I have always considered “Hallucinanting Anxiety” by CADAVER a cult masterpiece of early European Death Metal, an album that shaped the genre during 1990 along with other gems released in the same year across the continent. For example: “Left Hand Path” by ENTOMBED and “Dark Recollections” by CARNAGE in Sweden, “For God Your Soul… For Me Your Flesh” by PUNGENT STENCH and “Expositionsprophylaxe” by DISHARMONIC ORCHESTRA in Austria, “To The Gory End” by CANCER, “Harmony Corruption” by NAPALM DEATH and “Subconscious Terror” by BENEDICTION in England. CADAVER released this killer album in 1990 after a bunch of very good demo tapes, especially “Abnormal Deformity” from 1989, that includes five tracks subsequently re-recorded on the debut album. In addition, must be taken into consideration that during the biennium 1989-1990 Norway had not yet become the Black Metal kingdom that we all know, on the contrary the local scene was going through a vibrant and primitive Death Metal buzz similar to the Swedish one with bands like AMPUTATION, early DARKTHRONE, MORTEM, OLD FUNERAL, HYDR HYDR, THOU SHALT SUFFER etc. All this preamble just to give the idea of the period that led to the recording of “Hallucinanting Anxiety” between November 1989 and January 1990, an album now reissued by Listenable Records in a new version, totally remixed and remastered by Patrick W. Engel at Temple of Disharmony Studios. It’s undeniable that the overall sound benefits from this new studio treatment in terms of quality, but I have to admit that I still prefer the original recording done with a four track cassette player. Actually, this new version was mixed in mono in order to try to preserve the raw atmosphere from 1990, but something is missing, maybe even for the rambling choice to change the original track order. However, if the sound doesn’t vary too much, what really goes off-topic and it’s hard to digest, is the new cover artwork, an ordinary and uninspired paint that has nothing in common with the goresplattered and maggot infested art of the Necrosis Records version from 1990. Talking about the musical style, early CADAVER played a very sick and raw form of Death Metal in a primordial way that mixed stuff in the vein of CANCER and early DEATH with an addition of very fast grinding blastbests influenced by CARCASS, REPULSION and NAPALM DEATH. Undoubtedly, after more than thirty years “Hallucinanting Anxiety” is still a great example of gory Death / Grind of the origins with deranged lyrics about cannibalism, diseases, morbidity etc. By the way, to me the original version is still the one it would be appropriate to own, whereas this new “operation nostalgia” is not completely convincing and is only recommended for completists, especially due to the incoherent artwork. www.facebook.com/cadavertheband, www.facebook.com/listenablerecs