Location: Rimini
Country: Italy
Genre: Avant garde post black/doom metal
Full length: Endless Blue
Format: Digital album, A5 digipack CD, gatefold LP
Label: A Sad Sadness Song/ATMF
Release date: September 15, 2023
Due to the presence of promotion companies such as Earsplit PR, I don't have to look hard to find bands offering a variety of extreme music providing a balance between seemingly incompatible elements. As "Endless Blue" combines atmospheric doom, post black metal and progressive rock, Deadly Carnage is one of those bands. While the band is based in Italy, they chose to base their lyrics on Japanese mythology and folklore, incorporating the imagery involved into their songwriting and verses.
Deadly Carnage’s early material leaned primarily toward raw black metal, but the band has always adhered to a lyrical approach to existential concepts and unconventional arrangements. Their insight into the "cult" perspective of black metal was extended into the advanced prog themes which they present on their latest album. There were similar indications to Sunn O))) and Khanate as well as Darkthrone and Burzum. It was from there that they developed something both chaotic and elegant.
This drone-like style remains an integral part of the band's approach to creating memorable music that appeals equally to mainstream and underground audiences. Over the years, the unforeseen breathtaking moods they brought to their songs grew to transcend their own potential without disrupting their continuity. As a result of trial and error, Deadly Carnage came to express themselves through a variety of extreme and progressive techniques while effectively thinning the line between the two.
"Through the Void, Above the Suns" (Aeternitas Tenebrarum Musicae Fundamentum, 2018) is when Deadly Carnage really began to take on deeper esoteric meanings in their lyrics, illustrating them in their song structure. According to my understanding, the concept centers on science, mathematics and the endless cycle of nature. It was their biggest transition from black metal to their current sound and featured shorter songs, as if they were testing their ability to compose with multiple genres and the amount of potential to improve upon. Again, their raw aggression was not replaced; rather redirected through transcendent songwriting.
From a musical and lyrical standpoint, "Endless Blue" is a logical continuation of what Deadly Carnage began with "Through the Void, Above the Suns". In reference to Kabuki theater, traditional tales of the Ayakashi and Umibozu, and the legend of Urashima Tar, they capture the nuances of their research, arranging music to convey the tales as vividly as possible. It is more than just landscapes that is engendered with each song; entire dimensions are catalyzed appearing more real with each listen.
Two promotional videos have been produced by the band to support the album in recent months. There are brief glimpses of this phantasm dimension brought to life by the nonmaterial beings inhabiting it in "Swan Season" and "Moans, Grief and Wails". These are a fitting introduction to the album, illustrating daytime and nighttime, boundless oceans and even greater abysses, inquisitiveness and nightmare, benevolent specters and fiendish revenants. Throughout, these elements are transformed into something so corporeal that it will challenge your understanding of ingenuity in a band on a Promethean level. –Dave Wolff
Lineup:
Alexios: Vocals, guitars
Dave: Guitars, piano
Adres: Bass
Marco: Drums
Mike Crinella: Guest synth, piano, bouzouki, lute, mandolin
The Nemeless Goblin: Guest erhu
Track list:
1. Dying Sun
2. Sublime Connection
3. The Clue
4. Blue Womb
5. Mononoke
6. Swan Season
7. Moans, Grief and Wails
8. Unknown Shores
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