Review CARCARIASS ‘Afterworld’

Carcariass are not a new group, even though I didn’t know the band until today. It all started in 1991, the year of the band’s foundation. However, it took until 1997 that the guys dropped with ‘Hell on Earth’ also a first longplayer on the market. Now, with ‘Afterworld’, the sixth album of the Frenchmen reaches the shelves of the record stores.

In 53 minutes the band shows their interpretation of melodic death metal. It starts with the throbbing ‘No Aftermath’ before an interesting track follows with ‘Billions of Suns’. When I first heard the song I had to think for a moment who those guitar lines and keyboards remind me of. It’s Dark Age, a band I hold in high esteem. Now, ‘Billions of Suns’ is not an exact copy of Dark Age and is equipped with enough of its own identity. Nevertheless, cross-references cannot be denied.

Carcariass also rely on song with epic length on their new album. The following ‘Identity’ belongs to the mix as well as the almost nine-minute long ‘Machine Kult’. Here the Frenchmen show their songwriting skills as despite the length none of these tracks seems lengthy. Provided with a rather cinematic architecture, the band sketches heavy metal landscapes in which riff power, vehemence and melody come to the fore.

That Carcariass can also play short and crispy is what they demonstrate on ‘The Hive’. And sometimes it’s the rather dark, almost gothic-like moments, as in ‘Black Rain’, which give the record a new twist.

Even though the guys are from France, listening to the record makes you feel reminded of Gothenburg, which is more a sign of quality. ‘Afterworld’ is a record that you can put on the turntable without regrets, even if not much groundbreaking new is to be expected.