Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Release Date: 03/09/2021
For Fans Of: Dimmu Borgir, Suicide Silence, Whitechapel
Written by Dominic Hemy
Unashamedly deathcore, California extreme metal institution Carnifex issue their blistering new album Graveside Confessions. Unlike their contemporaries, whose sole reference seems to be Behemoth, this quartet have a clear passion for classic black metal – melding it sublimely with their well-established sound. This blackened-hybrid has become something of a calling card for the band, once again hiring in Anaal Nathrakh’s Mick Kenney on production whose compositional fingerprints can be found all over the place. Highlights include the bludgeoning title track, ‘Talk To The Dead’, ‘Carry Us Away’ and ‘Seven Souls’, the latter serving up a pompous blast of Dimmu Borgir-esque symphonics with annihilating machine-gun groves. Graveside Confessions certainly isn’t going to convert the deathcore-adverse, yet Carnifex have managed to whip up one of the more savage records this style has to offer in 2021 while retaining a sense of fun which many of their peers tend to omit.
Rating: 7/10
Recommended Track: ‘Carry Us Away’