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Cadaveria - The Shadows' Madame review



Reviewer:
8.6

50 users:
7.32
Band: Cadaveria
Album: The Shadows' Madame
Release date: March 2002


01. Spell
02. Declaration Of Spiritual Independence
03. In Memory Of Shadows' Madame
04. Circle Of Eternal Becoming
05. The Magic Rebirth
06. Black Glory
07. Absolute Vacuum

Is different a synonym of good, or bad? I guess for purists, it will be a synonym of bad. I'm (almost) never a purist or whatever word fits better for what I'm about to say: Cadaveria is different to Opera IX and fans of Cadaveria's former band might think this new project is not at the level or that she "sold out" or whatever. I'll write this review without making comparisons because I believe one of the reasons of starting a new project is probably to experiment something new (I know sometimes it does not apply), and to separate from certain style.

Cadaveria's singing goes from a clean melodic (and kind of innocent) voice to harsh growls. Also there are no flaws, or bad choice in her vocal work; she is an experienced and professional singer. Frank Booth does a great job on guitars. Riffs are cool and elaborate, and there are some noticeable influences in his riffs that I'll refer to again shortly. As for which genre they belong to, I can't tell, but one thing I know: This isn't black metal (although "The Magic Rebirth" will give us a glimpse of it around the five minute mark). On "Absolute Vacuum" (also around the five minute mark) there's a glimpse of nu metal, and the beginning of "Declaration Of Spiritual Independence" will make you picture the guitarist and bassist waiving their instruments from side to side as Iron Maiden used to do. I'm not implying they sound similar to this iconic band, I just want to point out the first riff in this song sounds kind of heavy metal. Let's notice that in these three examples, the guitar is the instrument that directs or gives shape to the songs. Definitely an album dominated not only by Cadaveria, but also by Booth's riffs.

The guitars are elaborate, and I like the fact that songs have several different riffs in them, although some songs like "Circle Of Eternal Becoming," "Black Glory," and the beginning of "In Memory Of Shadows' Madame" could use some melody of any type. The way the album is structured, another guitar would be the the right way to go.

The album lasts less than 40 minutes, so everyone could agree that it is rather short. Nevertheless, this debut offers good stuff. It might not be a perfect album and it might seem Cadaveria discuss the same topic in the majority of their songs, but overall, I say Marcelo Santos and Cadaveria made no mistake when they decided to start this project.

Fresh, original, tough, and experimental are some words that come to my mind to describe this album. And I think they were honest by releasing a short but solid album, rather than having a long recording with filler songs.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 7
Originality: 9
Production: 9

Written by The_Hellion | 26.11.2019




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.

Staff review by
Undercraft
Rating:
8.0
Definitively the first thing that caught my attention was the cover art, is great, the gal there with those Freddy Kruger gloves, the nice logo and the photography that has been given the mosaic treatment, very artsy!

But who is Cadaveria? Well, Cadaveria is the former singer from Opera IX, and she released 2 albums with that outfit, "Sacro Culto" and "The Black Opera", two great Black Metal albums if you ask me. Reason enough to give this one a chance.

Read more ››
published 19.11.2003 | Comments (3)


Comments

Comments: 2   Visited by: 13 users
26.11.2019 - 13:49
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
This is bad, opera is good, but we need to usu to this
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Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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29.11.2019 - 04:49
The_Hellion

What didn't you like about this album?
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Metal everyday!
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