Carved - Dies Irae
The Italian Symphonic Death Metal group Carved presents their debut full-length album “Dies Irae” with tremendous passion and joins the list of upcoming Metal bands from Italy. In the last month I have reviewed about four Italian Metal bands that all played different styles of metal. Carved is probably the hardest band to specifically categorize because I hear a large variety of Metal influences in their music. The singerʼs approach is definitely a traditional low growling Death Metal style, but the music behind the vocals sounds like heavy Symphonic/ Power Metal. The guitar riffs create triumphant technical sounding songs which are accompanied by quick flowing drum rhythms. Then the keyboards incorporated into Carvedʼs music on this album give their songs a distinct Symphonic edge. Now, throw all these different styles of Metal together and the final product is the music which can be heard on “Dies Irae.” Great musicianship and well composed epic songs make Carved a solid sounding Metal act. Also, the amazing production on this album captures their groupʼs fierce ambitious sound.
“Dies Irae” is an album with strong diverse sounding songs, so listening to all of them is highly recommended. The heavy Death growls mixed with the Power Metal like guitar riffs make for heavy emotional songs like “Enter the Silence” and “At the Gates of Ice.” I especially liked “Enter the Silence” because the band uses clear vocals at the end of the song to emphasize the lyrical content. One song where the lyrics are straight forward and explicit is “Scripta Manent (Bullshit).” The singer just keeps growling Bullshit over and over. I really enjoyed the insane technical lead guitar parts on the song which allowed me to hear the lead guitaristʼs amazing talents. I personally find the guitar playing to be my favorite area of this album. From the crushing heavy riffs to the technical lead guitar solos I think the guitarist steals the show. “Black Lily of Chaos” is an intense song and I really liked how the band composed this song. Every sound seems to flow and work together to form a complete head banging metal song. Carved experiments with different tempos and timings on this song too which displays the bandʼs awesome technical talents.
“Dies Irae” is an album that can appeal to a wide range of Metal fans. I see Death Metal fans, Power Metal fans, and Symphonic Metal fans all rejoicing together (well traditional Death Metal fans might be harder to win over). Carved did a great job presenting their musical identity on this album. For a first full-length album I was impressed with the level of musicianship that I heard. Besides the vocals at times I think every sound kept me engaged from the start. Still, I believe Carved will keep on improving with more experience. As for now they have carved a small slice into Italyʼs Metal history and in time we will see if that slice gets bigger.
“Dies Irae” is an album with strong diverse sounding songs, so listening to all of them is highly recommended. The heavy Death growls mixed with the Power Metal like guitar riffs make for heavy emotional songs like “Enter the Silence” and “At the Gates of Ice.” I especially liked “Enter the Silence” because the band uses clear vocals at the end of the song to emphasize the lyrical content. One song where the lyrics are straight forward and explicit is “Scripta Manent (Bullshit).” The singer just keeps growling Bullshit over and over. I really enjoyed the insane technical lead guitar parts on the song which allowed me to hear the lead guitaristʼs amazing talents. I personally find the guitar playing to be my favorite area of this album. From the crushing heavy riffs to the technical lead guitar solos I think the guitarist steals the show. “Black Lily of Chaos” is an intense song and I really liked how the band composed this song. Every sound seems to flow and work together to form a complete head banging metal song. Carved experiments with different tempos and timings on this song too which displays the bandʼs awesome technical talents.
“Dies Irae” is an album that can appeal to a wide range of Metal fans. I see Death Metal fans, Power Metal fans, and Symphonic Metal fans all rejoicing together (well traditional Death Metal fans might be harder to win over). Carved did a great job presenting their musical identity on this album. For a first full-length album I was impressed with the level of musicianship that I heard. Besides the vocals at times I think every sound kept me engaged from the start. Still, I believe Carved will keep on improving with more experience. As for now they have carved a small slice into Italyʼs Metal history and in time we will see if that slice gets bigger.
- Dies Irae (Praeludium)
- Echo Of My Cinderella (The Final Symphony)
- Enter The Silence
- Scripta Manent (Bullshit)
- The Perfect Storm
- At The Gates Of Ice
- Ashes Of A Scar
- Black Lily Of Chaos
- A New World (Postludium)
