Death metal is a genre was has given the metal world many gems. From classics, to modern masterpieces, the genre continues to deliver great pieces of work. One of the great modern albums is “Cacophony of Terror” by Nightmarer, which is at the same time an ode to the classics and providing new material that is extremely well done. “The Descent” is this album’s intro, and is a short instrumental piece that is nothing if not heavy. Here, the band gives the listener a preview to what exactly they’re getting into, and then immediately launches into “Stahlwald”. This song is extremely heavy, while at the same time very dark. The old school vibe permeates the music, and the band delivery on a truly intense experience. Up next is “Skinner”, which features and awesome opening guitar, and is a much faster pace than the previous track. This song stays heavy all the way through, while at the same time varying up the paces the writing to keep it refreshing.
This leads into “Bleach”, a song with a very haunting opening. The darkness from earlier is back, and the riffs here are solid as hell. While this song isn’t quite as heavy, the atmosphere the band builds is great, making this a very unique track on this album. “Cave Digger” is a slower track, opening riff a really nice riff. The writing on here feels methodical, with every note carefully planned. The second half of this song gets extremely heavy, even for this album. This is another great song from this band. “Fetisch” is the next song, and is another slow opener. However, once this one picks up, it becomes fast, heavy, and chaotic. At times this track sounds downright evil, and the ending is nice and heavy. This leads directly into “Tidal Wave of Terror”. The opening to this song isn’t quite as heavy, and the band chooses to bring the dark tone back again. This is a faster song with nice guitar work and tight drumming. “Ceremony of Control” is up next, and has a very fast and heavy intro. The opening riff here is very solid. The writing is once again good, and the dark tone doesn’t skip this track.
Up next is “Death”, and this one opens with an ambient intro, which does run a bit long, before launching into a slower, extremely heavy song that feels very dark. This is a great ending song, pulling some of the highlight ideas shown in previous tracks, and bringing them all together. “Swangong” ends this album, and acts as the outro. Similar to the intro, it’s a short instrumental that, while not doing a whole lot, ends the album on a good note. This is a very solid album. Fans of death metal should be happy, this is another project delivering great material.
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Review by Sam Hookom
