Review: “Primitive” by Cavernous Maw (1st Anniversary)

“Guitar and drums recorded live at our practice space with no metronome. Vocals were recorded afterwards in a home studio. We feel this “live” approach perfectly encapsulates the sonic vibe we were going for, and we couldn’t be happier with the result. Enjoy!” ~ Cavernous Maw 

Mixed and mastered by Adam Tucker (Thou, Extermination Day, Coffin Rites) at Signaturetone Recording and adorned by artwork from Chris Kiesling (Trench Warfare, Malediction, Liminal Shroud) at Misanthropic Art, the debut record from Minneapolis, Minnesota Death Metal duo Cavernous Maw was offered up to an unsuspecting world in February of 2025. The work of guitarist vocalist Niilo Smith and drummer Ben Fagerness (Gloryhole Guillotine, Graveslave, Astral Blood) it finds them flirting with other Metal sub-genres in gloriously unexpected ways…

Recording live on the floor of the practice space gives Cavernous Maw no place to hide on these recordings but that’s part of the beauty of this ripper of a debut record from the Death Metal duo because they have indeed captured that live energy that they wanted to get which makes the record sound like lightening in a bottle. Opening cut “Into the Jaws of Death” has sparse vocals as the pair get wild with their instrumental patterns, the scorching Technical Death Metal tinged riffs and thunderous percussion captivating from the very start. When those vocals to appear they’re on the shriller side of the death growl as Smith admitting in the liner notes that the record wasn’t originally supposed to have vocals at all. Fortunately it does because they open the eyes faster than a cup of skull crusher coffee.

The high tempo aggression continues into “Primitive Utopia” which is another powerhouse cut straight from the bowels of hell itself with skull rattling drumming Fagerness that provides a spine upon which the barbed riffs and savage vocals hang. Perhaps its the raw energy of it but you can’t help but crack a smile when the evil laughter at the end surfaces, the track having a fearfully addictive quality that makes you want to rewind the tape more than once. “Agrarian Society” has a couple of rich melodic passages of lead to it which add a surprising vibrancy to the piece, especially when cut against the almost feral sounding vocals from Smith, the pounding war drums giving everything that glorious rumble that says something wicked this way comes. It does when the band reach Death Grind levels of insanity with a whirlwind of percussive battery and toxic riffs in an epic crescendo that will have you wondering exactly what you just heard.

Slowing things down with a dirge laden riff “Myth of the Noble Savage” feels like 90’s American Death Metal worship that has been butchered and burned to create something distinctively Cavernous Maw. It finds the duo striking a balance between something which sounds familiar and yet has a freshness about it that draws you in for all the right reasons, their sonic abrasions impeccably carved from bone and put out there for all the world to see. Changing their angle of attack “Kinsman of Nature” has a blackened quality to it as the pair go hell for leather into a dark world of blast beats and vocal ferocity broken by a nasty spoken word and a cutting sung moment that blows the mind. Insane and intense it feels like it could go on another verse and chorus without troubling anyone while at the same time sounding like the deranged cries of someone who arrives at the emergency room with a hatchet buried in their skull.

Just when you thought you had it all figured out another wave of terror comes crashing down in the form of “Plague Hammer“, a down-tuned master class in Death Metal of infectious riffs that reach that point of complexity where you just can’t help but be enthralled. Fagerness gets creative behind the kit as well, offering ups some impressive technical fills and as the instrumental draws to a close you can just picture it setting off mosh pits in the live arena. What Cavernous Maw achieve as a duo is incredible, their chemistry and musicianship as impressive as their compositional skills. Don’t sleep on this, you’ll regret it [8/10]

Track Listing

1. Into the Jaws of Death
2. Primitive Utopia
3. Agrarian Society
4. Myth of the Noble Savage
5. Kinsman of Nature
6. Plague Hammer

“Primitive” by Cavernous Maw is out 10th February 2025 and is available over at bandcamp