Matter of a Darker Nature

vote
7.5

• Band:
  CARNOPHAGE
• Duration: 00:33:00
• Available from: 02/08/2024
• Label:

• Transcending Obscurity

Streaming not yet available

It always happens like this with Carnophage: so much time passes between one album and the next that it's almost natural to forget about them or question their status as an active band, but then – out of nowhere – they reappear on the scene with a new concentration of elegance and power, capable without any difficulty of bringing their name back to the top of the technical and 'brutal' death metal scene of the early 2000s.
The Ankara band – born and raised in the same circuit as now highly celebrated underground acts such as Hyperdontia, Engulfed, Diabolizer and Burial Invocation – scores the third goal of their career here, relying on the Indian label Transcending Obscurity to release an album once again balanced on that cusp born from the clash between modernity and tradition, convulsive instances (typical of the old Neurotic Records and Unique Leader catalogue) and more impactful and memorable solutions, offspring of the Nineties classics.
A sound that, as it was on the occasion of the previous “Monument” (2016) and “Deformed Future//Genetic Nightmare” (2008), could easily be compared to that of many of our heroes: Hour of Penance from the “The Vile Conception”/“Paradogma” period, early Hideous Divinity, late Antropofagus and Septycal Gorge… if you appreciate even just one of the bands mentioned, it goes without saying that the half hour of this “Matter of a Darker Nature” should not pass under your radar, by virtue of a breezy approach to the subject matter and a meticulous study of the dynamics.
We don't come across any real midtempos (a factor that, to be honest, our guys could start to consider), but at the same time we can't say that the quintet's songwriting develops in a monotonous and monochromatic way; from the initial “In My Bones” to the final “From Possibility to Actuality”, it is clear that this is not a big map of riffs and blast-beats in which the logical sense is sacrificed on the altar of frenzy and violence at all costs, but a flow in which the harmonies, the tempo changes and the interlocking games between the two souls of the Turkish creature have the opportunity to express themselves and 'breathe' within the various compositions, without obviously distorting the intensity of the genre.
Furthermore, consistently with the title and the dark-toned artwork, here and there the guitar work gives the impression of wanting to open up to the world of black metal, expanding the epic-atmospheric airs for an overall result that the frontman's growling – deep but still intelligible, far from certain excesses of this branch of death metal – immortalizes with vivid ferocity.
As mentioned, with a slightly slower pace, this “Matter…” could have gained something in terms of effectiveness and variety, but apparently it is Turkey’s prerogative to churn out musicians who are not inclined to compromise in this respect (just think of the fury with which the legendary Mustafa Gürcalioğlu piles up riffs in his projects). Ultimately, hoping not to have to welcome them back to these pages in eight years, welcome back Carnophage!