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CARNIFEX
Graveside Confessions
2021, Nuclear Blast

I do like CARNIFEX, but in the interest of being completely forthcoming, they also struck me historically as borrowing a wee bit too much from BLEEDING THROUGH. That isn’t a slight, just how the band struck my ears - I also haven’t heard a tune by them I haven’t enjoyed. So, without hesitation I took the opportunity to check out their newest offering Graveside Confessions, the band’s 8th on longtime home Nuclear Blast. Confess to the butcher.

The title track comes bursting out, firing on all cylinders, the band leaning further into the death part of their sound eschewing the core almost to the point of slam, but what sticks out more than that is the depth of Scott Lewis’ vocals. I don’t mean it’s Pulitzer Prize winning poetry by any means, the lyrics of Lewis have always been blunt, cathartic, and not at all rosy - I mean it’s deep. Bowel shaking, diaphragm clenching, from the very guts guttural aural annihilation. That can continue and I would be good with it. Admittedly I haven’t kept too much up with CARNIFEX over the past couple albums so evidently I need to fix that.

Rolling right along, CARNIFEX do their best to bring out FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY with the absolute bonkers introductory few moments of "Pray For Peace" and you’re nodding your head. Again, a very promising start but, to my ears and ultimately taste, the song itself meanders a bit and goes on for too long, trying too many things that don’t work. The implementation of some electronic noodling remind me in a bad way of early SLIPKNOT - basically what us olds would refer to as tryhard. It sounds okay, all the pieces to the puzzle are there, but ultimately the players are second stringers in the game.

It’s a funny thing, being a fan of something. To be a real and authentic fan, one must accept that their chosen artists are fallible and, ultimately, owe you nothing. For all the talk and internal debates and wishing that this music would reach a larger audience, when it finally does, choruses of sellout emerge, and so on and so on. CARNIFEX, to their credit, have found their niche in the metalsphere and, for the most part I am here for it. With that said, I definitely find their brand of deathcore to be mood music, and although I personally find the balance of Graveside Confessions at least serviceable, I am bored. I have listened to the album front to back multiple times and nothing sticks. So, I must confess, at this graveside there are no tears.

2.0 Out Of 5.0