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Spawn of Possession > Cabinet > Reviews
Spawn of Possession - Cabinet

Complex, demonic, intense ... and oh the guitars! - 90%

BloodIronBeer, November 12th, 2012

This is the very definition of technical death metal.

Keeping more of the raw feel in the production from the decade past, and the level of technicality from the decade to come, this album has the best of both worlds. The lead guitar work on display here rivals the best metal has to offer. The harmonies, the sickening harmonies! There are a lot of solos on this album, and all of them decimate.

The lyrics on this album twist religion into something demented. Totally evil!

This album is very technical. Very. Very. Technical. When you listen to music of this sort, or really any music with any thought put into it - you have to understand that listening to it is an activity. Not something you can kick back with and casually listen to. Put your mind to the task of listening to it, LISTEN to it. There are patterns, ideas being strung together that are not readily apparent. It will also take a vast number of listens for things to sink in and to see what's being done.

Again I have to tackle the issue of memorability in technical death metal and this band in particular. I will admit, there are a couple riffs I could identify as leaning on filler, and due to their technicality it's really hard to see them as anything memorable. There's plenty of memorable bits to this album though - including the main riff to Swarm of the Formless, most of Dirty Priest, including it's brain-hemorraging guitar solo, leads and harmonies. Spawn of Possession is a memorable song all around, with a sweet chorus "EVIL DEMON!", Inner Conflict has a very unique harmonic riff, and the title track's opening riffs will rupture your genitals.

The one gripe I would say I have is that the production feels a tad off somehow, and I can't quite put my finger on it. The drums aren't triggered, big plus. But then, they also sound like they're a bit quiet in the mix and lack potency sometimes. The guitar also feels like it is kind of lacking in bone snapping distortion at times, too. I was recently checking out Erlend's (the bassist) videos on YouTube and I noticed his bass parts are FAR more elaborate than I initially thought - it's just that you can't hear it very clearly in the album. I opened the review saying I liked the production, and I do, for the sake of the feel of it - but for the actual sound and quality of each instrument, not so much.

The production aside, this album is short, and doesn't explore all the elements and textures that the band would later impliment - and having said all this - this album still completely kills. In fact, having listened to the bands newest album, I figured I'd go back and listen to this, only to find I actually appreciate it more now than I ever did; I opened the review of Incurso saying this band was "good technical death metal", but I was really not properly representing the skill this band has seemingly had since this, their debut.

Conclusion: the production may leave a bit to be desired, but the genital-rupturing guitar work, evil lyrics and mind-fucking technicality cannot be held back by it.

Scratching my skin from the inside - 80%

autothrall, April 27th, 2010

To the unprepared, Spawn of Possession's full-length debut was like a well timed ambush. Sweden was always (and remains) best known for its old Tomas Skogsberg guitar tones, the grinding and pummeling sound of formative bands like Entombed and Dismember, which transformed into the melodic dominance of At the Gates and In Flames. But there is another side to Swedish death metal, the technically infused brutality of bands like Visceral Bleeding, Anata and, now, Spawn of Possession.

Cabinet is a very surgical record, with precise strikes of technical death metal reflective of a great many brutal US influences. You can hear the Floridian roots to the sound, but Spawn of Possession was superior to many of their peers during the earlier 21st century. Cabinet is an acrobatic record, each track a collection of whirlwind riffing, a labyrinth of brutality that each listener must unravel one corridor at a time. It's thoroughly entertaining, even if there aren't a lot of extremely memorable riffs to die for. "Swarm of the Formless" and "Hidden in Flesh" are a colossal entry point, with so many guitars flying past that your head may twist of its neck if aren't expecting them. Deeper on, the album maintains its untiring level of busywork, with standouts being "Dirty Priest", "Inner Conflict", and "The Forbidden", but every track a lattice of technicality and inspiration.

The lyrics center on classic tales of occult/horror films, which is pretty cool, considering most tech death bands prefer a gore/medical theme to accompany their audio surgeries. The band's level of technicality is bewildering, and of course the mix needs to be crisp that all of these guitars can pop with the nuances of their frantic riffing. The leads on the album are creepy, and despite the thinness of the tones, there is an oppressive, dark atmosphere captured on every track. The vocals are similar to Glen Benton's lower, growling voice in Deicide. I won't claim Cabinet is a masterpiece of the genre, as there aren't so many individual, haunting tracks, but it's a tight 40 minutes of impressive, athletic brutality done well. Admirers of this album would also do well to pick up the followup, Noctambulant.

Highlights: Swarm of the Formless, Hidden in Flesh, Inner Conflict, The Forbidden

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Awesomeness Inexplicable - 99%

Bren_den, August 4th, 2009

I couldn’t really follow this band when I started listening to them, but something hidden within their amazing skill kept me interested long enough for me to realize how technical something can be and still be felt. “Cabinet” broke down a barrier for me and changed the way I perceive music. It’s one of those rare, enlightening experiences that I was totally not expecting thanks to the band‘s name. Plus the album title isn’t very intimidating as far as death metal goes, but it gives me the impression of some sort of evil container full of otherworldly magic... which it is.

Swarm of the Formless gives a taste of a simpler, rocking riffs that are fairly easy to latch on to upon first listen, and a quick glimpse at the seemingly routine poundings that the bass is going to give for the rest of the album. I actually think this song was meant to prepare all the feeble listeners for the shredfest ahead of them.

A Presence Inexplicable starts with a mighty chugging riff reminiscent of a giant stomping on daisies. It then breaks away to a new palm-muted riff that is tighter than a frightened virgin before a sacrifice. More of this leads way to an epic, sorrowful solo, followed by one of the most orgasmic “breakdowns” I’ve ever heard; It changes to an agonizing slow pace with tortured screams in the background, picks up speed a little, then again at a jogging pace which feels like you are floating in the space between your steps hitting the ground, only to speed up once more to realtime at an adrenaline-inducing pace. Definitely head-bangable, and definitely well thought out, this part gets me so pumped it feels like it’s actually possessing me!

As the album progresses we see some older songs redone with, like the whole album, extremely clean and audible production. Let me just say that before I bought the CD I listened to this album on a burnt mp3 CD and thought it was excellent, now with the actual disk it feels like the depth of the tone quality is infinite except for how loud I can actually play it. Spawn seems to showcase more tight little sweeps, pinch harmonics and hooks near the middle, such as on Inner Conflict, the song Cabinet, and The Forbidden. These are like microcosmic versions of the solos in most songs. The notes are played smoothly and flow naturally like a spilled liquid, the best example of this being in Dirty Priest.

The only weak point I can spot on this album is the annoying high pitch on the intro and outro… It sounds like a pig squeal sped up a few times in sound recorder and you will literally think it is never going to end unless you fast forward, until finally, ahhhh sweet relief. Cabinet kicks me in the nuts every time I listen to it and I can’t help but get this feeling of pure energy at certain points. I’m glad that I decoded it and gave it time to grow on me so I could comprehend it fully. There’s nothing more I could think of asking for after hearing this album.

Amazingly Technical, Amazingly Kick-Ass - 98%

Cryptwatcher, April 11th, 2008

Now, I have always been a large fan of the Technical Death Metal scene, my favorite bands being Cryptopsy, Decapitated, Cynic, Necrophagist, etc., and seeing the guitar work of all these bands makes me think I have seen the most technical music can get. I was wrong. REALLY wrong. Spawn Of Possession is, and most likely, will always be the most technical band I have ever heard. Being all over the fretboard, even one of my best friends who has played guitar far nine years was unable to play even a few seconds of the song.

Now, onto the sound itself. This is quite possibly the best Technical Death Metal album released since Cryptopsy's "None So Vile," making a mark as a true death metal band. With only two full length releases, Spawn Of Possession has intensely rose in popularity rapidly.

The three best tracks on this album on my opinion are "Inner Conflict" and "Spawn Of Possession." The guitar work, being my favorite aspect of this work by Spawn of Possession is very unique and original, bringing in classical music influence to the writing of the guitar work, making the guitars very technical and complex, yet melodic and catchy. It nearly feels as if you are listening to classical music... really heavy and brutal classical music.

The drum work on this album is also very good. Like the guitars, it is extremely technical, and give the album a groove feeling to it, yet using blast beats and technical drumming styles at the same time.

The vocals are not really anything special really, they are just typical death metal vocals, which kind of takes away the enjoyment a little because the rest of the album is very original and unique, but then there is the vocalist is not. He is a good vocalist, don't get me wrong, but he does not offer anything new. Hopefully he will do a different attempt on his next album, which I am very eager to listen to.

In conclusion, this is one damn good death metal album due to the originality in the instrumentals. Go ahead and listen to it! Any death metal fan is sure to love it!

Quite alright. - 76%

William_Bacon, September 17th, 2006

I must say, all of this "Brutal Death Metal" these days is, well, silly. Almost worthy of a description as harsh as pathetic, or even as straight forward as crappy. More or less, it all sounds just too similar. This, on the other hand, is truely awesome. Of course, it is more devoted to the technical side than brutal, and that is really a wonderful thing.

Now, onto the album itself: It's currently one of my favorite Death Metal albums, and to tell the truth, in the last month I've been through about 20 new death metal albums, and this one is among the few I've accepted as "Adequate" by my seemingly too high of standards.

It's awesomely technical, which I see as a plus. There are plently of solos (also a plus), as well as tempo changes here and there.

There is one thing about this album that I don't much care for, though not necessarily a bad thing, and that would be that there aren't exactly any truely memorable tracks. They all seem to run together, into some sort of giant Technical Death song, one that is overall memorable.

The way I see it, if you want to piss away 12 bucks on a random album, go ahead and get this.

Cupboard - 70%

AtteroDeus, February 2nd, 2005

Well, I have no idea why the band chose to name their debut album seemingly after a piece of household furniture, but that's not really the point.

To describe Spawn Of Possession's sound as "technical brutal death metal" is a bit of a cop-out I think... In my opinion they're not particularly brutal, though definately technical of which there can't really be any argument.

Considering the only other band labelled 'technical brutal death metal' on Metal-Archives that I've heard would be the much heavier Demonicon, I'm drawn to the conclusion that Spawn Of Possession have much more in common with that other burgeoning Swedish (non-melodic) death metal band, Anata.

Anata on the one hand blow you away with their technical prowess and vertigo-inducing rythmic blasts, Spawn Of Possession on the other hand manage to pull of almost a similar effect some of the time.... the rest of the time just sounds either generic or just plain cheesy.
This isn't to say that 'Cabinet' warrants being called a 'bad' album, far from it. It's just that after 4 or 5 songs following practically the EXACT same formula over and over again, regardless of the (bland) quality of the content, it gets extremely tiresome and boring.

My personal favourite of the songs would probably be Swarm Of The Formless as it's the only one of the bands attempts at this particular formula that undeniably works and is highly enjoyable to listen to.
The rest of the songs might well sound alright if played on their own, say in the middle of other band's songs or something, but put all together it just gets highly predictable as to what's going to happen next.
Plus the constant attempted one-upmanship with the (decidedly average) guitar playing tends to get tedious too.

Other than that, I dare say, unless you're a curious diehard Visceral Bleeding fan (who share vocalist Rondrum with Spawn Of Possession) or can't get enough of Anata-style techfest done to a sub-standard.... you yourself might find yourself getting as bored as i did after 5 or 6 tracks.
One excellent tracks, nine monotonous songs and an intro.
Not bad, though plenty of room for improvement.

I cannot tell you ... it's ... forbidden - 91%

Racingtr, March 17th, 2004

Alright, I suppose I can tell you ... ;)

Back in October, a friend of mine had me listen to "Swarm of the Formless," a song available for listening on Unique Leader's website. I was impressed -- in the first minute alone, I heard harmony, brutality, melody, and technicality. Needless to say, I went and downloaded (I know ... I'm poor) the entire album, and was rewarded with happiness, glee, and other such assorted emotions. It certainly lived up to the expectations I had placed upon the album during my listen(s) to "Swarm of the Formless" -- high quality musicianship, technical guitar, bass, and drum work, competent growling (with some variety in the delivery), riff and tempo changes/diversity ... even a number of good solos are played in this album. The clarity of the production is a relief ... anything more distorted than what they chose to go with would more likely than not cloud the convoluted cranium-crushing attack they so wonderfully employ.

Forgive me father, for I have sinned, but ... we all stray from the path, sometimes -- I'll spare a song by song review, and leave it to you to hear it for yourself; this is definitely a great debut, and I am quite looking forward to further releases from this band.