Carnation – Cursed Mortality
Release Date: 3rd November 2023
Label: Season of Mist
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal
FFO: Bloodbath, Sepultura, Carcass, Endseeker.
Review By: Andy Spoon
Carnation’s last album, Where Death Lies, was one of the better albums of the year in which I had heard it. I was thinking that I had absolutely heard the best that the band had produced thus far. The balance, furor, and the production of Cursed Mortality has managed to take the band to a level at which the effort has matched or surpassed their previous work at almost all places, which is something I’m thrilled to experience as perhaps one of the possible top ten death metal albums of 2023.
The first track, Herald of Demise, features a guest appearance from Andy Laroque, guitarist for Doom/Death metal pioneer King Diamond (and many other acts). The Swedish “chainsaw” sound is more prevalent on said track than across the album, probably to highlight Laroque’s contribution, something I wouldn’t have guessed to have been on such a heavy song. It gives some indication that perhaps some of these old timers have still got a taste for the nastiest-sounding stuff on the market, these days. Frankly, I’ve never once purported to be a fan of King Diamond, but I was just as glad as a diehard fan to experience his trilling solos and harmonious fretwork.
There are some moments of clean vocal harmony that give a small amount of “change-up”, such as the track Repilicant, a track with a more-musical tone, as compared to the rhythmic, relentless bleating (see. compliment) across the rest of the album. I didn’t expect that on the album, but maybe longer-term fans might disagree. I didn’t find the clean vocals to have taken anything away from the overall experience, so fans of the band’s heavier elements ought not be disenfranchised by Cursed Mortality.
There are a few moments where everything comes down to a slower pace, however, between track one and the final track. No matter what, the overall power dynamic of the music doesn’t tend to change much. Something that I think would have deteriorated the overall sweet “ickiness” of the absolute menacing and pervasive sound that Carnation has developed since 2013. Even when the tempo is slower, the carnage seems to remain just as prevalent from first to last without resorting to core breakdowns, at least not intentionally.
The final track was a ride up and down the volume-level, having three distinct phases, an intro section that was slow and broody, then moving into a middle, more intense “main” track, and then resolving into a pretty nasty guitar-lead-fueled refrain that faded the album out. I never got bored once. I never skipped one track. I don’t think that, at any point, I wanted more or less of anything. It was an absolutely fabulous offering this late in the year. Perhaps Carnation wanted fans to dwell on it while thinking about their album of the year selections. I can tell you this much, I know that I certainly will.
(5 / 5)
