Sweden's Carnal Forge is nothing if not consistent. This is their fifth full-length in six years and it offers pretty much exactly what the other four did: Ripping modern thrash with a blend of classic 80's influences, contemporary groove, and a few melodic Swedish death metal undertones - with vocals that jump from barked yells to slightly higher screams. 35 minutes' worth of that is pretty much what you're in for here. The main difference is that the songwriting is a bit more fiery and energetic than their last few albums, and the recording is stronger as well, ranking this right behind their awesome debut for me. Check out the tapping lead riff over the chorus to "My Suicide" for an example of some of the finer aspects of this material. This fucker's chock full of winding riffs that keep the tempos aptly fast and furious without stopping for air, and that's always been one of this band's strengths. I'm very pleased to see them bringing so much of that back into the fold on this one. The sick dissonance that opens the slower drive of "Burn Them Alive" is also slick as hell - not to mention a bit of an unexpected twist for these guys. "Exploding Veins" rolls out a nice midpaced rhythm that could've been at home on Exodus' "Impact is Imminent", but the best of the slower passages comes with the crushing "Inhuman". After some quick fucked up panning "Final Hour in Hell" drops right into some textbook thrashy picking patterns and starts closing the disc on a strong note followed by the more melodic "Totally Worthless" and blazing speeds of "Strength of Misery". The production is fine by me. The guitar tone is really crunchy but controlled, the drums are resonant without lacking rigid clarity, the bass tone holds its own just behind the guitars, and the vocals sound really damn good - clear and acerbic but never jumping in front of the instruments. I wouldn't really change much about it. The layout's so-so. The cover art itself is silly, as is the band photo, but the actual colors/textures and some of the text looks good. It's also a nice touch that the bullet wound on the cover is a die-cut circle taken out of the entire booklet and traycard. And this band's never been one whose lyrics were worth discussing. Song titles like "My Suicide", "Final Hour in Hell", and "Exploding Veins" should clue you in there. The CD-Rom portion contains two live videos for "H.B.F. Suicide" and "Welcome to Your Funeral", which I think may have been taken from a DVD the band's got happening. The film and sound quality are both very good, though admittedly I wonder how "live" the sound is? The vocals and elements of the drums definitely sound live, but the guitar tone is so fucking perfect that I'm not sure it's possible for that to have been recorded in a live setting!? It's definitely a little strange. Anyway, what really matters is the audio content, and I'm all for it. If you've heard Carnal Forge in the past you know exactly what to expect, but they're honing their craft enough this time around to make it worth looking into even if you lost interest in 'em at some point, so don't overlook it just because it's not something groundbreaking.
[Century Media]
Running time - 35:42, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: My Suicide, Burn Them Alive, Final Hour in Hell, Totally Worthless]
Carnal Forge - http://www.carnalforge.com
