Cadaveric Fumes - Echoing Chambers of Soul LP

Going out on the grandest of notes, CADAVERIC FUMES’ first/final album keeps one foot planted in the band’s not-inconsiderable past and another in equally-dazzling new territory. Truly, Echoing Chambers of Soul is aptly titled, for there’s an ominously spacious MURK here – but unlike so many trendy “cavernous” bands of the past decade, CADAVERIC FUMES are skilled songwriters (keenly note SONG) and are equally skilled at finding that elusive nexus between “pure” and “progressive.” There’s a stomp and strut here that’s stultifying to behold – pure early ’90s panache, and authentically so – but then arises from that murk godly leads and other finessed touches of texture, making Echoing Chambers of Soul both spirit-crushing and -uplifting. We’d even deign to call it “beautiful” if not for the ever-present darkness so central to death metal…and then, like that, CADAVERIC FUMES fade to the ether and cease to exist.