Carnifex - More Than Misery | ALBUM REVIEW
There are very few relationships in life that survive a decade without becoming either a liability or a cautionary tale. Carnifex have been on my rotation since 2014, and unlike several other questionable life choices I made around that period (like wearing black lipstick to school), my commitment to the band has aged remarkably well. Deathcore itself has spent about two decades trying to build and outdo itself. It has evolved and reinvented itself multiple times by merging extreme subgenres and creating endless debates about what bands qualify to carry the title. Carnifex have spent about 21 years perfecting their sound and now they have arrived with a new album to solve the following problem: what happens when you survive 20 years as a band?
More Than Misery is Carnifex’s first album under Sumerian Records. The band have built their identity on psychological torment and existential dread, so for long time listeners, this album does not seem to steer away from that premise. And yet, approaching the same topics from a different angle in every sense, they have come up with an interesting and twisted take on suffering. Vocalist Scott Ian Lewis is no longer writing from inside the trenches; this time, he is looking forward whilst the wreckage happens behind him. So in one sentence, More Than Misery is the same sort of darkness, but from a different perspective.
The opening interlude “...and I Held Hands With Death” is surprisingly calm for an album that promises to rearrange your internal organs. It is a sinister guitar melody with atmosphere that launches straight into the title track that feels like a straight punch to the gut that came out of nowhere. Tracing the familiar cycle of being trapped in something destructive, Carnifex now introduce the baseline of the album: suffocating atmosphere, heavy guitars, high pitched and brutal vocals, and blast beats that bring a slight taste of old-school black metal into the mix. Similarly “The Process of Pain” and “No Gods Only Graves” are made for the moshpits. They are harsh, full of instinct and undeniably Carnifex, but with a production that feels much more mature and polished. Whilst the band does not steer too far away from the sound that shapes their 2005 beginnings, they still bring the new compositional experience and atmospheric capability that comes with being a band for two decades. This approach puts guitars at the centre, with orchestration intensifying the music rather than being decorative.
Through songs such as “Coffin Crowned King” and “Roses & Rotting Corpses”, the album moves slightly to have more moments of calm and reflection. Carnifex have long understood the appeal of contrast. Their death-metal foundations provide the weight, blackened elements contribute the atmosphere, and the increasingly prominent melodic guitar work gives their later material a sense of scale and impact. Across their discography of albums such as Die Without Hope, Slow Death, World War X and Necromanteum, the band have developed a recognisable identity without entirely abandoning the aggression of their earlier material. And yet, the songs are made for live audiences; whilst it is impressive on headphones, the band reportedly approached every song with more practical considerations in mind, and that is clearly evident. Because deathcore is music you have to experience physically to really understand.
The closing track, 'Licking Love From A Knife', takes a more specific emotional subject as its starting point: surviving a toxic relationship. Lewis has identified this song as his favourite track on the album, with the hope that it will resonate with listeners who have experienced similar relationships. It is a subject that fits naturally within the record's broader examination of survival, devotion and misery. And the music, blending first-wave deathcore, death and black metal influences and symphonic orchestra, serves exactly that purpose: it addresses the most unpleasant parts of being human and yet surviving it.
It is important to note that the album was was tracked in Tennessee with Zach Householder of Whitechapel and mixed by Jeff Dunne. According to the band, the sessions benefited from more time to write, dismantle and rebuild material than any previous record, without a fixed delivery deadline dictating the process. It is cleaner, darker and more focused. Carnifex have spent enough time in deathcore to know what works for them. The more useful question is whether that familiarity has produced a record with fresh ideas, rather than simply a more polished version of something they could have made ten years ago. The stated intention behind More Than Misery is encouraging because it suggests the band have considered both their musical foundations and the perspective from which they are writing. Returning to the directness of early deathcore while retaining the atmosphere and melodic sophistication of their later material could provide a useful balance. Whether every track achieves it is another matter, but at least the ambition is more substantial than competing to produce the lowest note known to science.
And, frankly, I would rather hear a band make a considered record than attempt to convince me that they have discovered an entirely new form of heaviness. For listeners who have followed Carnifex through the genre's various phases, that evolution has the potential to mean something. I have thoroughly enjoyed the newer material more than any other album they have produced so far, and appreciate that the band has not only helped establish the foundations, but has continued to adapt their sound and remained relevant. So I can honestly say that I don’t need Carnifex to reinvent themselves; I want their riffs to punch and the atmosphere to make me feel like I am locked in a psychiatric ward without escape for the rest of my life.
More Than Misery will be released on November 6th via Sumerian Records. Pre-order here.
