Year: 2022
Total Time: 55.45
Label: Time to Kill Records

Cadaveria come from Italy and were founded in 2001, when Cadaveria (a.k.a Raffaella Rivarolo – vocals) and Flegias (a.k.a Alberto Gaggioti a.k.a Marcelo Santos – drums) left Opera IX. With the addition of Gianluca Fontana (a.k.a Peter Dayton – Bass (also known by NECRODEATH) and Session Guitarist Enrico Toselli, they present their sixth complete album, “Emptiness”, the first after eight years. The reason for the long delay is the fact that Raffaella was diagnosed with cancer in 2018, but fortunately recovered in 2021 and now, hale and hearty, offers us this album. I would also like to point out that the nicknames Marcelo Santos and Peter Dayton come from David Lynch’s movie characters!

What exactly CADAVERIA play is a bit difficult to be answered. You will hear many genres that they try to mix like: Black Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Doom Metal, Gothic, even some progressive elements. Raffaella’s voice is what makes the difference, as her timbre ranges from extreme black metal to very melodic rock and heavy but, also, pure Gothic. It will remind you from old BATHORY to NIGHTWISH and XANTRIA, or even PLASMATICS! Generally, her voice has changes everywhere and it is like a complete performance where no one knows what to expect! Musically speaking, the compositions are close to DARK THRONE and CANDLEMASS, as well as CRADE OF FILTH, EREB ALTOR and as regards the purely rhythmic part, MERCYFUL FATE! So, after all these you can understand that there is nothing to be taken for granted in “Emptiness”! To tell the truth, I would have preferred it if they had some keyboards in their compositions for a darker atmosphere and I think that this will add to their music a lot! My favorite songs are “The Great Journey”, the first and hardest song of the record, and the title track “Emptiness”.

 “Emptiness” contains 11 compositions and is released on vinyl, cassette and cd. If you are a fan of all the above mentioned and do not get bothered by the lack of a specific style and identity, and you also want to support Raffaella in the difficult battle she continues to give in order to restore her health, you could support her by buying the record directly from the band.

Rating: 6,5/10
Editor: Dimitris Argyrakis
Related Link: CADAVERIA – Facebook Page