Deadly Carnage : "Endless Blue"

 I was reluctant to check this band out due to their name. Even if you are a death metal band Deadly Carnage is a little too on the nose. The sung vocals of the first song sound like they are from a prog album, as they dance around the flowery atmosphere. The drummer foreshadows the fact fact they are a metal band, if the name did not clue you . When things kick in they still retain a relaxed shimmer. The drummer remains committed to being in a metal band , when everyone else hesitates. The first two songs drifts together, meaning they have a rather uniform sound that they take for a long walk on the beach. I can hear that these guys are talented, but there could be more here to grab me as midway into the second song I can feel myself beginning to get bored. 

To their credit they keep the songs compact, and cover a great deal of ground. The blast beats are not really convincing as there is nothing about what I heard in the first two songs that is all that heavy. They sound like they are from France more than Italy. I don't know but Italian metal bands seem to have more interest in horror movies, these guys sound like they took OxyContin at the crystal shop. Things get more deliberate on "the Clue". There is still a great deal of shimmer than I am not hearing being balanced out by a meatier contrast. Are they skilled at their instruments? Yes. Are they getting the sound they are seeking from these songs? Sounds like it to me. Is this enough to warrant 'the Clue" being an instrumental ? No. 

"Blue Womb" finds the band drifting even further out into the ether. The tempo builds a little as things coagulate but never rock out . The first metal powered chug appears on "Mononoke" . It is also a little darker which helps the over all dynamics of the album. There is more of a languid strum to "Swan Season" which might be the album's most Alcest like moment thus far. The drums certainly want to build things up on this one. In some ways the rest of the band complies in doing so, though the vocals never have any grit to them, and prevent the overall mood from getting grim enough. Not saying they have to resort to the typical black metal screaming. Just something with more balls to it. "Moans, Grief and Wails" gets more metallically intense and wants to go in a heavier direction. 

There is a lingering folk melody to the last song. Two minutes in and I had resigned myself to the fact that this was as heavy as the song was going to get,  no matter how the drummer teased my ears. In fact the intensity drops out as they wander off into new age music. I will give this album an 8, as they are good at what they do, however what they do has a ceiling in terms of how hard the dynamics are willing to go. If you like prog rock you are more likely to enjoy this album than if you are into black metal.