Don’t be fooled by the album title, this is not some sort of follow-up to
Carnal Forge’s Please… Die!. When I first encountered
Carnal Forge I thought that this was a band that I had to look closer at because they played this extreme style of speed/thrash/death-metal. They were also a Swedish metal band which made things a bit more interesting, they were formed in 1997 by a few band members from a band called
In Thy Dreams and was basically a little side project. I saw other reviews on other websites and I noticed that the album between this and
Please… Die! was supposed to be a bad album, I thought that I could check out their new one instead, the band also had a new vocalist and I thought this could be interesting. I was nearly stunned and surprised when I started listen to this album, it sounded very, very similar to
Please… Die! but this was a bit heavier and somewhat more thought out. The thing that stunned me the most was the new vocalist, he sounded almost identical to the former singer
Jonas Kjellgren. Skip the Swedish death-metal scene for a moment and concentrate a bit on this band, I bet that this is nearly as extreme as death-metal.
This album is called
Aren’t You Dead Yet?, you might think that this could a some sort of follow up but it wasn’t. This album delivers ten forceful heavy hitting metal songs packed with heaviness, speed and aggression. Here you have thrash-based intensive songs like
Waiting For Sundown and
My Suicide, you have also catchy and more heavy-metal directed songs like
Exploding Veins and
Inhuman[. You have thick and very heavy guitar work, cutting metal bass, intensive and tight drum work and awesome vocal work. I’m pretty sure that you will fall in love in at least one or two songs once you have heard the whole album.
Jens Mortensen – This is the new vocalist replacement, this guy looked like some kind of occult reggae gangsta I really started to wonder if this guy could be a good replacement. When I listen to the album I was surprised, he sounded almost exactly like the former singer but this singer could deliver deep ‘’inhaling’’ growls and these raspy and somewhat dark
Alexi Laiho sounding vocals. This was a great replacement singer and he will be given a:
4/5 (excellent)
Jari and Petri Kuusisto – These are the two guitarist, and they can play guitar I must say. Devastating and massive rhythms and excellent lead work is their traits in this album, their riffs are fast and are often very catchy. Their solos are also very good, some times the solos are more melodic, and then they can be fast and somewhat chaotic. There is an incredible wall of sound in this album; it is truly heavy and very thick. These guitarist are very good at what they are doing and they will be given a:
5/5 (awesome)
Lars Lindén – Bassist of this band and also responsible for the massive sound. There are no standouts from the bass unfortunately but he is doing a great job to team up with the guitars. The sound is pretty overwhelming in some songs, there is a pretty good bass tune behind the guitars but it is not as clean as in
Please… Die!. I almost hope that there will be a good bass in every band or album I discover but I have heard what this man can do so he will be given a:
4/5 (excellent)
Stefan Westerberg – Drummer of this forceful band, not one of the most incredible drummers but he does a good job in this album. There are many sorts of drum patterns here, plenty of double bass kicking and heavy pounding. You have intensive thrash-metal patterns and you have these slower even heavier patterns. This was good all round drumming and I think this guy deserves a:
4.5/5 (superb)
I had no idea what this could’ve sounded like, the reviews I read before said that the band had return with recharged batteries and was really blasting. I have to agree with that, this album showed no signs of fatigue or sloppiness, this music was really in-your-face music. I really liked this album, one reason is the new vocalist, and I never knew that he could deliver such powerful vocal work. There was mixed vocals in most songs, first these sharp and cutting vocals and then deeper growling took over to do some more damage, very good vocals is all I can say. And second thing I liked about this album was the songs, there was no rehashed stuff, you had these intensive songs and suddenly you had these really addictive songs. You can notice a quite big contrast in the song patterns and this was a mighty good thing, it made the album more interesting because once you have heard one song you didn’t know what was coming up next. The blistering guitars would be the last thing I liked very much, the destructive shredding alongside well thought out lead work was a complete success. The rhythm sections were awesome in some tracks while other songs did not have the same effect, but the guitars as an overall performance was great, even better that I could’ve hoped for. I have not many complaints about this album, one thing I didn’t liked so much was the similarities between this album and the one I have heard before. The song patterns and energy was basically the same but they were tuned in a different mode if I say so, there was a little disappointment when you notice that this sounded like a copy of old stuff. But, I liked it and I’m glad that I got this album, these guys has great musical talents but I think if they want to hit big they might try to discover a newer sound or at least try something new.
Before I end this I will just give you some recommendations, I really liked this album, it had this cruel and massive energy, heavy and catchy musicianship and stunning vocals. I think I will give this album a high-score, this is not a classic album but this is definitely their best album yet, not classic for the genre but ‘’classic’’ for the band. If you like the Swedish extreme-metal scene you
will like this album, and when I mean extreme-metal I aim at bands like
Hypnosia,
Raise Hell and
Nasum perhaps. Basically anything that has nothing to do with death or black-metal. This album is addictive and it is guaranteed to force you to head banging, this was all I had to deliver and I hope this was a good time reading.
There are always certain songs that get stuck in your head, these songs are highly recommended and these are also my personal favourites.
Exploding Veins and
Inhuman is my most recommended songs.
The Final Hour In Hell and
Decades Of Despair are songs that has other song patterns, I thought that if you don’t like me favourites you might check out the other two. If you liked all of them you must get the whole album, time to end this, this album will be given a:
5/5
