Friday March 29th 2024

Carnivora – “The Vision”

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Carnivora – “The Vision”

 

“Carnivora is a diverse order of animal that includes over 280 species of placental mammals. It’s members are formally referred to as carnivorans, whereas the word “carnivore” can refer to any meat eating organism- it includes lion, tiger, wolf, bear and seal. The teeth are large and sharp, suitable for cutting flesh, and the jaws powerful.”

Carnivora is a death metal band from Danvers, MA. In their bandcamp, for style, they also mention groove, thrash and melodic. The passionate vocals, though not as low as some death vocals are certainly in the realm of that genre and the guitars are very melodic, very adept and jazz-like, while the rhythms do get thrash-y at times.

Carnivora are on tour right now with Mobile Death Camp and started the tour late last month. They will finish in mid- August after going through the Midwest, over to California, down to Texas and back up again.

Carnivora plays music you can sink your teeth into or rather, makes music that sinks its fangs into your soul. The music is energetic, intense, propulsive and rockin’.

And though not as abrasive as some of our more cutting edge grindcore bands we cover, I think they play metal in a more traditional way without losing the power, passion and potency that resides in all the best metal.

Andy and I have only seen this band once but we were both duly impressed. Let’s check out a couple of tunes from their recent four-song release.

A scream, a thrashing rhythm and a fast staccato guitar line, that almost sounds like a surf riff, starts off this album with the song “Visions Of Red.” Then a melodic, harmonized guitar appears for a second then vanishes to make way for the foreboding vocal. “I close my eyes all I see is red/ Soaked in a cold sweat, dying in my own bed/ But the venom works slow/ Until finally your spirit breaks,” The chorus is left barren for the vocals sans the double drum beat leading us on. A bridge with a blistering rhythm sets the pace for the intense vocals and melodic guitar line. The vocals keep increasing in rage and emotion, the drums propulsing the beat like a controlled stampede, the guitars ringing out like heavenly bells against a scene that suggests the degradation and tortures of hell. “Every day I live through the pain/ And every sunset my hatred grows for you.” Two perfect solos erupt nearly next to each other displaying the influence of Van Halen, Satriani and Vai and towards the end a toppling rhythm appears as a modest, descending guitar line lead us on to the gallows. And as this great tune ends a faded track of the last lines drift off into the distance.

“Razors And Rust” starts with guitar racing against itself in a sinister mood. Soon the drums comes in, the vocals emit an ominous belch a few times before entering the fray. “Words come to life on the light of the situation/ The process of becoming heartless, a lesson taught over many years.” The singer guttural-y screams out the chorus as the guitar lick, dissonant sounding, descends. “Sometimes it’s hard to believe that I’m still not dreaming/ Your selfish hate, my reality.” The guitar continue to race behind the venomous vocals as the rhythm section holds reigns to a steady beat. Then a melodic solo comes in, simple but effective bringing us back to the dark storm of the verse. The intro returns, another solo, more busy with pull-offs then returning to a finish with the verse being passionately, hysterically repeated till this great song comes to an end. My favorite on the album.

Though I was born a punk, lived my life as a punk and, as a fortune teller told me, I lived several past lives as a punk- I do then (in previous lives) and do now have a deep respect for metal.

When Andy, unwisely, suggested we should have a site, he asked me should we just do it for punk/ hardcore. “Oh, no,” I said, spitting my Pina Colada all over my home entertainment set. “I wanna include metal, I know that you’ll be able to handle that,” I said, sopping up the debris.

After I cleaned up a bit and swept up the tousled onion rings that had begun to stain my orange shag rug, I replied, though unfamiliar with metal I loved how sincere and un-ironic it was and that it had a huge fan base but was looked down by the mainstream, as it still is, much like punk. Also, I liked how well it worked as a community.

And though the current punk/ hardcore scene is the best group of people I’ve ever witnessed, I must admit, the early punk scene, though extremely tolerant toward race, gender and sexual preference was very clique-y and not very inviting.

I’ve seen fans who I thought were strictly punk/ hardcore fans at metal shows and I think that’s great With metal is has, and still is now, all about the music. Which I think it’s the same in the punk/ hardcore scene today.

I feel proud to have metal with us as the music overlaps so much with punk/ hardcore, the audience feels free to do as well. Believe me, in the early eighties if you had long hair and showed up for an audition with a punk band you were turned away, likewise if you had short hair for a metal band.

But I think metal music is honest- it’s passionate and it’s true. And Carnivora music is as well.

As for this review- all I can promise you, is that I tried.

(Slimedog)

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