Among the crush that is the Demo:listen slush pile one demo that’s really clawed and ripped its way to the forefront and demanded my attention is Slam the Coffin Shut from Indianapolis-based trio Cadaverous. Not only with memorable riffs, skilled performances, tightmanship and boredom-obliterating dynamic variation from part to part, but the sound, i.e. the production of Slam the Coffin Shut is equal parts refreshing and impressive.
Now, according to Jesse Curtis, Cadaverous’ guitarist/vocalist: “Originally Cadaverous was meant to be a grind band. We had about ten songs written but weren’t able to get around to practicing with the lineup we had. At that point I had been listening to a lot of Tomb Mold and was interest[ed] in writing something in that style as well as being influenced by tons of OSDM bands.” Jesse adds: “Xander [Cadaverous’ bassist] and I both knew we wanted Dre [Cadaverous; drummer] to be in the band so we wrote with him in mind and luckily everything panned out!”
As for their name Cadaverous, Jesse admits, “I’d love to tell you an interesting story behind the name but I think it was just something I had seen in an article and thought it would make a killer name. As for the logo, I had spoken with Nate Vaught of Brainvault Illustrations before but we had never had a chance to flesh out any work together so this was the perfect opportunity. The only idea we had was we wanted something disgusting but legible and he provided us with a logo that we love!”
Jesse says the incarnation of Cadaverous that we hear on Slam the Coffin Shut began with himself “home recording some demos with a drum machine and sending them to Dre and Xander so they could get an idea of the songs before we jammed.” Jesse continues, “Once we finally got in a room together everything took off much quicker than expected so we decided to practice twice a week because we had really wanted to start playing shows. As of right now practices have continued this way and most likely will until we have all the songs down for our full-length.”
Regarding the EP’s lyrical themes, Jesse says, “There’s not exactly a theme that ties them together other than they’re all about gore. I’ve always been a fan of the Cannibal Corpse’s style of lyrics and they come naturally to me so we decided to go with an overall gore theme.”
As for the demo’s more natural and realistic sound, Jesse admits: “This comes as a result of us not wanting to spend money and me having a small amount of recording gear haha! I had been working on my recording capabilities for awhile and we knew we wanted a raw sound and were pretty sure it was something I could pull off so we decided to self-produce and then possibly go to a studio if it hadn’t turned out the way we had wanted and luckily we were happy with the product I was able to put together.”
And Cadaverous aren’t the only ones happy with the end result. This is what being in a band is all about! You find a way with what you’ve got because the death metal must be heard! The scene is all the richer for it, too. And soon you can be, too.
“Our EP is currently available for cassette preorder through Frozen Screams Imprint and physical copies are expected to be mailed out towards the end of March!” Jesse says.
Meanwhile, Cadaverous “have started booking and playing shows and have continued to write a ton of new material,” according to Jesse, who adds: “Our plans are to cover as much midwest territory as possible and begin recording our album in the fall!”
Go preorder Slam the Coffin Shut on “blood-red” tape from Frozen Screams.
Support the band directly.
