Cadaverette
A Farewell to Earthly Existence
self-released
Human life is finite. And while there’s plenty of entertainment out there to distract us from that fact, we can’t binge old Bob’s Burgers episodes forever, either. Eventually we need to wrestle with our existential dread. Luckily, bands like Cadaverette are there for us in these moments, creating foreboding, angst-ridden atmospheres and then turning them to ash with blistering infernos of sound. The Portland quartet describes its music as a mix of doom, sludge, jazz, “power violence” and “spazz metal.” For their second album, A Farewell to Earthly Existence, guitarist and composer Logan Abbey mined the experience of losing his father to write the lyrics of these grim, grief-stricken songs. “Needle shatters / Broken dreams / All love must bleed,” lead singer Reesa Wood cathartically screams on the pulverizing “Bleed Silence.” Abbey jumps in a few seconds later with a staggering melodic guitar solo, proving once again that art is an antidote for hopelessness. These emotional balancing acts are all over the record. The opener, “Catcall,” explores both the stately and the punishing sides of doom metal. On “Kali,” Wood’s roaring like a demon one minute, and crooning like the ghost of Rosemary Clooney the next. The collective result is a dark recording that lets in just enough light to show us the way out.
