Waking the Cadaver - Beyond Cops, Beyond God
SIEGE OF AMIDA RECORDS - August 2010
By Jason Wick
When I sit down with an album for review I make sure I dissect the piece fully, listening to it through and through in a variety of methods. I guess my training in audio engineering kicks in, but I need to access the music from the stance of a variety of headphones, music players, stereo speakers and of course the all important car system. This method is deeply engrained in me, and this method nearly drove me insane as it emphasized the extremely painful experience Beyond Cops, Beyond God has to offer to the listener.
With Waking the Cadaver's second full length release we witness what happens when ‘tough guys’ attempt to be as brutal as possible while lacking the musical infrastructure to back it up.
While the groups 2010 release does show improvement over previous material as far as production elements go, and the band managed to actually play in time throughout the entire recording this time around, the overall result is still best described by a sigh and one shaking their head. Waking the Cadaver fail to recognize there is a method to the madness when creating heavy music, and as a result their self proclaimed genre of Slamming Gore Groove never peaks interest past a good snore.
Nothing within this release manages to stand out while you navigate from track to track. Uninspired, redundant riffs are followed by more of the same. To make matters worse, none of these passages offer any semblance of flow between each other; they simply don’t make sense side by side with what had transpired beforehand, effectively burdening already broken song structures. Honestly, it’s surprising how little intrigue this album offers while creating such a mess.
Vocally the act falls into a similarly untalented spiral. Let’s just say, while Waking the Cadaver’s vocalist can’t even touch his early work, he could sure learn a lot from Chris Barnes missteps. Spewing forth blatantly unintelligent, childishly angry lyrics, there is nothing beneficial on the vocal front within this release. Slap this on top of their sloppy guitar work, simple bass lines and cliché drum fills and you will find that everything bad within this album manages to act cumulative with the other failures. Tripping over itself left and right, Beyond Cops, Beyond God amasses into one of the worst full lengths albums I have listened to within the last couple years.
Please; hardcore, death metal, gore grind…every genre that consists of ‘brutal’ elements, take note. You’re not selling out by creating music that involves thought. Let’s try to continue and progress as a genre as opposed to embracing regression as this group of New Jersey natives has. Waking the Cadaver’s efforts land them no further than the level of intentionally bad, humorous grind core bands…they just happen to be dead serious.
Official Waking the Cadaver Website
Official Waking the Cadaver MySpace
Official Siege of Amida Website
SIEGE OF AMIDA RECORDS - August 2010
By Jason Wick
When I sit down with an album for review I make sure I dissect the piece fully, listening to it through and through in a variety of methods. I guess my training in audio engineering kicks in, but I need to access the music from the stance of a variety of headphones, music players, stereo speakers and of course the all important car system. This method is deeply engrained in me, and this method nearly drove me insane as it emphasized the extremely painful experience Beyond Cops, Beyond God has to offer to the listener.
With Waking the Cadaver's second full length release we witness what happens when ‘tough guys’ attempt to be as brutal as possible while lacking the musical infrastructure to back it up.
While the groups 2010 release does show improvement over previous material as far as production elements go, and the band managed to actually play in time throughout the entire recording this time around, the overall result is still best described by a sigh and one shaking their head. Waking the Cadaver fail to recognize there is a method to the madness when creating heavy music, and as a result their self proclaimed genre of Slamming Gore Groove never peaks interest past a good snore.
Nothing within this release manages to stand out while you navigate from track to track. Uninspired, redundant riffs are followed by more of the same. To make matters worse, none of these passages offer any semblance of flow between each other; they simply don’t make sense side by side with what had transpired beforehand, effectively burdening already broken song structures. Honestly, it’s surprising how little intrigue this album offers while creating such a mess.
Vocally the act falls into a similarly untalented spiral. Let’s just say, while Waking the Cadaver’s vocalist can’t even touch his early work, he could sure learn a lot from Chris Barnes missteps. Spewing forth blatantly unintelligent, childishly angry lyrics, there is nothing beneficial on the vocal front within this release. Slap this on top of their sloppy guitar work, simple bass lines and cliché drum fills and you will find that everything bad within this album manages to act cumulative with the other failures. Tripping over itself left and right, Beyond Cops, Beyond God amasses into one of the worst full lengths albums I have listened to within the last couple years.
Please; hardcore, death metal, gore grind…every genre that consists of ‘brutal’ elements, take note. You’re not selling out by creating music that involves thought. Let’s try to continue and progress as a genre as opposed to embracing regression as this group of New Jersey natives has. Waking the Cadaver’s efforts land them no further than the level of intentionally bad, humorous grind core bands…they just happen to be dead serious.
Official Waking the Cadaver Website
Official Waking the Cadaver MySpace
Official Siege of Amida Website
