Review: “Deities Of Deathlike Sleep” by Grand Cadaver

“We never even planned to release a full-length album, and here we are with our second! “Deities of Deathlike Sleep” was conceived and recorded with the same mindset and the same team as our previous recordings, keeping it quick, spontaneous and enjoyable. This time it turned out a bit more dynamic, with the pummelling fury interspersed with some doom, gloom and darkness. But still, it’s simply ten tracks of Swedish F***ing Death Metal, the way we love it” ~ Grand Cadaver

The truth is that when it comes to a super group there can be no real telling what they’re going to conjure between them. If one or two musicians dominate as the main songwriters then the group may produce offerings that sound like their prior works, if the writing is a truly collaborative process then you may find something truly unique. It’s impossible to judge from the component parts alone what the outcome will be until you’ve heard it first hand. That being said, in the case of Grand Cadaver, their line up and two previous records have already spoken volumes about what they have to offer. Naming and shaming them, Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity, The Halo Effect) Stefan Lagergren (The Grifted, Treblinka, Tiamat, Expulsion), Alex Stjernfeldt (Novarupta, Child, Mr. Death) Christian Jansson (Pagandom, Dark Tranquillity) and Daniel Liljekvist (Disrupted, Vorder, Katatonia) founded the Swedish Death Metal act during the great plague years. EP ”Madness Comes” dropped in 2021 followed by their full-length debut ”Into The Maw of Death” both of which received critical acclaim… but if their return to their main squeeze would mean the end, then nothing could be further from the truth. Their second full-length album “Deities of Deathlike Sleep” wasn’t even supposed to be an album, such is creative juice flowing through their veins at the moment. Recorded by Per Stålberg, Kalle Lilja and Daniel ‘Dollars’ Deurell at Welfare Studios in Gothenburg it was mixed by Per Stålberg (Child, Statutes, Lock Up) and mastered by Johan Reivén (Industrial Puke, LOK, Diablo Swing Orchestra) at Audiolord Mastering…

Opening with the rampaging “The Forever Doom“, a cut with a frenetic energy and crushing atmosphere, the Death Metal growls of Stanne confirm that he hasn’t gone soft in his old age. He sounds like the living embodiment of the grim reaper on this one, this throat scraping uncleans the harsh last words before death, wrapped in warm fuzzy riffs before a tasteful slow down in the final moments. Liljekvist brings the blasting to “A Crawling Feast of Decay” from behind the kit as the band offer up something with tinges of Black Metal as well as some Melodic Death Metal leads to liven things up. Another vicious little ditty, it re-affirms the bands commitment to the dark arts and hits like a punch in the face with the kind of sonic abrasions that other bands would give blood, sweat and tears for. Earworm riffs enter the fray with “The Wishful Dead“, the chant-able chorus a headbangers delight in an adrenaline rush of an anthemic cut before the groove laden “Serrated Jaws” offers a darker, more hypnotic vibe. An absolute powerhouse of a track, Stanne plays role of a serial killer against a backdrop of some huge riffs fit for worship at the alter of the damned. Liljekvist brings some almost tribal kit work into play while the atmosphere drips with sinister and menacing overtones that fill the poison chalice and feed the nightmarish vision. Naturally the album title track “Deities Of Deathlike Sleep” is an absolute tour de force of what Grand Cadaver are all about, an adrenaline fuelled white knuckle hell ride with guitar drop out for an extended dirge laden bass drive courtesy of Jansson mid track. It’s a special moment from a group of musicians in their element playing songs with so much verve, swagger and confidence that it’s fearfully addictive.

144 seconds of pure Swedish Death Metal splits the album clean in half like a hatchet through the skull in “Vortex Of Blood“, a track that takes no prisoners and leaves nothing but a trail of corpses with snapped necks in its wake. A prime cut, it has not an ounce of fat to be trimmed before “Funeral Reversal” begins a slower Doom laden march from Hell. If anyone thought the cut was going to be a soft centre the ascent into bursts of blast beats with several incredibly well worked tempo shifts proves them wrong. Ethereal darkness wraps itself around “True Necrogeny” like poison ivy, the ominous main riff a call to arms that finds Stanne spitting blood venom with pure spiteful fury. This one actually sounds like Cradle Of Filth playing a Pestilence cover, such is the quality of what Grand Cadaver are capable of producing. The title “Stabbed With Frozen Blood” doesn’t really do justice to the violently turbulent cut played out at the tempo of the damned, the tale a classic low budget horror film narrative that you would expect from the Bolt Thrower worshipping Frozen Soul. Riffs galore, it continues the hate machines spiralling into madness with vicious intent. Lowering the bloodstained curtain on this depraved horror “Necrosanctum” continues to psychotically punch the corpse with bloody hands as the death nerve twitches. Keys add an icy touch to the madness, the atmosphere and intensity second to none. What’s glorious about the finale is that it wraps perfectly around the opening cut so if you place the record on repeat, you won’t even notice that the winds of plague have begun to torment your mind once more… [8.5/10]

Track Listing

1. The Forever Doom
2. A Crawling Feast of Decay
3. The Wishful Dead
4. Serrated Jaws
5. Deities Of Deathlike Sleep
6. Vortex Of Blood
7. Funeral Reversal
8. True Necrogeny
9. Stabbed With Frozen Blood
10. Necrosanctum

“Deities Of Deathlike Sleep” by Grand Cadaver is out 25th August 2023 via Majestic Mountain Records and is available over at bandcamp