To be honest, I hadn’t heard of Caedes before, and neither can I find any more information about the band, so therefore I will have to stick to ‘Blood, War, Perversion’ only. The reason why this promotional copy was given to me is the fact that Caedes should play in the vein of Carpathian Forest, of which I’m a big fan, and therefore I should appreciate Caedes as well. After reading some other reviews about this album, I indeed found out that Carpathian Forest is mentioned quite often as a comparison. Well, to be short: it doesn’t sound like Carpathian Forest at all. Caedes plays, as the album title already indicates, perverse Black Metal. And yes, Carpathian Forest is also labeled as perverse Black Metal. Indeed, the artwork and lay-out of this good-looking digi-pack CD do look similar to Carpathian Forest’s artwork, though that is about all that both bands have in common.
But let’s have a closer look at this album. It starts with ‘Funeral March’, which is either an intro or just the opening track. I’m not sure about that yet. One reason for this is that the sound of this song is completely different compared to the other tracks on this album. The album has got a quite good sound, while this first track really does sound like shit. Also, musically it sounds quite different, and it is more like an industrial soundscape with some annoying screams on top of it. For me personally, it would have been better if they left this one out, as it simply doesn’t fit the album at all.
Luckily, after this little mistake, the rest of this album does sound way better and way more interesting. The first thing that came to my mind when hearing ‘Pestbeulen des alten Kults’ was Lord Belial, and in particular ‘The Ancient Slumber’ from their debut album ‘Kiss the Goat’. And to be honest, during the whole album ‘Blood, War, Perversion’, more than once the similarities with Lord Belial’s debut album came to my mind. At the same time, I have to admit that it isn’t annoying at all because it is way better to make a good copy instead of trying to be original and at the same time sound like shit. And on ‘Blood, War, Perversion’, Caedes does offer some interesting and good perverse Black Metal, so really no complaints from my side.
Also interesting is ‘Fegefeuer’, which starts as a classical, bombastic intermezzo. It actually brings back memories from ancient times, long gone now – times when the plague still ruled the European mainland. Really good! The second part of the track is again metal all the way, though this time only the vocals sound like Lord Belial. The music is a bit faster and more aggressive, yet at the same time a melodic lead is included, which makes it a bit more accessible.
The lyrics on ‘Blood, War, Perversion’ are sung in both English and German, and I have to say that the German language fits the music quite well because of the cold, nihilistic atmosphere it breathes out in these lyrics. Usually, I’m not that much into those German Black Metal bands, though Caedes proves that there are still some high-quality bands out there.
So, all in all, ‘Blood, War, Perversion’ is a good and enjoyable album, especially if you’re into Lord Belial’s first album. I personally will play this record for quite a while, as I simply enjoy this one a lot. Great perverse Black Metal… and no, even after listening to this album about 50 times already, I still cannot find those Carpathian Forest similarities!
