Interview with Anders of CADAVER 2004
by Bradley Smith
With the release of Necrosis it seems like you have gone for more of an Old School style than with
Discipline. I detect hints of Repulsion, Terrorizer and old Morbid Angel in there.
I guess we’re just into the old shit. The new kids out there need a band that has a history and if they
detect the old stuff we got into and like it through us it’s great. I think all the fans of this music like to
hear something they can relate to, and we try to get the old feeling back into the music.
The production on this CD has a much more organic feel to it than on Discipline as well. That album
has a much more modern and sterile production on it. Was this intentional and what is the reasoning
behind it?
We wanted to record the band as it sounds in the rehearsal room and we got it right on the money.
I see you have brought back your old logo from the Hallucinating Anxiety days. What prompted the
change back to Cadaver from Cadaver Inc.? I prefer Cadaver anyways. It has a much more old
school flavor to it.
Cadaver had to be Cadaver again, and this lineup is the longest lasting one in the history of the band.
We felt that it was right to use the old logo I drew at school in 1989 along with the re-forming of the old shit.
Why did you leave Earache? How is Candlelight treating you? It seems they have a much better
roster these days anyways and their musical interest is more suited to your style than what earache
has been up to lately.
Candlelight treat us great. Earache was great for us too, but I guess we get better distribution through
Candlelight.
Have you guys ever considered a collection of rarities and or demo material? Who owns the rights to
that material? Also why is Earache not repressing Hallucinating Anxiety and In Pains? It would
seem that both would sell well seeing the high demand on ebay for them.
Earache will surely do something with the old shit one day if the band stays alive. I have a lot of unreleased
stuff both recorded and filmed, so we’re making a DVD or something one day. Earache only had the rights
to the CD material.
As a death metal band in a scene overflowing with black metal, do you feel you have been treated
differently? Has that made your experience different from most Norwegian bands? Especially since
you were one of the founders of the Norwegian scene along with Mayhem and Darkthrone.
Mayhem, Darkthrone and us have in common that we do our own thing and don’t care about trends. We
represent the beginning of the Norwegian metal scene black or death. It’s not very important for me what
label people use on Cadaver as long as we’re seen as our own sound and direction.
With the lyrics this time it seems they are of a more blasphemous and Old school death metal this
time around. I know I say Old school a lot but it seems the whole focus of this album was to be more
regressive. Do you feel this is true?
A wise guy said once that anything that works is modern. We just use the creative flow we get from the
music and lyrics as we please. We have no rules other than presenting something which is us. I’ve been
anti authority all my life and the lyric turn had to go into this direction to make the album what we wanted.
I don’t like to be just in one direction on the lyrics. I feel very much in relation to Slayer in the lyric content.
They have all sorts of stuff from Necrophiliac and Kill again to Angel of death and god hates us all.
Do you feel that playing live is essential for a band? How essential is it to Cadaver? What about
merchandising? Will you have some for this Necrosis?
We just came home from a great tour with Mayhem in Europe. The band is a live band and we play as
much as we can. We did some great merch for the new album, but it was only for sale on the tour.
Plastichead in the UK sell our Long sleeve if you want it.
As you've matured in life how has this affected your worldview? What differences do you feel are
most apparent from when you released Hallucinating Anxiety?
When we did Hallucinating Anxiety I lived at home with my parents. I was only 18. Now I’m 31 so it’s
a giant leap in time and views yes.
Hallucinating Anxiety is one of my favorite metal albums from that era. How did you get that
strange production? It was so unique. Did you get a lot of comparisons to Carcass at the time
because of the album cover?
We recorded on a 4 track cassette player. We had no budget so it turned out a little strange. It was
mixed in a big studio, but everything is in mono. The cover was put together by Earache. We wanted
something else, but it’s cool now anyways. Carcass signed us, so I don’t think they wanted us to
look like them.
In Pains was a more technical album and the production was much dryer in my opinion. How do
you feel about this CD in comparison to the rest of your material?
It was the first time we recorded in a professional studio and we listened a lot to the engineer. We had
no experience. I think it’s a great album, but I have the pre prod which is recorded the same place as HA
in my collection, and that’s coming out one day!
The Cover art for Necrosis is pretty unique looking. What led you to use Justin Bartlett? It seems
like something I might expect from early Voivod but much dirtier.
He’s a genius. He got in touch even before I reformed the band. He’s from San Diego and have worked
out all the visual stuff for us since 1999. He’s a fan obviously, but a true artist too.
You guys recorded a video for Decomposed Metal Skin. Who directed it? Can you give us a general
feel for what it is like and the artistic direction of it?
It was directed by Sebastian Ludvigsen who have done all the official photos of the band since 2001.
He’s an old friend from way back who’s normally a fashion photographer. He wanted to have a 80s feel
to the video, and we sure did with Marshall walls etc. It will come out as a bonus to the CD in the next
print of it as well and stream on the website.
With the last two albums you have been a four piece. How does the dynamic of the band differ from
that of a three piece like you were on In Pains and Hallucinating Anxiety. Which do you prefer and
why?
The band was 4 piece between HA and IP. I think we should have worked everything out a little different
back in 1993 if we knew it could have been a career. We never thought of doing this for a living or anything
back then. The three piece worked great too, but I prefer a frontman singing.
It is a great honor getting to interview such a legend as yourself, so thanks again. Any last comments?
I hope people who liked Cadaver will check us out once again and let us continue to do our stuff for a long
time to come!
Get more info at www.cadaver.no