Carnal Forge

Please…Die! (Century Media)
by Martin Popoff

Mining similar terrain as ’00’s Firedemon, Please… Die! whipsaws the sorry neckbrace mosher with insanely speedy, death Swede thrash perfection, bands like The Haunted and The Crown coming to mind, but sounding like Seal in comparison. I mean, this is fast stuff, but just rotted and grunted enough to escape the shutdown of black-blasted double-time, everybody white-knuckling it past killer riffs, Jonas Kjellgren sounding exasperated at all the inhuman talent around him.

Assaultive in the extreme, Carnal Forge prove that thrash can still advance, that young guys playing old school, or old guys playing old school, isn’t the last word on the subject. Lone complaint: Just past the mid-point, I found the speed to be a touch fatiguing and claustrophobic, compressed, and wished periodically for those captivating, note-dense twin lead riffs to settle down and stretch out a bit.
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