© Adipocere 2002
CARCARIASS
Killing Process
I absolutely love it when a band surprises the hell out of me and releases a disc that kicks the ass of their previous material. With their previous two releases, CARCARIASS was a band that I thought I should like, but their music just did not grab me enough (except for the killer two opening tracks on their debut, Hell on Earth). Their songs were neither complex nor catchy enough to sustain my interest. However, all this has changed with the release of Killing Process. CARCARIASS have realized their potential and then some.This CD contains excellent melodies, tons of catchy riffage, well done and ever-present leads, and some varied and cool drumming. It is definitely not Technical Death Metal, but there are some glimpses of Progressive Death/Thrash. Mostly though, Killing Process is just a wonderfully engaging collection of music that happens to be more complex than the average band's material.
One unique aspect of this disc is that, of the nine songs on display, four are instrumentals, and another song contains only one relatively short section with vocals. All of these tracks are quite interesting, which is a difficult feat in my book since I normally prefer songs with vocals. Most of the instrumentals sound somewhat like a more melodic and thrashier version of latter day DEATH. However, the almost all instrumental track "Under Concrete" has a FATES WARNING - Parallels vibe (albeit with more lead guitar) to start and close the song.
My two favorite songs on Killing Process are tracks 1 ("Watery Grave") and 6 ("Winds of Death"). Both contain incredibly infectious, killer riffage and wonderful melodies. The guitar playing is the highlight of this disc, and the fluid, yet chunky, and always extremely catchy licks never seem to end on these two songs especially. The riffs in the last 1.5 minutes of "Watery Grave" and the beginning passages of "Winds of Death" remind me very much of a hybrid of the guitarwork on CORONER's No More Color and Mental Vortex. Very high praise indeed.
The catchiness and stellar musicianship on Killing Process rival DECAPITATED's excellent work on Nihility. These are the two Death Metal discs that I keep coming back to in 2002, and I imagine that they will both place highly in my list of favorites for the year. If you have not heard the Killing Process material, you really must check CARCARIASS out at as soon as possible.
Editor's rating: 9
Contributed by John Frank
