CARNIFEX ‘More Than Misery’

CARNIFEX
More Than Misery
Sumerian Records

Christmas came early, and the sick fuck in the Santa suit brought CARNIFEX!

Released November 6 through Sumerian Records, ‘More Than Misery’ arrives just in time to turn the holiday season into a crime scene. My favorite horror movie is Silent Night, Deadly Night, so you know where my head is headed: blood in the snow, a suspiciously heavy sack of presents, and somebody approaching the tree with terrible fucking intentions. Throw in some Terrifier-style gore, hang the lights over the carnage, and we’ve got ourselves a celebration!

CARNIFEX drags Christmas through the slaughterhouse on ‘More Than Misery’; brutal, grotesque, and worth every bloodstained minute. Death metal and deathcore are my preferred wheelhouse, with plenty of love for thrash, and CARNIFEX has been part of that obsession for years. I remember listening to ‘Hell Chose Me’, spinning “Heartless,” and enjoying their “Angel of Death” cover. Those memories get me excited, but a new album still has to deliver. On their tenth full-length album, founding vocalist Scott Ian Lewis and drummer Shawn Cameron remind us that this band remains a force to be reckoned with. Put on your ugly Christmas sweater. It’s about to get uglier!

“…And I Held Hands With Death” starts things off with an acoustic instrumental that slowly builds. In our Christmas horror movie, this is the opening scene: an empty street, snow falling, lights blinking, and somebody standing a little too still beneath a streetlamp. You know something bad is coming. That patient start works for me, especially when “‘More Than Misery’” arrives and tears into the evening! Crushing. That’s the word I keep coming back to. Guitarists Cory Arford and Neal Tiemann are part of the crew bringing the sharp objects, and this opening gets me hooked on the album’s flow. The title track deals with obsession, isolation, and a relationship that has done serious damage. 

Then comes a moment of pushback: “My life will always be ‘More Than Misery.’” Somebody is finally ready to fight their way out. “The Process of Pain” brings in my fucking queen of deathcore, Chaney Crabb of ENTHEOS. Applause! Fucking applause! Having her alongside Lewis, is a huge selling point for me! The line “I became someone I promised not to be” gets straight to the song’s ugly heart: pain can change you into somebody you don’t like. That’s a nasty thing to face once the bleeding stops. You’d think Chaney’s appearance makes this my favorite song here. You would be wrong. Two other bloodstained presents get opened first.

“No Gods Only Graves” takes the top spot, and this is where the Christmas postcard catches fire. The lyrics deal with war, destruction, and people dying for blood and treasure. So much for peace on Earth. The moment that hits me hardest is simple: “I held her hand in silence / As fire filled the sky.” Everything is falling apart, and somebody is holding on to another person through it. That gives the destruction a face and makes the loss unavoidable to feel. The breakdown on “No Gods Only Graves” is a gift for sick fucks like me. Chef’s kiss! Cameron and bassist Fred Calderon are among the accomplices behind this operation, and I’m more than happy to return to the scene. 

“Coffin Crowned King” opens with a little acoustic guitar, but we don’t get the same breathing room as the album’s opening instrumental. That quieter moment is brief before the punishment resumes. It’s the slasher-movie pause, where you think you have time to catch your breath, then the bastard gets back up! “Speak of the devil and he shall appear” fits that moment perfectly! 

Somebody had to ask whether the killer was really dead. 
Now Santa’s back on his feet, and Christmas dinner is canceled.

“Roses & Rotting Corpses” is my second-favorite track, followed by “The Process of Pain,” and it provides the centerpiece for this disgusting Christmas dinner! There are flowers on the table and something dead underneath it. Eventually, everybody is going to notice the smell. 

The song’s ghosts and graves point towards grief, and the things people struggle to leave behind. “I speak to the ghosts I cannot save” says a lot in a few words. Somebody is still reaching for people they’ve lost, even though there’s nothing they can do to bring them back. That gives the gruesome imagery something real to hold on to, and it’s part of what makes the song stick with me. “Only the Dead” takes the exhaustion farther, into a perspective where relief seems impossible among the living. Its refrain, “Only the dead have found peace,” comes from a narrator who is worn down and can’t see a way out. 
By this point in our Christmas nightmare, the guests are gone, chairs are overturned, and broken ornaments cover the floor. A cheerful holiday movie, still playing to an empty room. That clash gives the scene a little Black Christmas creepiness. Everything looks familiar, but nothing feels safe. These songs use death and decay, yet the feelings underneath are easy to recognize; missing somebody, feeling alone, and being too exhausted to know what comes next.

“Gothic Serpent” takes us back to war. Fallen comrades, ambushes, and civilians caught in the violence make the horror here painfully human! “In the teeth of the storm, we die the same” puts the song’s message plainly: nobody is bulletproof, and everyone caught in the fighting has something to lose. It also gives the album a wider view of suffering beyond broken relationships and personal struggles. The television at our ruined Christmas party has switched from holiday movies to footage nobody wants to watch. “Heart Made of Teeth” then brings us back to somebody who has survived and is ready to hit back! “Survived it all and became the weapon” is a hell of a line. 

Here’s our survivor getting up from the snow, grabbing something sharp, and deciding they’re finished running! I like the fight in this song, but there’s something uncomfortable about it, too. This person has become stronger while still carrying the anger from what happened. They’re standing, but they aren’t suddenly ‘okay.’ That fits the album’s bigger idea of trying to live beyond pain. Getting through the worst of it is one step; figuring out who you are afterward is another! The killer might be down, but nobody is sleeping comfortably tonight.

“Licking Love From a Knife” closes the album, and what a nasty fucking title. It sums up a relationship, repeatedly reaching for love keeps getting you hurt. “I’ll hold your heart, but you’ll devour mine” makes that clear enough. One person keeps giving while the other keeps taking pieces out of them. In our horror movie, the survivor has finally reached the road but can’t stop looking back!

That’s a fittingly ugly ending, and overall, I really like how the album flows from its opening build to this final mess. My biggest problem is the vocal production. To my ears, the vocals sound slightly muffled within the music. I want them to stand out more. When you put extreme vocals over extreme music, that voice can add an extra vibrant layer to a line you remember, a moment you wait for, something you want to scream along with. Those hooks matter to longtime fans, and they can give new listeners something to grab onto! Sometimes, I want Lewis’s voice to come through more clearly so I can catch more of what he’s bringing to the song. To keep our horror comparison going, the effects are disgusting and the killer looks great, but some of his dialogue gets buried in the noise. A little more clarity would make the whole thing hit harder.

And, as I always emphasize, I’m just a guy who listens to music, a guy who loves fucking deathcore! That production criticism is how the album sounds to me, and it’s my main issue with a record I otherwise think is excellent. There’s plenty keeping me hooked: the acoustic opening, the crushing title track, the overall flow, Chaney Crabb’s appearance, and my favorites, “No Gods Only Graves” and “Roses & Rotting Corpses.” Twenty-one years in, CARNIFEX still makes a convincing case for why I love, fucking, deathcore! The brutality and grotesquerie are a huge part of why I show up, and ‘More Than Misery’ delivers both! There’s also enough going on in the lyrics to give you something to chew on once the initial beating wears off. For someone whose favorite horror movie is Silent Night, Deadly Night, this is a filthy little gift for the holiday rotation. 

Put it beside the Christmas slashers, pour yourself a drink, and enjoy the carnage. Four out of five blood-soaked VHS tapes. Like a cheap ’80s slasher, ‘More Than Misery’ has a few rough edges in the sound department, but the carnage keeps me coming back. CARNIFEX has wrecked Christmas, ruined the carpet, and earned another fucking rewind!

4.0 Out Of 5.0 Blood-soaked VHS tapes