Cephalic Carnage - _Lucid Interval_
(Relapse, 2002)
by: Xander Hoose (9 out of 10)
All brutal assaults in 2002 seem to have come from America: Watchmaker, Converge, and now Cephalic Carnage. Of these three, Cephalic is the oldest, dating from back in 1992, and also the most extreme one musically. Picking elements from many different styles, _Lucid Interval_ combines grindcore with gore, death, doom, rock and hardcore, as well as some electronics, creating a whirlwind of an album that is quite incomparable to any other band. The four different vocal styles (gore, grunt, hardcore and screams) are daring, even though I think certain songs would be better without the gore style singing. The drumming and guitars come out excellently in the mix, creating a driving destructive force. The many ways of destruction are exemplified by "Anthro Emesis", a very slow and doomy song with mixed-in electronics. "Pseudo" is a chaotic Coalesce-ish piece, while on "Black Metal Sabbath" the black style is performed with both ease and grandeur. "Cannibism" is an acoustic, fucked-up Spanish intermezzo before "Lucid Interval" which is old school thrash. Cephalic Carnage manages to mix it all without forcing it and without making a chaotic mess. Within the whirlwind of battering assaults, structure can be found underneath, making this album a highly recommended listen. Now if they would use more grown-up lyrics, they would have gotten half a point extra -- for now, they'll have to stick with nine out of ten.
(article published 30/10/2003)
Facebook
Twitter ::
:
::
HTML :
CSS ::
All contents copyright 1995-2024 their individual creators. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
All opinions expressed in Chronicles of Chaos are opinions held at the time of writing by the individuals expressing them.
They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of anyone else, past or present.