J-Man As the title implies, Carnival Cadavre is a twisted and humorous concoction of modern death metal, and the slightly-grotesque album cover provides pretty good insight as to what's contained on this CD. Right after the eerie carnival-styled opening in "Raze the Curtain", Hackneyed unleash a brutal, groove-oriented death metal adventure that should appeal to fans of death metal with a sleek, modern edge. I can't say that I was blown away by Carnival Cadavre's fairly generic and conventional songwriting, but there are enough positive traits here to make this a solid purchase for fans of this German death metal act.

Hackneyed play a style of brutal death metal with a heavy emphasis on groove-based riffs and occasional metalcore-styled breakdowns. The music on Carnival Cadavre isn't anything too groundbreaking, but it's so well-played and professional that I have to applaud Hackneyed for their ability as musicians. Tim Cox's precise and technical drumming especially stands out to me; his playing is outstanding, to say the least! Phillip Mazal's diverse vocal abilities are also an important aspect of Carnival Cadavre, and even though I'm not a huge fan of all of his styles, his ability to combine gutteral growls, high-pitched screams, pig squeals, and thrash metal shouts, often in a single track, is impressive. The sleek and modern production is also one of Carnival Cadavre's biggest selling points.

All in all, Carnival Cadavre is a simply well-made album. The musicianship is outstanding, the production is highly impressive, and the riffs are generally well-done. Carnival Cadavre isn't a flawless effort, though, and the music often feels too sterile to really strike a chord with me. Even though this is "technically" an impressive album, the somewhat generic compositions and formulaic songwriting approach make this one less then essential. There's still kick-ass material here - just not quite enough to make it stand out from the hordes of other death metal albums out there. I'd say 3 stars are deserved here.