Kev Rowland
Not long before turning to their eight album, Carnifex lost lead guitarist Jordan Lockrey, and the core quartet decided to continue as they were for the time being, which allowed a little more room in the music for the bass to make it presence felt. Given it was nearly fifteen years since their debut, ‘Dead In My Arms’, they also revisited that and re-recorded three of those songs for inclusion on this album – only bassist Fred Calderon did not play on the originals as he joined just after it was recorded, with the rest of the line-up of course being founder members Shawn Cameron (drums) and Scott Lewis (vocals) with guitarist Cory Arford.
This album was engineered in-house by drummer Shawn Cameron, the band recorded it almost entirely themselves with the help of Mick Kenney for the mixing and mastering, which means they had total control over the whole process. It also allowed them to reacquaint themselves with working as a quartet and what that meant for the music, and while there are overlays it is not to the extent one would expect with a twin guitar attack, and the arrangements are more balanced with Scott often brought back into the band as opposed to being over the top. They have a blackened approach to their deathcore, and the result is polished and exciting, although not quite as menacing as one might expect given the artwork. During the tumultuous year past, a new rawness arose, and examining this rawness ended up being a form of retreat. “It was another set of events that we couldn’t have predicted; sitting home, no alternatives other than to look at your problems, and write some music. In that setting, you get a very visceral version of us,” explains Lewis. “It makes for a very intense album, not just through the writing process, but through the listening journey, as well.”
This is a great place to start with Carnifex, who have a new life and presence with this release, and it will be interesting to see where they go from here. Fans of deathcore certainly need to seek this out.