Review Summary: Stale bread
I’ve never been a huge fan of bread by itself. To me, it tastes so stale, and dry. This is how you could describe Carnifex’s first two albums. But with their third effort, Hell Chose Me, it definitely feels like they've added some flavor to their discography. Prior to this album, their sound could be described as generic. It's difficult to explain, but they've managed to make it so it's generic, but still enjoyable at the same time. Whereas previous efforts were not as good.
So here's the most important question: what does the album sound like? How do the songs play out? Well, if you've ever listened to the deathcore genre, you know the answer to this question. From the first couple of seconds, the opening track, “Hell Chose Me” hits you with fast guitar riffing, and heavy, pounding drums that invade your ears, followed by low, growled screams (or “vokills”, according to the album credits) to go along with some dark lyrics that accompany the vocal department. Towards the end of said track, the song ends with a breakdown, and that ends the three minute slab of brutality, or whatever you want to call it. This all gets put together with some good production, representing a sample for what all of the other tracks will sound like.
That serves as a good sample because those traits mentioned above are a characteristic of every track of this album. As you scuffle through every song, the quality of each one will devolve as you go down the list. Over time, it gets repetitive, making the record predictable, and eventually, uninteresting; kind of like watching paint dry. But this wasn't the case for the front running tracks. Yes there were breakdowns in each, with the guitars, drums and vocals playing at warp speed, but they manage to create interesting instrumentals that help make things memorable, unlike the remaining tracks which felt like filler.
Here is where the problems start to arise from the flames. The first five songs are great, but from there, they all start to sound the same, since the variations of the song structures range from little to none, making you wonder what song was what. This is a common issue within the genre, and this is no different. I could copy and paste this review for another album in this genre, and it would STILL be a fairly accurate description.
Overall, this is an album you could describe as “mill-of-the-road”. It's not terrible by any means, but at the same time, I wouldn't go out of my way just to hear this in my spare time. Nothing is really unique here. Don't get me wrong, the musicians here are not a bunch of scrubs who can't play their instruments. They just didn't create anything ear-catching for the most part. After this, they would manage to write better albums. As for this one, it's average, but it could do.
