Carved is a melodic death metal band from Apuania Italy. They formed in 2007 and have since released a self titled E.P. in 2010 and their first full-length album Dies Irae in 2013. In October 2016 the band released their new album Kyrie Eleison.
Carved are:
Christian Guzzon – Vocals
Alessio Rossano – Guitar
Damn Terzoni – Guitar
Lorenzo Nicoli – Bass
Giulio Samael – Drums
Track list for Kyrie Eleison:
1. Viaticum
2. Malice Striker
3. Lilith
4. The Burning Joke
5. Heart of Gaia
6. Swamp
7. The Dividing Line
8. Absence
9. Faith
10. The Hidden Ones
11. Camlann
12. The Bad Touch
Viaticum – This song starts off with beautiful orchestration which could be composed by Hans Zimmer. Throughout changes from heavy to light with a beautiful melody. Towards the end, a haunting voice enters changing ” now you must sink” which leads into the next song “malice striker”
Malice Striker – Christian continues the chant “now you must sink” feeling like a call to arms. If the vocals aren’t enough to get you moving along then the heavy groove with symphonic melodies will make you want to move. The symphonic elements are not off-putting like with some band rather it adds to the atmosphere to the sonic scope of the song. Cristian’s vocals drift from guttural scream to soaring singing with no effort at all.
All the while the band sit comfortably beneath like an orchestra moving to a soloist’s needs. The instrumentation in this song is beautiful with no one person overpowering the other and each part shining at the perfect moment.
Lilith – This is a song I heard a snippet of in a teaser for the first video. This snippet is what got me through the wait for the release of this album. The song begins sounding like a song that could have been released by meshuggah. The changes between the heavy chaotic sounds and the melodic sung parts are seamless and feel like they were written by a classical composer.
The Burning Joke – This song tones down the symphonic elements slightly and focuses on the band. However, it doesn’t lose any of the epic feels that has been built up in the previous tracks. The Burning Joke continues the melodic groove that has listeners moving along with the cd as well as when the band plays live.
The end of this song drops to guitar and violin which moves seamlessly into the next track.
Heart of Gaia – This track is a subdued track that begins with vocalist Christian singing with a string section and piano. This sudden change in style is welcomed as it feels like a natural progression in the music. The rest of the band come in with a heavy and chugging rhythm. As I have said this is a welcomed change but fits perfectly into the abilities of the band.
Swamp – Swamp begins with a chugging rhythm but moves into melodic rhythms sitting perfectly over this feeling. This song is laid back, however, does not lose any intensity and fits perfectly within the progression of the album.
The Dividing Line – A beautifully constructed song in which all of the members of the band work off each other perfectly with the dual guitar parts by Alessio and Damn take this song to another level, they create amazing melody while bass player Lorenzo and drummer Giulio keep the thunderous intensity underneath. It is nice to hear singer Christian speaking in Italian in parts of this song as the lyrics are mainly in English.
Absence – Absence begins at a slower tempo however combines the perfect amount of melody with a heavy groove. While other bands could make this feel like a paint by numbers song Carved make this a perfectly orchestrated piece of music.
Faith – Faith starts off very melodic and slowly builds in intensity finally peaking in the second half of the song. The song suddenly drops back in dynamic giving you a feeling that the song will continue to fade away however the closing section of the song jumps back to the high intensity of the previous section with the added level of the vocals which had been missing for the rest of the song.
The Hidden Ones – The Hidden Ones begins at a slow pace that feels like you are being punched in the chest. The music then goes quiet with just the piano playing and the band come back in and put the tempo into overdrive. The use of symphonic elements has been used perfectly to elevate the music without being a distraction.
Camlann – An eerie choir kick off this song with a drum accompaniment while Christian whispers over the top in an almost menacing way. Every time the band kicks in after this section I smile. The sections of this song make it feel like a piece of classical music. Sections of fast ferocious picking followed by sweeping melodies and the return of clean singing mixed with vicious growling. This band can do it all.
The Bad Touch – This is an extra song on the CD that isn’t available on the iTunes version. This is an incredibly fun cover of The Bad Touch by Bloodhound Gang. The band have taken this song and made it their own. Hopefully, it will make it into their live sets.
This is a very exciting album from a band that continues to improve with each release. This album is my favourite release of 2016. The future is very bright for this band and I look forward to what they will release next.
Release Year: 2016
Label: self-released
Category: Album
Country: Italy
Reviewed by Sam Gibson
