CANCERVO
CANCERVO “III”
By Dr. Abner Mality
These Italians are getting to be very regular visitors to Wormwood. The creatively titled “III” comes less than a year after the logical “II”, which itself was out quickly after the blindingly witty “I”. Well, CANCERVO plays a very simple kind of doom metal, so why pretend it takes agonizing brainstorming and painstakingly recording to get it out to the public?
Although their approach is elemental almost to the point of idiocy, I enjoy the thick, plodding doom that these guys create. Very much in the SLEEP and ELECTRIC WIZARD vein, they go prospecting for heavy riffs and find a motherlode. The album is short but the songs are long and lumbering. Every CANCERVO album is a little different. The first was completely instrumental and featured a lot of psych, the second stripped out the psych and added minimalist vocals. Now “III” seems like a combination of the two, but the vocals are more prominent and weirder...a kind of mumbling croak with a pronounced Italian accent.
After the church organ “Intro” (another song title of spectacular originality), the remaining four songs all lock into smoky, fuzzy doom riffs that trace their lineage back to BLACK SABBATH. The longest track “St. Barnabas” would give “Dopethrone”-era WIZARD a run for its money while “Red Pig” switches riffs fairly frequently, making it almost progressive by CANCERVO standards. As always, the lyrics revolve around legends and tales of their home of Monte Cancervo.
Another effective doom album from a reliable act. Betting “IV” will be out by early 2025.