Carnifex – Until I Feel Nothing

From the sunny city of San Diego, California, Carnifex have been pumping out albums like nobody?s business, with this release marking their fourth album in five years. It?s wholly impressive feat in itself, but it has appeared that the band had sacrificed quantity over quality with the lack of consistency with their previous records ? but with the release of ?Until I Feel Nothing? this is might be a thing of the past.

First off, ?Until I Feel Nothing? isn?t an album that is really going to win Carnifex an army of new fans ? to be honest it would take a miracle for them to win truly over the hardened pure death metal fan – but it?s good to see that band are evolving their sound with black metal influences that work well with their breakdown-heavy death metal.  Variety across the record as a whole is more prominent, with added keyboards and clean guitars adding atmospheric elements ? just take the experimental middle section of ?Creation Defaced?.

The intro track ?Deathwish? is a little bit clichéd, but it?s hard not to bob your head to meaty groove, and the song nicely segues into the album?s first real song ?We Spoke Of Lies?, which is a bit of safe opener for Carnifex ? no surprises really, just blastbeats and breakdowns, and it easily could slip onto their previous record ?Hell Chose Me? without any issues. Whilst the LP does pack a couple of weaker tracks ? especially the decidedly average ?Dead But Dreaming? ? ?Never Forgive Me?, ?Curse My Name? and the title track are impressive tracks, and probably stand out as some of the best tunes in the band?s four album back catalogue.  The production job from As I Lay Dying?s Tim Lambesis is a big highlight, as it?s crisp and clear, but with enough raw  elements for it not to sound too sterile, and refreshingly the bass noticeably high in the mix, something that is a bit of a rarity in today?s down-tuning obsessed metal scene.

While it isn?t exactly the ?Master of Puppets? of this generation, ?Until I Feel Nothing? is an unexpectedly solid release nonetheless. It will take you a few spins for it to completely sink in, but the addition of atmospheric and black metal influences has made Carnifex a much stronger entity, and it?ll be very interesting to see what they come up with for album number five.

Rating: 7/10
Label: Victory Records
Website: www.facebook.com/carnifexmetal

By Andrew Kapper

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuDtHrgXp4U