Review Summary: Deathcore's untapped potential.
*obligatory deathcore rant begins here* Alright, let’s try to get this out of the way as quickly as possible: Deathcore is a subgenre that is highly controversial among most extreme metal fans, with the debate raging on as to whether or not it is worthy of being classified as “true metal”. This is primarily due to the subgenre’s simplicity, image, and target demographic…… Angsty scene kids. Some bands have moved on to traditional death metal (Job for a Cowboy), while others have been reluctant to leave behind the deathcore scene (Whitechapel). Carnifex is a band that would’ve been easily dismissed as another generic clone of Suicide Silence or Whitechapel until 2011, when they released “Until I Feel Nothing”, which combined blackened death metal elements into their traditional deathcore sound. And now we arrive at 2014, where the band releases their 5th studio album, “Die Without Hope”. So, let us see just how this new sound fares for Carnifex. *obligatory deathcore rant ends here*
Now, to the actual album itself: The first thing that stood out to me was the album artwork. It may not seem like a major detail, but in a strange way, it symbolizes Carnifex embracing a darker, more atmospheric sound, as well as displaying the band putting in more effort into the LP when compared to the artwork and music of earlier material such as “Dead in My Arms”, which was basically just a dirty room. Onto the actual music: The guitar and bass work on this album is excellent, combining both the aggressive chugging riffs found in deathcore with the fast-paced tremolo picking of black metal. Occasionally, the two will awkwardly overlap in songs such as “Dark Days”, but for the most part, they manage to balance out. There are also actual guitar solos on most of the songs, and they blend in very well with the drums and rhythm guitar parts. Scott Lewis’s vocal work is also worth noting, as he goes for more guttural, black metal-influenced high screams along with hardcore punk-influenced shouting and death growls. He never attempts to over-emphasize one vocal style over the other, which, again, brings a nice sense of balance to the music. But perhaps the major thing that sets this album apart from most others within the subgenre is the atmospheric elements. And while this isn’t Agalloch by any means, these ambient and atmospheric parts are still executed incredibly well. You can hear a lot of symphonic influences, which bring a very eerie feel to an otherwise straightforward deathcore sound. And I’m not going to lie when I say that “Reflection of the Forgotten” sent chills up my spine right before “Where the Light Dies” shattered it. The production is also very good, which allows for all of these elements to come out sounding clear and concise.
However, this album still does have a few problems. Firstly, while Lewis’s vocal melodies are performed very well; the same cannot be said for his lyrics. They all essentially follow the theme of, “You did something really bad to me, so now I want to kill you and kill myself”. This comes off as somewhat childish, and makes it appear as though the band isn’t quite ready to let go of the image and hype surrounding deathcore. And while it’s understandable that most metal lyrics are already considered to be rather stupid and unimportant to the rest of the music, I just can’t get past how incredibly weak most of the lyrics are compared to Lewis’s vocal delivery. Also, as aforementioned, there are moments where the black metal influences clash with the deathcore sound, and while it doesn’t happen too often, it can make the album feel somewhat disjointed at times.
Overall, in spite of all its flaws, “Die Without Hope” is still the gem in a mountain of generic deathcore. This is essentially a big boiling pot of deathcore, death metal, and symphonic black metal, and Carnifex has forged an excellent recipe from it. When “Until I Feel Nothing” came out back in 2011, it really looked like these guys would rise to become one of the elites of their genre. And after this album, there should be no doubt that there will be plenty of great things to come from this band. Well done, gentlemen.
