Hidden away at the top of Decapitated’s homepage is a quotation. It reads: “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” This fitting quote sums up both the tragic back-story of this release, and the strength in character of focal point Wacław “Vogg” Kiełtyka to continue this part of his life.
Bringing this more up to date, the line-up changes and brief UK tour back in February of last year gave way for the new line-up to head into the Radio Gdańsk Studio in Poland, a recording unit which the band used to full during the sessions, including recording in the corridors. Carnival Is Forever is the product of a two month recording session and a six month period of polishing the material.
When modern death metal splintered towards the core, some bands wanted the crowd to get their pump on during the breakdowns and excessive riffing. Decapitated just wanted to fucking destroy you. 2006′s Organic Hallucinosis was a mass of dense drums and guitars that wasn’t built just on the tremolo picked riff, but a combination of huge power chords and inventive drumming; both these instruments waves created a huge wall of sound that was intimidating and asphyxiating.
The essence of past recordings is clearly smelt within Carnival Is Forever. After all, Vogg has said that some of the material was born in the days of the prior Decapitated. Nihility’s rough polyrhythmics are present on a good chunk of the album coupled with the mesmeric riffs from The Negation, which can be heard on tracks such as ‘United’, ‘Homo Sum’ and ‘Pest’. With this album, Decapitated have turned the techniques of recording a modern death metal album back an age, but have not changed their way of playing too drastically. There are surprising moments of clean playing and flashy wah solos. It is a refreshing stance that once again will cause other bands to look at themselves and perhaps produce their albums in a similar way.
Vogg has apparently changed amps from Dimebag Warheads / Mesa Boogies to old solid states and a Crate Excalibur. This has lead to a whole heap of nostalgic crunch, and even a hint of a 90s Pantera attitude in the chugging on some tracks, far away from the colder more industrial tone on Nihility. Carnival Is Forever seems to have been mixed at lower levels than Organic Hallucinosis, which is not bad thing considering the “loudness war” of the past few years. It has meant that the guitar is not as solidly packed, the drums sound natural and not dominating, and there is a just enough deep rumbling bass to push the low end. In fact, because the guitars aren’t double tracked, the natural dynamics within the band can be heard as Vogg’s pentatonic solos rip through without hindrance during some tracks.
Versatility seems to be the key as instead of one-dimensional vocals that have been a part of past recordings, Rafal Piotrowski experiments with a variety of deathly growls and shouts. It is refreshing to read about the steps the band took to remain as “authentic” as possible, creating an album in a series of whole song live takes, rather cut and pasting the riffs together. It seems a little odd to put such an emphasis on the traditional playing and recording but, for the band, it seemed important to tell their fans that everything was real: “fully live drums, no triggers or plastic sounding stuff whatsoever.”
[Originally published on Onemetal]
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