Review: Carnosus – Wormtales

Style: Technical death metal, progressive death metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: The Black Dahlia Murder, Psycroptic, Archspire, Infant Annihilator, Revocation
Country: Sweden
Release date: October 18, 2024

Let’s be honest here: tech-death is one big dick measuring contest. After dropping two albums then promptly dipping, Necrophagist’s absent throne has opened the floodgates for every musician with a penchant for speed to fill. Unfortunately, most of these musicians didn’t really get the memo that behind Necrophagist’s blisteringly fast playing was a backdrop of incredibly written riffs and solos. Those that understand the painstaking effort behind crafting a perfect tech-death song rocket into the upper echelons at four-hundred BPM, while the rest twiddle their thumbs hoping that they can one day graze the empire that Archspire or First Fragment have created for themselves.

Carnosus weren’t in this war from the start. They’ve been the cave-tribe off the southern fringes of The Black Dahlia Murder’s melodeath kingdom. They heard the glorious Gothenburg riffs and Trevor Strnad’s mountain lion-like screeches from afar, and in 2020, decided to try their own hand at such a musical style. While good in its own right, debut Dogma of the Deceased pales in comparison to last year’s Visions of Infinihility, to the point where these Swedish apemen likely found the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Extraterrestrial interference is the only way I can describe the amount of growth they had in three years, and it’s the logical conclusion to their continued success, because Wormtales is just as much of a leap forward.

Wormtales was a bit of a shock to me upon first listen. Unlike Visions, which starts out firing on all cylinders, we’re treated to simpler riff structures on ‘Birthless’ before exploding into a melodic solo. Not shreddy, mind you, but precise, and almost reminiscent of Christian Munzner’s (Obscura, Alkaloid) graceful soloing. There isn’t as much shreddy madness to be found on Wormtales as there is on Visions, but it works in the album’s favor. Moreover, we’re treated to the horrifying, ever-increasing range of domesticated pterodactyl Jonatan Karasiak’s vocals. In this one song alone, he goes from manic, Strnad-esque screeches to gurgles reminiscent of Afterbirth’s Will Smith.

However, ‘Within Throat, Within Heart’ proves that Carnosus aren’t going soft on us any time soon. Wasting no time with the blast beats and BREEEEEs, it proves that Carnosus have the fire within to create the techy madness they became known for on Visions, but have simply chosen to create something more on Wormtales. They became too smart for their own good and knew that they couldn’t rehash the same sound with different results. As the clean guitar proves near the end of the aforementioned song, Carnosus have decided to not play faster, but write stronger.

The pummeling riffs, like the one that drives ‘Neglectikon’, Karasiak’s unhinged vocals, and the—dare I say—beautiful guitar solos (come on, listen to the ending of ‘Wound of Wisdom’) have come together in harmony to create a signature sound unique to Carnosus. Sure, the influences are obvious, as they were on the last album, but this cave-tribe concluded that writing fast and only fast was completely beneath them, and decided to opt for songs that perfectly tow the line between bone-headed and big brained. ‘Worm Charmer’ starts with the most meat-headed riff on the album, and throws a curve ball with an incredibly tasteful bass and guitar solo about halfway through.

Unlike Visions, I wouldn’t say that Wormtales has a stronger half. In fact, everything from ‘Yearnings of a Rotten Spine’ onward is likely going to be a SOTY contender for me. However, every time I think I’ve found a favorite, the vocal acrobatics of back-to-back bangers ‘Harbinger of Woundism’ and ‘Paradoxical Impulse’ keep bringing me back. I know I’ve mentioned Karasiak a lot in this review, but he is truly the tipping point in increasing the final score by half a point. If the final song didn’t continue Wormtales’ tradition of experimenting by starting out with a throat-singing section, I think I’d say it’s merely just as good as Visions. 

When Carnosus said that their next album was already in the works back in 2023, I didn’t think it would be even close to this good. With Visions, they entered themselves into the Tech-War, but with Wormtales, they’ve shown that they’re wholly unconcerned with warfare, and all they want to do is make disgusting noises. Carnosus haven’t set out to become the next speedster, but have staked their career on continuing to evolve into something beyond. I’m a bit worried that the moment these boneheaded apes figure out how to make their bass even more audible, they’re going to evolve far past what humanity is able to comprehend. Perhaps with a second 2001 monolith, they’ll reach the very stars, and disregard the Tech-Throne entirely. 

Recommended tracks: Birthless, Yearnings of a Rotten Spine, Neglectikon, Harbinger of Woudism, Solace in Soil
You may also like: Hath, Slugdge, Afterbirth, Wormhole, Xoth
Final verdict: 9.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: Willowtip – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Carnosus is:
– Marcus Strindlund (bass)
– Jacob Hedner (drums)
– Rickard Persson (guitars)
– Jonatan Karasiak (vocals)
– Markus Jokela Nystrom (guitars)