Carnal Forge - Aren't You Dead Yet?
Carnal Forge has been on such a breakneck pace lately, releasing basically an album a year for the last
four years, that they're finally hitting a creative wall. While I really enjoyed "The More You Suffer" and earlier efforts, I find myself not quite liking this latest one as much. Yes they've got their time tested brand of neo thrash revivalism displayed here in typical razor sharp fashion but it seems like they didn't have the time to craft really solid riffs, instead using blazing speed to gloss over some of their less creative moments or just dumping that approach altogether for some uninspiring slower songs.
That's not to say they've lost their edge as some of the songs on here are their most vicious to date but even these are marred with less memorable riffs and far less use of melodic accents than past efforts. This tends to give less formal distinction between the faster cuts as so they end up blurring together into one big fast speedball. It would be impossible to choke that sucker down in one sitting if they didn't break it up with some slower cuts but, apart from a few tasty riffs nestled throughout, these songs provide little more than a much needed breath before the assault continues.
Of course this doesn't mean it's not a good record. It's angry as hell and delivers the goods better than pretty much any band in this genre but it's just not quite at the level of their last release or even their earlier, more groove based thrash work. The one area it does exceed their past efforts in the production. It's meatier here with a more defined edge to the guitars so you can really here the quality guitar work. If their last record had been recorded in this fashion it would have been even more amazing. Still, even a less than stellar Carnal Forge release slays almost any other aggressive metal coming out right now so there's no way you should pass this up. Just buy their earlier work first if you haven't already!
That's not to say they've lost their edge as some of the songs on here are their most vicious to date but even these are marred with less memorable riffs and far less use of melodic accents than past efforts. This tends to give less formal distinction between the faster cuts as so they end up blurring together into one big fast speedball. It would be impossible to choke that sucker down in one sitting if they didn't break it up with some slower cuts but, apart from a few tasty riffs nestled throughout, these songs provide little more than a much needed breath before the assault continues.
Of course this doesn't mean it's not a good record. It's angry as hell and delivers the goods better than pretty much any band in this genre but it's just not quite at the level of their last release or even their earlier, more groove based thrash work. The one area it does exceed their past efforts in the production. It's meatier here with a more defined edge to the guitars so you can really here the quality guitar work. If their last record had been recorded in this fashion it would have been even more amazing. Still, even a less than stellar Carnal Forge release slays almost any other aggressive metal coming out right now so there's no way you should pass this up. Just buy their earlier work first if you haven't already!
