KADAVERMARCH. Such a great metal name. How are there not a hundred metal bands with this name? But even if there was, there would still only be one real and legit KADAVERMARCH. KADAVERMARCH is a Stoner Metal band out of Copenhagen, Denmark. They formed in the year of our plague, 2020, and released their debut album, "Into Oblivion," on May 6, 2022. It is nine tracks (41:11 minutes to be exact) of sweet Stoner goodness. Think THE SWORD, but with better vocals. And I mean this, btw, as a compliment to Aske Kristiansen and Andreas and not a slight against J.D. Cronise Benthien.

KADAVERMARCH displays equal measures technical artistry and heavy psych riffs. Although their moniker would suggest something evil and sinister, aesthetically they have a lighter feel-more cosmic and psychedelic leanings than darkness. I mean there is a spoken word clip from Terrance McKenna's "Rap Dancing into the 3rd Millennium" which kicks off "Abyss." While the title may say "nihilistic darkness," the content says "psychotropic mystic." The lighter feel may also come down to the multilayered harmonies woven through the clean vocals, twin guitar phrasings, and thoughtful songwriting. If the band was an RPG character, it would be lawfully aligned-very congruent, tightly arranged. The band relies as much on their compositional skills as they do brute riffs and hook-laden grooves.

My list of standout tracks is biased toward the faster tempo songs. In my book these are: "1000 Yard Stare," which aptly kicks the album off; "Into Oblivion," the title-track, of course; and "Satanic" because you can't have a metal album in the 2020's without Lucifer being involved. For those who prefer their metal on the slower side, don't fear-there are some serious Doom inferences throughout. For some reasons the Doom is mostly concentrated in last three tracks, essentially most of side B if you are doing vinyl. It's like the Doom elements, having the most mass, migrated to the end of the album from sheer weight.

This album starts off heavy and declarative with a fat, distorted chord-no synth or acoustic intro, just full proof riffage-and some 41 minutes later it ends on another fat, distorted chord. No uncommitted fade, no pretentious outro. It's like a sonic Stoner Doom sandwich! We all know there is some serious Stoner Rock happening in Denmark, so the fact that something as heavy and good as KADAVERMARCH has emerged on the Stoner Metal scene shouldn't be too surprising. Welcomed, but not surprising. All in all, "Into Oblivion" is an album not to be missed.