CARACH ANGREN — Where The Corpses Sink Forever (review)

CARACH ANGREN — Where The Corpses Sink Forever album cover Album · 2012 · Symphonic Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Time Signature
The funerary dirge of a violinist...

Genre: symphonic black metal

I know that symphonic black metal is not always popular in all circles in the black metal fan community. Dimmu Borgir's "Abrahadabra" has definitely received its share of bashing from a certain group of black metal fans, and I can imagine that Carach Angren's "Where the Corpses Sink Forever" will also get a good bashing from the black metal elitists. Now, I don't give a fuck about what the elitists think. I liked "Abrahadabra" a lot, and I like "Where the Corpses Sink Forever".

Carach Angren have actually, I would argue, created a near-masterpiece of symphonic black metal. With their blend of lush and darkly epic symphonic arrangements and extreme metal, Carach Angren have really managed to create some very intense and at times even overwhelming music, and although some sections are melodic and other quite technical, and the symphonic element is ubiquitous, the album never loses its intensity.; especially 'Lingering in an Imprint Haunting' and 'Bitte Tötet Mich' are ultra intense. I especially like when the extreme metal elements and symphonic and melodic elements are merged together as in parts of 'Little Hector, What Have You Done?', and in 'Lingering in an Imprint Haunting' which features a section with melodic lead guitar on top of a furious blastbeat and wrapped in a layer of strings.

'General Nightmare' features some Iced Earth-ish riffing and an overall stomping rhythm, while 'Sir John' is built around a wonderfully odd riff and some lush symphonic arrangements on top of some ultra fast blastbeats and more primitive black metal riffage. These two tracks are nicely held together by the stomping and marching 'Spectral Infantry Battalions'.

Not only is the music very compelling, so are the lyrics, which evolve around war, death, madness, murder, and suicide, and which are delivered in harsh black metal style shrieky growling which allows you to actually her every single word. Many of the lyrics have a sort of narrative feel to them which only helps to drag the listener even further into the dark war-torn and madness-filled universe of this wonderful album.

"Where the Corpses Sink Forever" is simply a symphonic black metal masterpiece crafted by highly skilled and talented musicians with a flair for both harsh musical intensity and lush symphonic beauty, and - most importantly - a flair for combining these into a perfect equilibrium. If you loved "Abrahadabra", you will also love this one. If you hated "Abrahadabra" chances are that you will actually like this one nonetheless dues to its sheer intensity.
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adg211288 wrote:
more than 2 years ago
They're a great and IMO often overlooked band. I haven't properly got into this album yet but their previous one I count as a masterpiece.

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