That I have a knack for some nice and swampy Death Metal might not be a secret, but reality is that in the Death Metal scene of today there is not so much going on that really triggers me enough to become all too enthusiastic about. Okay, Masticated Cadaver from Canada is not exactly reinventing any wheels here, nor is it “the next big thing”, but the band manages to evoke exactly a kind of nostalgia that made the corners of my mouth curl up. A sound that reminded me of the late 90’s when bands experimented with new levels of brutality in which Grindcore and Brutal Death Metal went hand in hand and especially that gritty production made my mouth water back then. For me, more than enough reason to ask the sole musician behind this project, Klaudio Koleci about his motivations…
Hi there Klaudio, first of all, welcome to our pages. Let’s just begin with your latest offering with Masticated Cadaver, as you have just freshly released your first full-length album, ‘Progression Towards Total Maceration’. How, in general, do you look back at the coming together of the album?
Hey Felix! Thanks for having me here. I’m super excited for this. I actually had the idea/concept for this album long before the first demo Necrotic Mutation was released. The concept came from a YouTube video (shout out to Shrouded Hand) I watched about the horrors of water dungeon torture performed by the Chinese government as a punishment to their prisoners. Ever since watching that video I always thought it would make for a good death/grind/doomy concept album. Actually that YouTube video played a huge part in coming up with idea for Masticated Cadaver as a project in general. Soon after that, I released the first demo as a taste for what the band was going to sound like and overall theme. Then the album is where all the ideas really came together and were more effectively executed.
When I listen to the new album and compare it to the previously released demo from February last year I think ‘Progression Towards Total Maceration’ sounds like a logical and natural continuation. How would you see that development yourself?
I always appreciated bands that had more of a raw and rugged sound in their demos then, while still keeping the raw feeling, stepped up the production quality in their official album releases. I too tried to follow along in that vein with my releases. As you said, it sounds and feels like a logical and natural continuation which was also my thought process when producing the album.
While both releases clearly have the same musical ingredients, to me, personally, ‘Progression Towards Total Maceration’ has just a bit more depth in the sense of dynamics and even a little more variety. In my review I also cited this and mentioned the addition of a bit more slower parts… Can you reflect on this?
Yes I tried to keep a similar feel to the demo but I was definitely going for a bigger sound with the album. I wanted to create an atmosphere where it feels like the listener is transported to the same water dungeon that the victim is being tortured in if that makes sense. That cave-ish, swampy, muddy sound is the direction I attempted to take with the dynamics of the album. The slight differences in variety came from the bands I was listening to at that time and the influence I was taking from them. I wanted to pull influence from all my favorite subgenres of death metal instead of just following one specific genre, which I believe is why the album came out sounding a bit more diverse and gained more of a sense of depth with the dynamics.
Following up a bit on the previous question, the thing that struck me first was the change in overall sound. The demo had such a charming whacky production that really made me feel like I was 20 years younger, a time when I was going through as many channels as possible to get the harshest and most brutal stuff in Extreme Metal. Compared to the demo, this new album has a way more dense and dark sounding production. Was it a deliberate choice to shift the overall sound to a more, let’s call it “crushing” experience?
Yes this was absolutely a choice I made in the production stage. While I do love a wacky low quality raw production as much as you and the next metalhead, I felt like in order to obtain the sound and atmosphere I had imagined, I would have to change a few things in the overall sound production. The demo was recorded using just two SM57 mics for the drum kit and one 57 for the guitar & bass. While on the album I actually sampled my entire drum set and programmed the drum parts using my own natural drum sounds. I did this because I’m not nearly a strong enough drummer to play some of those parts haha, nor did I have all the mics/equipment to record a full drum set at the time and two I wanted to achieve a certain crushing drum tone that the two overhead mics just weren’t capturing for me.
Although I felt a bit more depth in the music of the album and it offers even a bit of a doomy atmosphere here and there, the main elements are still very much present. In both reviews I cited a bunch bands that the music of Masticated Cadaver reminded me of. Not always in the sense of a direct comparison, but more in the same sort of overall ambiance and feel of these bands. To me Masticated Cadaver comes close to the zeitgeist of the mid-to-late 90’s (proto) Brutal Death Metal. Can you join me in this contemplation and try to position Masticated Cadaver in this musical landscape.
Atmosphere is a very important aspect in death metal and music in general to me. Especially in extreme metal though because I enjoy feeling the unsettling/dissonant and almost unknowing environment a band captures. My imagination peaks with curiosity when I hear a band capture this murky, dreadful atmosphere that makes you feel as if you’re sludging your way through the most dense, humid, and foggy creek of unknown liquid substances while being chased by some swamp creature. So having said that, the bands that I’m describing here would fall under that mid to late 90’s proto Brutal Death Metal even early 00’s Brutal Death Metal/Slam metal category. Those disgusting, mysterious, relentless sounding bands are what inspired me to start a death metal project mainly due to the atmosphere that they capture in their sound so yes I would definitely position Masticated Cadaver among that realm of metal in terms of atmosphere and feel.
Last year, after the publication of the review of the demo, you wrote me that I “pretty much nailed” your influences. As mentioned in the previous question, I referred to a couple of bands. Amongst them were Skinless, Lividity, Sikfuk, Devourment and Intense Hammer Rage. The slightly more dynamic character of ‘Progression Towards Total Maceration’, which we touched upon earlier, might have had a bit of a different musical background when it comes to influences… or not at all? And, in a more general way, what bands would you see as your main influences for you as a musician, so not only limited to Masticated Cadaver? Would you care to mention some of your favorite records?
You are right about the album having a slightly different musical background in terms of influences. I basically just attempted to mash everything on the side of extreme metal that I was listening to/inspired by into one sound so there’s a bit of grind, slam, doom, thrash, maybe a splash of black metal, mostly the atmospheric aspects.
To answer your 2nd question, I am pretty much all over the board with what music I listen to. There’s not much music out there that I’ve discovered that I just can’t bear to listen to. I like everything from the dirtiest most grimy and dark metal to happy joyful pop music to jazz to punk, funk, hip hop. And everything in between haha. I’m actually very influenced and inspired as a musician in general by a lot of the D.C. and LA hardcore punk bands of the 80s like Dag Nasty, Descendents, Dead Kennedys and Minor Threat. In fact my favorite record of all time is actually “Milo Goes To College” by the Descendents. Another favorite of mine is Dag Nasty’s first album “Can I Say”. I can easily say those albums and bands inspired me to pick up an instrument and start learning to write songs.
Even more in general, judging from the titles of both your releases, the demo being titled ‘Necrotic Mutation’, you seem to delve into the more or less standard topics of the Brutal Death Metal and Grindcore genres. Is there anything that you would mention as being a big influence on your vision with the band other than a strict musical one?
This is probably a pretty obvious answer but a lot of old horror movies inspired this project like Squirm, The Blob, Evil Dead, The Fly, Re-animator and so on. As I mentioned before I also watch a lot of morbid videos on youtube about torture methods, strange phenomenon, murder stories and so on. These types of videos/media give me a lot of ideas and inspiration for songwriting when it comes to Masticated Cadaver.
You are the sole member of Masticated Cadaver, just like in your other band, Malicious Entity. Are you just a person that feels more comfortable making music on his own or would you consider yourself a bit of a lone wolf in general. And how do you think this reflects through your music?
I wouldn’t say I’m more comfortable making music on my own because I’m also in a hardcore punk band called The Rottweilers and just recently started a space death doom band called Arrokoth. However I do like making music on my own as well because it allows me to just solely express my own ideas and thoughts without any clashing of other people’s ideas. But that’s not to say I like either or better. I enjoy making music with or without other people, it’s just a passion of mine so if I have nobody to jam with I’ll just write some stuff on my own. Plus when I first started my solo projects like Malicious Entity and Masticated Cadaver, I had just moved to Ontario Canada after living in Alberta for over 10 years. So I didn’t really have anybody out here for a while to write music with which is mainly why these projects have been solo based. However I am looking for members to start playing live shows with these two projects.
Masticated Cadaver is more or less a side-project of the just mentioned Malicious Entity, a band that you are indeed also helming just by yourself. Musically this is more to be found on that classic tipping point between Speed/Thrash Metal and Black Metal. This band too was founded not too long ago, 2021 to be precise, but you have already spawned a good amount of recordings with it. Do you still see Malicious Entity as your main musical vehicle? And is there any news to share on this band as well?
I guess Malicious Entity was my main musical project at first for a while there since it was my first project I’ve ever launched but now I’d say I’m more so writing whatever I’m feeling at the time. Which is why it’s so nice to have multiple projects of different genres because sometimes I’ll be in the mood to write some fast speed/black thrash stuff so I’ll work on Malicious Entity for a while, other times I’ll be in the mood for writing death metal so I’ll write for Masticated Cadaver. Sometimes I’ll write something punky for The Rottweilers, or straight raw black metal for my other side project Primordial Lord. I often find that since I listen to such a variety of music that I get a lot of song ideas in different genres so it’s kind of impossible for me to have just one main project which is a good and bad thing at the same time haha. As for news on Malicious Entity, I have a small batch of demos going right now that I have not recorded yet because life has been hectic lately, (that’s also why it’s taken me absolutely forever to get to finishing this interview, my apologies haha) but once I get those recorded I might drop an EP or just slowly release each song as singles. Haven’t decided yet.
The first demo you released yourself digitally and later also decided to do some cassette tapes, pretty much DIY-style. If I understood it well, that was initially the plan for ‘Progression Towards Total Maceration’, but in the meantime you mentioned that the Kansas City, USA-based Iron Fortress Records is going to professionally release it on cassette tape. How did that collaboration come together? Any other plans that you are working on together?
Yes, Iron Fortress Records sent me a DM on Instagram shortly after the release of Progression Towards Total Maceration stating that he really enjoyed the record and wanted to collaborate in a tape release. They are seriously a huge help to the underground metal community not only to the fan base by getting new up and coming bands out there but especially to the bands that they collaborate with. I can tell they really care about the music and giving a band the support they deserve. I can’t give enough praise and thanks to Iron Fortress, they are truly awesome and I’m super stoked to be working with them! No other plans at the moment, just the tape release for now but hopefully in the near future we will collaborate on something again.
Speaking of plans, now that you have released this debut album, what else can we expect from Masticated Cadaver in 2024?
Like I mentioned earlier, life has been super busy for me lately so everything has been moving slowly in terms of music. However I am still writing some ripping riffs and gathering up new ideas for Masticated Cadavers next release which will hopefully be another 2024 release. Also like i mentioned previously I’m trying to get a live band setup for this project so hopefully I can also get some live shows happening this year. Other than that keep an eye out for that tape release cause it’s gonna be gnarly!
Alright Klaudio, thanks a lot for taking the time to answer my questions. In an almost traditional way I’d like to grant you the final words to close off this interview…
Any time Felix! Thank you for the interview. I really enjoyed answering all your questions and appreciate the opportunity to be doing this! Shout out to The Rottweilers, Arrokoth, Iron Fortress Records for being absolutely sick, and special shout outs to everybody who bought a tape of the demo or digital copies, left a review, left a comment or reposted my video on their metal channels on YouTube. Y’all are the absolute best and you have my gratitude! Big thanks again to you Felix for having me on this interview and digging the band man your one of the biggest fans haha, I appreciate you!
STAY HEAVY!
