Cadaverous

By: Jay Bower

Narrated by: Joe Hempel

Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

When the sun went dark, it was only just the beginning…

Gaige Penrod yearns for the light of musical greatness. A self-taught metal guitarist with a dream of being the greatest, he finds himself drawn to a concert celebrating an eclipse, where he is overcome by an otherworldly presence that changes him forever.

As Gaige searches for answers, he becomes obsessed with the idea of fulfilling his musical destiny, and he sets out to reunite his band on his quest for glory. But in his pursuit of fame, he makes a deal with a shadowy figure, and unleashes a sinister force that threatens to consume him and everyone around him.

Cadaverous is a chilling tale of the dangers of unchecked ambition and the horrors that leave us questioning the true cost of our own desires.

©2023 Jay Bower (P)2023 Jay Bower

Wow!

This was definitely one of my favorite audiobooks of all time! Demon and metal music. What an entertaining combination! Full of metal references and ties in to recent events perfectly. Written my one of my favorite authors and perfect narrator for the book. I'd rate it higher than 5* if I could.

so eerie

This gave me goosebumps. I'm not superstitious but this made me enough weary to skip over the incantation just in case. I really liked the whole "sold their soul to because musical genius" aspect.

Wicked!

I just finished listening to this book and it was excellent 👌. I loved every second of it. Excellently written & performed. A must read!

Wicked fun.

This sick and twisted story was so much fun. I didn't want to stop listening once I started. It was a quick read which kept me wanting more. It left me wondering what I would do to get everything I ever wanted.

Cadaverous is a wild and demonic story about teen, Gaige Penrod, who wants to be the best musician he can be. Him and his friends have a garage metal band and are hoping to hit the big time. Gaige goes to an Ozzy concert and sees an unexplainable dark presence upon the stage that appears to reach out to him. He then becomes obsessed with learning about the occult. In the pursuit of fame he make a wicked deal with the shadowy figure. He soon realizes he must go to great lengths to keep this entity in his pocket.

Jay Bower did an amazing job with this story and I am excited to read more form him.

Wild ride!!

Jay Bower + Joe Hempel = chef’s kiss!!
This was such a fun and entertaining book. You have demons, heavy metal, blood baths and a Faustian deal. Perfect for horror fans.

\m/ \m/

an entertaining story with a great flow and effortless narration. I'm looking forward to reading more from Bower

The Most Dangerous Band In The World

How far would you go for fame?

It all starts when Gaige Penrod goes to Ozzy Osbourne's eclipse concert in southern Illinois. Right as the eclipse starts and Ozzy starts singing Bark At The Moon, he witnesses something extremely strange and horrifying, but no one else seems to notice. Is he imagining it? Why can't anyone else see it? He's not sure, but he is sure of one thing. He wants his heavy metal band to reunite for the talent show. He feels a strong urge that they NEED to do this.

His friends get together and agree, rebranding themselves as Cadaverous. At the same time, he tries to investigate the occurrence at the Ozzy concert, searching the internet for answers. He thinks he may have found them, but they seem too farfetched to be true. It's not until Lisa, friend of one of his bandmates, shares some interesting stories with him about her experience as well, that he starts believing it.

His performances are strangely irregular. He'll do well, then absolutely horrendously, and then spectacularly. It isn't until Lisa shares what she's done until he realizes that there might be more to this than he originally thought. He's forced to make extremely difficult choices in the name of fame.

The narrator for the audiobook did a wonderful job. I really like how the book was formatted - we heard the story through blog posts that Gaige made about his experiences. Also being from central Illinois, I'm familiar with a lot of the towns and locations throughout the book (though I wouldn't want to be at one of my favorite venues in St Louis during the event of the book

The most dangerous band in the world …

I had been trying to find a good Faustian themed book to read for awhile now and along comes Cadaverous. Even better I was lucky enough to receive an Audible code from the author. I absolutely loved this book! This was a very original twist on an old trope, well written, engaging, memorable characters and plenty of gore with some twists and turns I didn’t see coming. To me all the great horror novels all do one thing, they get you invested in the characters and then do some really screwed up stuff to them. There is plenty of that here. If you are a horror fan this book needs to be on your radar. I will definitely be reading more of this authors work.
I also really enjoyed the performance given by Joe Hempel and feel it added to my enjoyment of this book.

Nostalgic and dark

Gaige Penrod yearns for the light of musical greatness. A self-taught metal guitarist with a dream of being the greatest, he finds himself drawn to a concert celebrating an eclipse, where he is overcome by an otherworldly presence that changes him forever.

The first part of this story felt so nostalgic. I saw myself as a teenager, going to outdoor concerts at Alpine Valley and listening to my boyfriend's band practice in our friends barn. I could totally relate to Gaige and his friends as they hung out, practiced music, and navigated thru life.

As the story propels forward, Gaige becomes entangled with a dark force and obsessed with fame, and no sacrifice is too big to fulfill his destiny. I loved the ominous ending of this story, with events that are still to unfold in April of 2024. It feels so real that it has me cautiously awaiting what's to come. Lol

Joe Hempel is a favorite narrator that did a fantastic job on this story as expected.

The ebook has a Spotify playlist link!

A Deal with the Devil

Gaige Penrod is a typical teenage boy when he gets the chance to attend a concert held in conjunction with a solar eclipse. At the time of the total eclipse, he "sees" black tendrils coming from the stage as Ozzy performs and feels something happen inside him. But, nobody else seems to have noticed anything.

Gaige and his friends have a heavy metal-type band and his big desire in life is to become great. After picking the name Cadaverous at the suggestion of his friend/band member, Gaige explores the meaning of this name and "meets" the entity known as Paimon. Gaige is determined to rise to legendary status at any cost and that's where the trouble begins

I have read a lot of Faustian tales where a musician makes a pact with the Devil (or some type of demon) and this is a great addition to that genre. Gaige and his girlfriend, Lisa, seem to have no qualms at doing the bidding of Paimon in order to get what they want.

The author has written the book in a unique way as posts to a blog written by Gaige. The story unfolds through these posts and the reader experiences the carnage along with Gaige. The warning about the incantations used and the ending also added a different touch to this story.

The narrator, Joe Hempel, is one of my favorites for the horror genre and his performance for this book is perfect (as usual). This book could be considered as a YA book, but there is plenty of gore and a few scenes that might be inappropriate for younger readers.