Song Of The Week: Carnifex - Hell Chose Me

With weapons of war in my hands I will become what begs to be forgotten.
With weapons of war in my hands burning to purge this faithless nation.
These are the eyes, I am the mastermind sent to open God's gates and tear down heaven.

Tear down heaven.

You are the programmed dead set to look me straight in the face and I'll tell you what separates Truth from faith.
These lies I preach ever extending my reach inside of your head. [2x]

And with my scriptures I will summon the serpent's tongue, these words will become walls keeping angels from the light of the Son.
This congregation rains like cinders from the sky.
The product of childhood nightmares.
Empty hopes behind empty eyes.
Open your ears, hear my sweet tragedy, open your mouth and drink my sick blasphemy.

Empty hopes behind empty eyes.

I'm crushing the hope of the saved.
Haunted, dark and driven insane.
This is my unholy rapture.
Oh Lord is this not your desire?

With weapons of war in my hands I will become what begs to be forgotten
With weapons of war in my hands burning to purge this faithless nation.
These are the eyes, I am the mastermind sent to open God's gates and tear down heaven.
Tear down heaven.

You are the programmed dead set to look me straight in the face.
I'll tell you what separates Truth from faith.
These lies I preach ever extending my reach inside your head.

God damn this world!
God damn my life!
I didn't chose hell!

Hell chose me!! [4x]

Whew, what a thoroughly brutal and blasphemous anthem from Carnifex.

Admittedly, there is a limit to how much the Deathcore genre can be explored, because there will come one day when no drummer will be able to double-kick the bass drums any faster, and no band can let the breakdowns get any slower and heavier. But! There is still much room for experimentation with the harsh vocals, and Carnifex sure could use that in future.

While the guitarists and drummer kick-ass, they play very similar to fellow peers in the Deathcore genre such as Suicide Silence and The Red Chord (as any experienced metalhead would be able to tell) , and this is probably why most conventional Deathcore haters hate Deathcore - almost all the bands in the genre seem to sound like one another. Ever since I heard Carnifex on their 2nd full-length album "The Diseased And Poisoned" (which was also their first with Victory Records), I thought they would be a promising band to follow in this genre, and I have not been proven wrong with their nasty new album "Hell Chose Me". As you can see, this Song Of The Week is the title track and first single off their latest album, and it deserves to be up here for all its misanthropia and unholiness. Oh yeah, throw in typical but brutal guitar riffs, rapid bass drumming + catchy snare drum beats, and inhuman screaming too. It is not an excellent song (there is hardly anything excellent in Deathcore these days), but good enough to sate that voracious thirst of the Deathcore-lover or be a good illustration of what one can expect from standard "listenable" songs of the genre to a metal newbie.

The executioners are: From left to right - Fred Calderon (Bass Guitar), Ryan Gudmunds (Guitar), Scott Lewis (Harsh Vocals), Shawn Cameron (Drums), Cory Arford (Guitar)

I can emphatize with the Deathcore haters though, for the genre really needs a dose of creativity. Honestly, if this banal onslaught of Deathcore music continues, the genre would start killing itself off.

Until next time.

Between The Buried And Me: The Great Misdirect Tour (First stop in Asia - Singapore!)

Wow, this is such an overdue post.

Anyway, BTBAM came to perform in Singapore for the first time ever on March 16, 2010 at The Substation, and boy was it a blast (literally).

Honestly speaking, although the dear Webmaster and I listen to a lot of metal and have even set up a site like this, we have never been to a single metal concert before. Ever.

That is until we went for the BTBAM one nearly 1 month ago of course, and I have got to admit that live bands do sound much better than their studio recordings. Is it because of the amped-up volume of the music? Or is it because the live music has more spirit than the studio recordings? I would say it is due to both aspects people. If you have never been to one before, and are a self-professed fan of metal, do take this "person-who-was-once-skeptical-of-live-concerts"'s advice and go for at least one in your lifetime. It is a rewarding experience, I assure you.

Alright, here are some pictures I snapped on that night:

Look at the crowd...

Tommy at the keyboards and microphone

Paul headbanging, I love his mane

Artistic shot of rhythm guitarist: Dustie looked emo that night

Blake and Dan shaking hands with fans after the concert

And of course, I took videos of some of their all-time classics as well:







Although I came out of the concert with my ears ringing in protest, and my body tingling from little vibrations all over the body, I enjoyed the concert very much. Listening to and adoring a band through their studio recordings alone is satisfying, but being able to watch a band perform live is the pinnacle of aural masturbation. The way the band connects with the crowd, their showmanship, and the enthusiastic (and often fanatic) response from the crowd all just blend together to form the unique and heart-thumping experience known as a concert.

BTBAM's gear

The only thing that disappointed me though, was that it was too late for me to linger around and get the autographs of the band members and a photograph with them by the time their performance ended. This was because earlier on, the concert was delayed by an hour and a half due to technical difficulties. Man, I will be sure to catch them again the next time they visit Singapore (and will definitely get them to sign copies of their albums which I own + take a photo with them as well!).

Click here to view all of the photos I took on the night of the concert