Review by Alex on October 19, 2021.

So, I was made to understand that this album has been 5 years in the making and will be the first and final full length from the French death metal band Cadaveric Fumes. What do I remember of this band? The name I recall being referenced in some promos a few years ago and as far as their music goes; nothing. Great! now I get to hear the identity of a band scream out in its final labor of love.

Setting up an album with this sort of promotion behind it usually welcomes the possibility of massive disappointments. Not the case here as the main takeaway after listening to Echoing Chambers Of Soul is satisfaction. Yes, there are things that could have been done better but for what Cadaveric Fumes seemed to have been aiming for, they did enough to garnish mostly favorable results. It sounds as though they had been looking to carve out a sort of ritual-sque/trance death metal whilst still having a fair share of variation in the build of the compositions. Let's say somewhere between a Morbid Angel (instrumentally) and 2 other bands I'm too exhausted to call from memory.

The songs are moderately followable and for its short run time of around 35 minutes you're punted to the end rather quickly. I've found myself steadily returning to the music to pick-out something that maybe was missed, having to dig deeper and deeper every time as becoming familiar with the songs come rather easily. And this goes back to what was said earlier about what could have been done better and the band not applying these factors to the greatest effect. I don't think this was due to a limit in their musicianship as it's clear they have the textbook death metal notes memorized; rather, it appears as though the band pulled-back at certain points during the album to maintain that balance of having the music sound of a mixed breed; both hypnotic and semi- technical.

Opening track, 'The Stirring Unknown' strikes you as as a pummeling piece to the puzzle but with the end of that song comes an audible maturity as they begin to evince more feel and emotion with not just the interludes, but also mid-paced passages stretched out and mid-ranged guitars aiding in the development and movement of the music. You'll find this occurrence in 'The Engulfed Sepulcher' and 'In Cold Astral Sleep' that eclipse in the song writing department bringing thicker and more emotional textures into action as the album progresses. That being said, you'll get the feeling the guitars could have been louder in the lead department rather than having them nearly buried by the bassy mix because they shine on aforementioned 'The Engulfed Sepulcher' and 'In Cold Astral Sleep'.

The artwork is beautiful and gives a glamorous depiction of what's to be expected on Echoing Chambers Of Soul. Just a little bit of everything fine-tuned to fit and come together as a connected collective. It's an album that leads to new discoveries with each listen and sounds of as though it had been in the making for quite a while. As to the band, will they reemerge under a new name following the dismantling of the current? one would hope so, as there seems to be imprisoned within them more musical strengths that were not suitable for Echoing Chambers Of Soul.

A true landmark for Cadaveric Fumes and a shout towards the horizon of coming musical endeavors should they continue.

Rating: 8.2 out of 10

Review by Alex on October 19, 2021.

So, I was made to understand that this album has been 5 years in the making and will be the first and final full length from the French death metal band Cadaveric Fumes. What do I remember of this band? The name I recall being referenced in some promos a few years ago and as far as their music goes; nothing. Great! now I get to hear the identity of a band scream out in its final labor of love.

Setting up an album with this sort of promotion behind it usually welcomes the possibility of massive disappointments. Not the case here as the main takeaway after listening to Echoing Chambers Of Soul is satisfaction. Yes, there are things that could have been done better but for what Cadaveric Fumes seemed to have been aiming for, they did enough to garnish mostly favorable results. It sounds as though they had been looking to carve out a sort of ritual-sque/trance death metal whilst still having a fair share of variation in the build of the compositions. Let's say somewhere between a Morbid Angel (instrumentally) and 2 other bands I'm too exhausted to call from memory.

The songs are moderately followable and for its short run time of around 35 minutes you're punted to the end rather quickly. I've found myself steadily returning to the music to pick-out something that maybe was missed, having to dig deeper and deeper every time as becoming familiar with the songs come rather easily. And this goes back to what was said earlier about what could have been done better and the band not applying these factors to the greatest effect. I don't think this was due to a limit in their musicianship as it's clear they have the textbook death metal notes memorized; rather, it appears as though the band pulled-back at certain points during the album to maintain that balance of having the music sound of a mixed breed; both hypnotic and semi- technical.

Opening track, 'The Stirring Unknown' strikes you as as a pummeling piece to the puzzle but with the end of that song comes an audible maturity as they begin to evince more feel and emotion with not just the interludes, but also mid-paced passages stretched out and mid-ranged guitars aiding in the development and movement of the music. You'll find this occurrence in 'The Engulfed Sepulcher' and 'In Cold Astral Sleep' that eclipse in the song writing department bringing thicker and more emotional textures into action as the album progresses. That being said, you'll get the feeling the guitars could have been louder in the lead department rather than having them nearly buried by the bassy mix because they shine on aforementioned 'The Engulfed Sepulcher' and 'In Cold Astral Sleep'.

The artwork is beautiful and gives a glamorous depiction of what's to be expected on Echoing Chambers Of Soul. Just a little bit of everything fine-tuned to fit and come together as a connected collective. It's an album that leads to new discoveries with each listen and sounds of as though it had been in the making for quite a while. As to the band, will they reemerge under a new name following the dismantling of the current? one would hope so, as there seems to be imprisoned within them more musical strengths that were not suitable for Echoing Chambers Of Soul.

A true landmark for Cadaveric Fumes and a shout towards the horizon of coming musical endeavors should they continue.

Rating: 8.2 out of 10

Review by Alex on October 19, 2021.

So, I was made to understand that this album has been 5 years in the making and will be the first and final full length from the French death metal band Cadaveric Fumes. What do I remember of this band? The name I recall being referenced in some promos a few years ago and as far as their music goes; nothing. Great! now I get to hear the identity of a band scream out in its final labor of love.

Setting up an album with this sort of promotion behind it usually welcomes the possibility of massive disappointments. Not the case here as the main takeaway after listening to Echoing Chambers Of Soul is satisfaction. Yes, there are things that could have been done better but for what Cadaveric Fumes seemed to have been aiming for, they did enough to garnish mostly favorable results. It sounds as though they had been looking to carve out a sort of ritual-sque/trance death metal whilst still having a fair share of variation in the build of the compositions. Let's say somewhere between a Morbid Angel (instrumentally) and 2 other bands I'm too exhausted to call from memory.

The songs are moderately followable and for its short run time of around 35 minutes you're punted to the end rather quickly. I've found myself steadily returning to the music to pick-out something that maybe was missed, having to dig deeper and deeper every time as becoming familiar with the songs come rather easily. And this goes back to what was said earlier about what could have been done better and the band not applying these factors to the greatest effect. I don't think this was due to a limit in their musicianship as it's clear they have the textbook death metal notes memorized; rather, it appears as though the band pulled-back at certain points during the album to maintain that balance of having the music sound of a mixed breed; both hypnotic and semi- technical.

Opening track, 'The Stirring Unknown' strikes you as as a pummeling piece to the puzzle but with the end of that song comes an audible maturity as they begin to evince more feel and emotion with not just the interludes, but also mid-paced passages stretched out and mid-ranged guitars aiding in the development and movement of the music. You'll find this occurrence in 'The Engulfed Sepulcher' and 'In Cold Astral Sleep' that eclipse in the song writing department bringing thicker and more emotional textures into action as the album progresses. That being said, you'll get the feeling the guitars could have been louder in the lead department rather than having them nearly buried by the bassy mix because they shine on aforementioned 'The Engulfed Sepulcher' and 'In Cold Astral Sleep'.

The artwork is beautiful and gives a glamorous depiction of what's to be expected on Echoing Chambers Of Soul. Just a little bit of everything fine-tuned to fit and come together as a connected collective. It's an album that leads to new discoveries with each listen and sounds of as though it had been in the making for quite a while. As to the band, will they reemerge under a new name following the dismantling of the current? one would hope so, as there seems to be imprisoned within them more musical strengths that were not suitable for Echoing Chambers Of Soul.

A true landmark for Cadaveric Fumes and a shout towards the horizon of coming musical endeavors should they continue.

Rating: 8.2 out of 10

Review by Carl on August 4, 2021.

Six Weeks Records used to be among my favorite labels back in the day. Burning their name in my brain with releases by mostly stupid-fast hardcore punk bands like Charles Bronson, The Neighbors, Capitalist Casualties and Voorhees. So, when they released a full length by Crucial Unit, who I already knew from their split with Municipal Waste, you better reckon I was sitting straight up and paying attention.

If I'm going to be completely honest, I liked them better on the aforementioned split. The reason for this is that on this cd the songs got a bit longer (mind you, it's still not prog rock though) and they have incorporated more metal and hard rock into their sound, scaling down the demented thrashcore of before somewhat, which is a bit of a letdown for me. This kind of music needs to be high in the intensity stakes, without any unnecessary padding, and that is not the case here. At least not on the first part of the album, but later on more about that.

Before this release, you could compare them to acts like Attitude Adjustment, Infest (US), old D.R.I., Negative Gain and Septic Death. The usual characteristics such as the screamed vocals (alternated with hoarse barked vocals in the best powerviolence tradition), simple fast picked riffing underpinned by rapid polka beat percussion, poured into short energetic bursts of noise, it was all there. The band more or less holds on to this formula on this album (tracks 1 to 12 at least), but expanded on it with some more subdued parts, creating some longer songs in the process. Take 'Crucial United Forces', where the band nods at a more punk metal style, having me think more of bands like Inepsy or Toxic Holocaust, but they even go as far as injecting a hefty dose of Iron Maiden/Judas Priest styled guitar melodies throughout. Musically, it's not that bad, but I want to hear Crucial Unit just flying of the handle with raging, bat-shit crazy thrashing hardcore hysterics, and that's not what I get from this stuff unfortunately. It had me thinking more of Sum 41 who drank too much coffee. Hell, I heard them even deliver a not-so-subtle nod to Quiet Riot somewhere in there. Yeah, thanks but no thanks on that one. What I did appreciate on the first half of the album is the track 'Crucial Unit's Friendship Picnic', that one gave me a good Dayglo Abortions vibe, and some old school hardcore punk vibes to boot.

From track 12 on, we get (on the cd) the songs from the split with Municipal Waste, and these I like better, because here we get the band in all their unhinged glory. Fast raging punk thrash, with a lot of blasting drums and a total lack of nuance. Short songs, barely held together by the insane screams of singer Justin, its hardcore heaven, this is. It's these songs that save the album in my opinion, even if they are old recordings. That, and the hilarious song titles, of course.

Even if the music isn't bad, it left me with a light feeling of disappointment, making me miss their old bonkers sound. Still, I think the party thrash crowd will be able to appreciate it better than I do, probably. It's not a horrible album in any way, and with the whole "let's get back to the 80's" vibe going on in metal right now, it deserves to be heard.

Rating: 7 out of 10