADAVERIC FUMES won´t get boring during the journey they offer so you just need to sit down and just enjoy the heaviness and good soundscapes while hordes of chaos destroy your ears during the process.

After saying this the two bands share the same greatness each in their own way so I really couldn´t just pick one like I said before and they aren´t properly in the same category so it would be unwise for me to say that one is better than the other when that´s not the case.
The face-off is closed, the winner is metal! facebook.Blood-Harvest-Records | bloodharvest.se 

facebook.backyardmortuary | facebook.Cadaveric-Fumes 

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