I’m sitting here at the end of the garden on a misty, damp, grey looking morning pontificating on starting this review and wondering why I put my hand up for it. I know exactly why and it’s not a hard one to work out, given that the list the unholy, keeper of flies and lies, the horned one they call Baphomet (well sir or Editor round these parts) sends out to his minions every week, I would say contains around ninety-five percent of music that I would consider well out of my comfort zone. I have written about this previously (and apologies for repeating myself) regarding the far flung, densely wooded and frosty corners of Black Metal and all of its associated genres, which have never been (despite some concerted efforts over the years) ‘in my wheelhouse’ and thus trying to write about the bands and music that makes up the scene, means I am very much like a bike without wheels, or to quote Blackadder, my efforts within this particular arena are very much like a broken pencil…..pointless. That said I do like to try and stretch myself from time to time and so to a band such as Carnifex (yes I know they’re not Black Metal but allow me some latitude), who have been lauded and castigated in equal measures since appearing on the scene some eighteen years and with eight albums under their studded belts, have been credited with helping create the then nascent Deathcore scene alongside scene luminaries such as Suicide Silence, Emmure, Thy Art Is Murder, Whitechapel and All Shall Perish. Whatever you may think of the music and more pertinently the imagery, lyrics and scene politics, there is no doubt that this genre of music did manage to breathe a fetid breath of air into the lungs of metal at the time of its conception.
Anyway, I put my hand up for Carnifex in particular, as I have a very clear memory of seeing them tear the tent pegs from an utterly full to bursting, (like the corpse of a pig left in the midday sun), tent at the now permanently rested Hevy Festival down in Port Lympne, Hythe. Carinfex smashed their way through a brutal set that saw a steady stream of audience members depart stage left with broken limbs and noses cascading rivers of blood onto the sweaty grass floor. I remember being impressed with the band, with their synchronised head-banging and down tuned riffs, and despite the more prevalent Black Metal flavourings that crept in here and there, overall, it was an impressive set despite the non-more ‘En vogue’ haircuts and spacer earrings.
Fast forward to today and this is Carnifex’s ninth album Necromanteum, and whilst its sounds as though they used a Satanic name generator app to name the album, to the music. Having trawled through their back catalogue, there is a natural progression to the bands musical output as you would expect from a group that are almost twenty years into their career. Whilst, Carnifex haven’t necessarily been heralded or held in the high esteem in the way other (less worthy) bands have been within this scene, this is a decent collection of songs. The Black Metal elements here are less a seasoning on the main meat and potatoes of sledging Deathcore, rather the main course as keyboards, brass-tinged symphonic flourishes and blast beats reign supreme, acting as the anchor points rather than a crutch to lean on. Far from being an expert of this style of music, this approach does seem to suit the band more and appears to have manifested itself into a more rounded and relevant approach to their musicality. This is particularly evident on the track ‘The Pathless Forest’, which manages to cram as many riffs and tempos into the song’s running time as possible. It might sound on paper as through it’ll be a confused mess, but oh contraire monsieur, it’s a belter of a song, fast, slow, crunchy, fluid, grand on scale, a snarling pitbull of a tune. The album continues in the same vein for the duration of its running time, with the more hardcore, thrashy, grungy crunchy riffs comfortably sitting alongside their more highfalutin Black Metal theatrics, and whilst the two musical styles may grind up against each other like an eighty-two-year-olds hip joints, the two styles do, on the whole, coalesce into something competent and at times hugely enjoyable.
Carnifex may not be everyone’s cup of tea, and the Deathcore scene in general may seem like a joke that has endured for too long, but, regardless of the politics, grandstanding and scene accoutrements that may go with it, Necromanteum, as standalone collection of songs, brings the heavy, is grand in scale and unafraid to push boundaries, displaying the poise of band that I would posit are at the top of their collective game. Brutal, varied, and vicious with a delicate touch, this is an interesting, musically schizophrenic but enjoyable collection of songs that has something for anyone with a cursory interest in the menagerie of genres at play within this album.
(7/10 Nick Griffiths)
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