Review: Carnifex “Necromanteum” [Nuclear Blast Records]

The American deathcore band Carnifex from sunny California has returned after a two-year break with their latest full-length album Necromanteum, their ninth release. For 20 years, they have been collaborating with one of the leading metal labels Nuclear Blast, once again proving that stability is the key to success. They didn’t set out to reinvent the wheel, delivering a hard-hitting dose of deathcore while not remaining confined to the narrow boundaries of the genre.

Carnifex has never shied away from crossing stylistic margins, sometimes dabbling in lighter metalcore, battling neighboring brutal death, or refining sharp edges with a moderate dose of symphonic black metal. Necromanteum is no exception. Of course, it is based on solid and brutal deathcore, but it would be misleading to call this album a classic example of the genre. The deathcore scene is full of armchair critics, and the metal community has its fair share of purists who criticize anything that can be labeled as “core”. Fortunately, tolerance is growing worldwide, including the music scene, but it is still harder for a young deathcore band to earn globally respect and acceptance. Carnifex is already approaching the cult status of veterans, easily ignoring narrow-minded critics.

Necromanteum is an atmospheric album with a straightforward approach to songwriting, but more complex arrangements pull it out of monumental monotony and bone-crushing aggression. It cannot be called intricately smart, but it exudes an aura of intelligence despite the heavy debris of primitive brutal death. Psychologically, Necromanteum is also not an easy album, and an important part of this is the lyrics, written by the singer Scott Ian Lewis. His lyrics are always negative, mainly focusing on social themes with a dark hue – depression, suicide, pain, psychological trauma, violence. The title Necromanteum might suggest an occult direction, but only the eponymous track has an esoteric inclination, smoothing the flow of hatred and suffering of the human world.

This album features many symphonic elements that are woven into the overall fabric of the melodies, remaining in the background and creating an almost cinematic aura. This is particularly evident in the songs “Death’s Forgotten Children” and “Necromanteum.” Sometimes they even sound psychedelic, once again increasing the level of anxiety, fears, and obsessive thoughts about one’s worthlessness, as almost all the songs are imbued with such emotions. “Infinite Night Terror” turns slightly towards thrash/groove, so raw and primitive. The multilayered “Heaven and Hell at Once” is full of mood changes, dispelling chaos with a demonic gleam in its eyes. The more positive “The Pathless Forest” still brightly radiates majestic symphony, while “How the Knife Gets Twisted” offers a structured form of neat simplification.

In a nutshell, Necromanteum is a deathcore album, and it contains all the familiar tricks of the genre – alternating growls with screams, low-tuned guitars, rapid blast beats, atmospheric breakdowns, and juicy death riffs. Everything according to the canon, but not overused, without the smell of mothballs or attempts to repeat themselves for the hundredth time. Everything evolves, and although the steps here are small, Carnifex’s music does not stand still, liberating their creativity through hundreds of shades of darkness.