Review by Carl on December 23, 2025.

Hold on tight to your undies, because there's something disturbingly vile and obscene oozing and blubbering this way, and no, it's not your uncle Jim for once, but the one-man army of Cadaverous Odour, which is an entity almost as vile-reeking and evil-sounding as the aforementioned uncle, probably.

The brains of the operation here is a man by the name Sasha Gallant, and what this good man has on offer for us is a bludgeoning dose of putrid and grime-encrusted death metal, cooked up by a formula that is very familiar, but goes down well nonetheless. The music on offer is a combination of slowly crawling and downtuned punishing crawl and bursts of primal pummeling velocity, with this combination being draped in a thick and heavily distorted veil of darkened atmosphere. When the foot is off the gas, Cadaverous Odour reminds me of the crawling yet bludgeoning approach that early 90's units such as Mythic, Cianide, and Demigod employed at their most glacial, sounding heavy as all fuck. These parts sound truly punishing, and when interspersed with the primitive bursts of grinding blasting in the vein of early Blood and Repulsion, there's certainly some welcome variation built into the nearly suffocating filth-ridden sound of the music. And while this may be a recipe that is a very familiar one these days, Cadaverous Odour does manage to inject something of a vibe of its own through the copious use of cool lead guitar work throughout, an aspect that sounds excellent within this concoction of old school underground-isms the band has going here. If only the low growling vocals had somewhat more variation going for them, that would've made it even better. Now they are just that bit too monotonous for my taste, but when viewed in the big picture, it's a criticism which is mostly negligible, honestly.

Because this is a compilation of demos, the sound quality does go up and down, something that is to be expected from a release such as this. It's, of course, no disaster; the volume of the music just varies in between the different recordings, luckily without ever deteriorating into grainy mush. Laudable is that everything sounds really natural and authentic throughout, without any plastic edges to the production and music, managing to truly maintain that delightfully grainy early 90's underground spirit this style of music so dearly needs. I wouldn't want it any other way, you know.

So there you have it, a death metal release that may be by the book for the most part, sounding really familiar throughout, but also truly succeeding in capturing that underground spirit you simply can't beat. And Cadaverous Odour does it while belting out a heavy combination of battering brutality and lurching crawl, with a tinge of dark atmosphere added.

Good stuff indeed!

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by George on June 11, 2020.

Over the past few weeks my relationship with Bell Witch has spiraled from passing interest to intrigue to utter obsession. I've always been a fan of the slower, more melancholic side of metal, so naturally genres like death and doom metal have become cornerstones in my mental map of the genre. Funeral doom always seemed like it should be right up my alley considering that, but it was always just that little bit too simple with too few elements to connect to for me to really enjoy it. That all changed recently when this album finally made me understand something very important - that's the point. And after that revelation I could truly appreciate the excellent musicianship on display.

There's so many things that make Mirror Reaper great that it becomes hard to catalogue all of them. There are no real buildups or climaxes to speak of, but the composition is incredibly fluid, travelling between agony and ambient acceptance with ease. Despite its monstrous length it manages to be one of the most cohesive albums I've ever listened to, with absolutely no transitions feeling out of place or forced, something I can't even say about my favourite "long-form song" album ("Winter's Gate" by Insomnium). Saying that Mirror Reaper is a musical journey isn't doing it justice. It's a compete emotional odyssey.

Then there's the way an atmosphere is created. It's pretty easy to layer tracks upon tracks of melodies and synth lines to create an expansive sound, but as much as I enjoy listening to that kind of music there's something really special about the simplicity in Bell Witch's approach. One organ, more often than not playing singular, droning notes reminiscent of a funeral dirge, and a bass guitar is all the band needs. The bass usage is astounding - by letting the low notes ring out until they fade the bassist creates a soundscape that feels incredibly full yet empty at the same time. The feeling that something is missing hangs in the spaces between notes, and it's a perfect reflection of grief.

Speaking of grief, know that the album is not an easy listen. It comes from a place of genuine sorrow and pain, with the former drummer Adrian Guerra's death serving as the main inspiration. Mirror Reaper is a memorial to him, complete with an ambient section halfway through featuring unused vocal tracks from his time in Bell Witch. It's probably the most poignant and reflective moment on the song, and for Mirror Reaper that speaks volumes. The soundscape, which at the beginning was formed by pained-sounding power chords has been reduced to little more than a single gently plucked note every few seconds. It's completely ethereal, an effect only added to by the echoing vocal tracks, a voice speaking its poetry from beyond the grave.

The final thing I want to talk about is the non-musical components of the album. Oftentimes I find myself needing a fitting cover to connect the music I'm hearing to and Mirror Reaper delivers with some of the most beautiful cover art I've ever seen. The piece, one of many metal album covers by one Mariusz Lewandowski, matches the tone of the music perfectly in its surreal, dreamlike beauty. The lyrics also fit into the aesthetic Bell Witch are trying to achieve, being abstract enough to not be intrusive but also layered with enough meaning for the keen listener to interpret.

So, overall, Mirror Reaper is a masterpiece that has rightfully attained a cult status in the metal community. It's a cohesive voyage from the deepest recesses of grief to the emptier quietness of acceptance and, whether attentively or in the background of other activities, I recommend every doom metal fan gives it a listen. That's part of the beauty - it works either way.

Rating: 9.7 out of 10