Three albums in Carbon Black has really hit their stride and with mixing by the inimitable Kevin Shirley and a guest spot by Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens there ‘s more than a few bells and whistles too. “Recorded piece-by-piece throughout the last eighteen months, “We Remain” is a hard hitting statement of perseverance and tenacity. Australian bush fires, political unrest, isolation and the global pandemic fuelled a collection of furious personal songs that dig deep into their experiences of the last two years and pull no punches.” so the press release reads and so let’s dip in.
Every thing here sounds overdone and overthought and whilst that might sound like a criticism its not meant to be. The crunch and clang of the opening of ‘Red Flag’ soon turns into ferocious guitars and growled vocals with intriguing spoken word and clean vocals thrown in. It’s an interesting take on heavy music and the slower stuttering growl of ‘The One Who Knows My Name’ has a great groove and deep dark growl that muddies the waters just enough. Musically if you like your death meal growls you’ll probably lap this up but I must admit that after a while the mix of dirty and clean vocals has me coming down so much on the side of the clean especially on tracks like that.
‘Scars’ works better where the mix is just about right with nothing overpowering the thrust of the song; and ‘Under Order’ (feat. Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens) almost completely eschews all bit the most melodic growls and sounds all the better for it getting almost Maidenesque at times. It’s a great pair of songs that are certainly my highlights buried as they are in the middle.
‘We Bleed’ adds more groove and more interesting vocal arrangements against searing guitars, and just might pinch it for me, though ‘One Enemy’ really gets the blood pumping after a rather melodic opening. We close with an epic: ‘Our Reprise’ pushes the boundaries, builds slow with plenty of groove and ‘wah’ and really showcases the great clean vocals . It does of course get darker, and I know you’ll enjoy the ride. One to watch from NSW.
TOUR DATES
Saturday April 2nd – Crowbar Sydney (Metal United Down Under)
“We Remain” is available for Pre Order now