Obviously, my prayers have been heard; in my review for their EP "Ascend", I complained about the (mis)use of a drum computer and was hoping for them to get rid of it with their next release. And, surprise, surprise; CARNAL TOMB has now grown into a four piece with a real drummer! And as if that’s not enough of positive news, they even managed to overcome their already great, previous stuff. On their debut full length you are able to witness, that these sickos matured as musicians which really worked off their asses to improve their skills concerning songwriting. Well, "Rotten Remains" is everything but innovative and I can already hear some people crying about the lack of progression or whatever. Stop it! We’re talking about Death Metal played the ancient way. If you can’t cope with it, stop reading and go listen to NIGHTWISH. This here is for all lovers of foul and stinking nostalgia. You can smell the pungent stench of decaying bodies, hear the maggots and worms crawling and eating their way through the putrefying flesh, see slimy fluids oozing out of caskets, while taking that ride down memory lane, always one eye focused on the left hand path. In my book it would not make sense to emphasize any particular song as "Rotten Remains" has to be considered as one piece of (sickening) art. But one thing is for sure; even though they already had quite a bunch of songs from their previous releases, they avoided to use any of these and wrote nine completely new songs for that album. I really like that fact, as it shows, that a band is on fire, with the ambition to go on and compose new tunes, instead of using many demo tracks to compensate the lack of creativity. CARNAL TOMB once again proves that a band has not to be Swedish at all, to carry on the typical Swedish buzzsaw HM 2 sound and we would definitely do them injustice by calling them pure copycats, as they are always able to leave their own reek of rot on every song. In fact "Rotten Remains" is a deep bow to the Death Metal scene of the early nineties in general, drawing its influences likewise from the European and the American elder ones. So, what’s the conclusion? Well, you get over 40 minutes of pure Death Metal, drenched in blood, pus and gastric juice, spiced up with all essential ingredients; morbid, yet beautiful guitar solos, vocals straight out of the crypt, some blast eruptions here and there, fast forward stuff, as well as those well dosed doomy / dragging parts. You need some more selling points? Here we go: we got guest appearances by Manuel Glatter (DESERTED FEAR) and Johan Jansson (INTERMENT, MOONDARK), a mastering done by Javier Félez of GRAVEYARD (Spain) fame at his very own Moontower Studios and a detailed and appealing artwork created by Spanish artist César Valladares who already worked with / for bands such as UNDER THE CHURCH, KRISIUN and ASPHYX, just to name a few. So if you’re still not fully convinced, go and check out the following sites / links and I’m pretty sure you will be afterwards. By the way, apart from the CD, Germany’s Weed Hunter Records put out a neat tape edition and to please the lovers of black wax as well; a vinyl edition is scheduled for a later 2016 release. www.facebook.com/pages/carnal-tomb/218111255026955, https://carnaltomb.bandcamp.com, www.memento-mori.es

In the past few years, the good old tape cassette had its little comeback. Some labels even became specialists for tape releases, like the Berlin, Germany based Weedhunter Records. And the latest offering of this fine label is new fuel for that old fire. CARNAL TOMB, also from Berlin, is a relatively new name in the Metal scene, a band that started in 2014 and already released two demo tapes as a duo. Last year, the original founders Corpse Ripper (bass and vox) and Cryptic Tormentor (guitars and vox) picked up drummer Vomitchrist and second guitar player Lobotomizer, making CARNAL TOMB a full band. And since a full band needs a full album, the four entered a studio and recorded nine brand new pieces of Death fuckin’ Metal. The album was named “Rotten Remains”, a title that is the final piece of the jigsaw of fulfilling Death Metal clichés. Yes, CARNAL TOMB are not here to break with the clichés of Death Metal, which is absolutely fine with me. Especially in the case of “Rotten Remains”, an album that showcases how Death Metal should sound nowadays, but yet denies to be pigeon-holed. You can hear dark Swedish harmonies, brutal British grooves and forcing, basically Scandinavian up tempo outbreaks in a very good combination, blended with fine breaks and continental European brutality in the slaughtering riffs. Even though a revolution of Death Metal is out of sight with “Rotten Remains”, the fluent songs and the rough, but still pretty balanced sound make it this rotten album a real listening pleasure. If you want to find out for yourself, check ‘Cycle Of Horror’ with its damn cool spooky break. You should also pick the title track ‘Rotten Remains’ that is just pure Death at its finest and the complex riff massacre ‘Repulsive Mutilation’. Do yourself a favour and visit www.facebook.com/pages/carnal-tomb/218111255026955 or http://carnaltomb.bandcamp.com. As is customary, music like this sounds best if it is played the analogue way. So get the very well done tape edition with a printed fold out and an extra lyric sheet at http://weed-hunter-records.blogspot.de