ALBUM REVIEW: Slaver – Cauldron Black Ram

With the heavy music scene enjoying experimentation, evolution and innovation across the board, there is a wealth of incredible artistry to dig into. But sometimes, there’s no call for wild genre-bending, no need to deviate from a tried and tested formula and no desire to reinvent the foundations of metal as we know it. Enter South Australia’s extreme metal power trio CAULDRON BLACK RAM with their brand new record Slaver. Here, the Adelaidians prove that there’s a lot to be said for knowing your genre, and how it play it damn well.

Right from the offset, its clear that Slaver is here to be a fun record – relatively speaking. Flame kicks things off, flowing between sludgy, doomy riffs and blackened speed seamlessly, before driving some crushing death metal aggression down your throat for good measure. It lacks memorability – an issue with much of CAULDRON BLACK RAM‘s output – but this isn’t meant to be music replayed in your subconscious for days after a listen; this is music to go hand in hand with drinking beer, banging your head and generally having a jolly good time. Though it plods along a bit and would have benefited from being cut down to size, Flame is a nice introduction to the record for the simple reason that it shows a little bit of everything the band are about – its got plenty of riffs both of the doomy and brutal variety, it has blasts of blackened speed metal ripped straight out of the 80s, and it is unrelenting from start to finish.

Smoke Pours from the Orifices of the Crematory Idol keeps things rolling with the doomier side of CAULDRON BLACK RAM, its dirge slowing building momentum towards the groove-heavy, mid-paced stomp of Stones Break Bones, the closing feedback lasting just long enough to be unsettling. Having thoroughly explored the doomy, sludge-drenched side of their sound, the trio dive straight into some decent blackened speed with Graves Awaiting Corpses, the vocals taking a spoken word slant that is a bit odd, but works nonetheless. Instrumental track His Appearance has a nice swagger to it, but feels more like an unfinished idea tacked on, rather than a serious interlude – a shame, as there’s plenty of potential there for an absolute rager, had it been fully developed.

And with that, Slaver moves onto Side B with lead single Whore To War. This is where the fun really begins, an earworm stop-start groove making way to bursts of blackened snarling, some tasty soloing and a mountain of class riffs that really put much of the material preceding Whore To War to shame. Meanwhile, Temples of Death is a lovely dose of black death chaos, leading nicely into Slaver‘s title track for speed, speed and a little more speed. The Pit, Slaver‘s penultimate track and the final full song on the record, is a clear highlight. An oppressive atmosphere coats the song in a thick, impenetrable layer of murk, while the riffs just seem to hit harder, the leads cut deeper, and the vocals more full of vitriol. Closing instrumental His Exultance, like His Appearance, again feels like an unfinished idea, tacked on to pad out the track list.

Often, extreme metal can either get too caught up in its own seriousness, or any fun in it becomes a gimmick: there is little middle ground. And while Slaver is far from a perfect album, this is where it triumphs – this a monumentally fun album. Swaggering with groove, biting with ferocity and utterly crushing all around, CAULDRON BLACK RAM have delivered a very good time indeed – if your idea of a good time is the sonic equivalent of raiding and pillaging.

Rating: 7/10

Slaver is out now via 20 Buck Spin. 

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