Let me close my eyes to sleep.
The etymology of Carcosa is steeped in cosmic horror — the term was established by Ambrose Bierce in the 1886 short-story “An Inhabitant Of Carcosa”, in which a man from the fictitious city of Carcosa awakens from an illness-induced slumber in an unknown world. The city of Carcosa was then utilised more extensively in the 1895 novel “The King In Yellow” by Robert W. Chambers, as well as later works by HP Lovecraft. Fast forward over one-hundred years and we reach HBO’s hit series “True Detective” which drew much inspiration from the aforementioned “The King In Yellow”; it is here that Carcosa (the band) procured their name and their striking yellow-and-black visual identity.
Befitting of their Lovecraftian origins, Carcosa are a technical deathcore quartet from Vancouver, BC, and includes the vocalist equivalent of Hades, Johnny Ciardullo, eight-string emperors Andrew Baena and Cooper Lagace and lastly, thunderous percussionist Travis Regnier. Whilst Carcosa have only been on the deathcore scene for a little over a year, the boys are no strangers to operating as a heavy music unit — prior to Carcosa being established the four-piece comprised the djent group, Galactic Pegasus. Undoubtedly, then, Carcosa are breaching the re-emerging deathcore scene with pedigree, relevance and talent. Without any further ado, allow me to share with you one of 2021’s hottest deathcore releases: Anthology by Carcosa.
Anthology is the culmination of Carcosa’s creations, and begins with “Excerpt”, a recital taken from HP Lovecraft’s 1923 short-story, “Hypnos”: “May the merciful gods, if indeed there be such, guard those hours when no power of the will, or drug that the cunning of man devises, can keep me from the chasm of sleep.” Whilst “Excerpt” is a brief listen, it plays its role as a tone-setter perfectly.
Carcosa take a step further with their Lovecraftian influence in track two “Hypnos”. Ciardullo’s vocals flow seamlessly between abyssal gutturals and banshee-esque highs, bringing an element of blackened deathcore to the mix, whilst Baena, Lagace and Regnier deliver punishing, stank-face-inducing grooves. Further, “Hypnos” is replete with lyrics that conjure images of ghastly apparitions haunting the narrator even when lucid dreaming: “I remember when I close my eyes / A distant figure foreboding in my sights / Stoic lines were etched across his face / His hair a flowing grey / His marble eyes opaque.” Respectfully remaining true to the source material, Carcosa revealed during their album release stream that this song runs parallel to the original story, and that the ghostly character referred to in both the story and the lyrics is actually Hypnos, the Greek God of Sleep.
New tracks “Descensus” and “Vermin” are major highlights on Anthology. “Descensus” was primarily composed by Lagace, who remarks that he drew influence from the 2019 movie “Saint Maud” whilst crafting this absolutely brutal track. “Vermin”, meanwhile, is easily my most-preferred song out of the newer offerings on Anthology. Like with many songs on Anthology, vocals take precedence on “Vermin” with Ciardullo utilising his incredibly diverse and deathly vocal arsenal, whilst guitarist Baena contributes additional backing vocals. I cannot get enough of Ciardullo’s demonic, rapid-fire verses throughout “Vermin”, and don’t even get me started on those ominous layered cleans in the chorus. This dude is seriously up there with the likes of Lorna Shore’s Will Ramos in terms of sheer vocal explosiveness and faultless tonality.
After passing through what was once a stand-alone single, “Devoid”, we reach the latter half of Anthology: a reworked version of Carcosa’s debut EP, Absent. For those unaware, Absent is quite a harrowing collection of songs, narrating the collapse of mental health culminating in heartbreaking suicide. On Anthology, Carcosa successfully spruce up the five tracks from Absent with the assistance of numerous vocal features from the loftiest heights of contemporary deathcore.
“Present: Precursor — Redux” casts a gloomy, funereal sky above us with its mournful intro, before the heavens are torn asunder by droning Drop E guitars, deadly layered vocals and hellish blast beats. Taylor Barber of Left To Suffer adds a refreshing dimension to those like myself who’ve listened to the original countless times. Ov Sulfur’s Ricky Hoover is the next guest to drop by, twisting “Vanta Black — Redux” into a blackened vortex of fury. “Vanta Black — Redux” is replete with one my standout moments on the record: Ciardullo’s straight up satanic scream with “Let me close my eyes to sleep.”
My favourite track from the original Absent is up next, with its guest of course. “Our Scars — Redux” featuring Kyle Anderson of Brand Of Sacrifice is a menacingly heavy and aggressively driven deathcore deluge, and Anderson’s vocals match up flawlessly with Ciardullo and Baena’s. Jake Wolf from Reflections steps into the ring for “A Plague — Redux”, and you already know what’s about to go down. Wolf’s vocal performance is absolutely maniacal, interlacing with Ciardullo in a deathcore deathmatch.
Last but certainly not least is “Absent: Post — Redux”, possibly the most-changed of the revisited tracks. Frontierer’s Chad Kapper provides a raw and rather percussive vocal performance that stands out as one of the more unique voices on show, whilst Vancouver-based singer Charlie PS graces us with some of the most captivating clean vocals I’ve heard in some time. If you’re in any way cynical about clean vocals and their place in deathcore, “Absent: Post — Redux” is incontrovertible proof that this blend works, and it works insanely well. Massive props to Carcosa for trying something new by having an esteemed range of vocalists add to their pre-existing tracks.
Quite interestingly, Anthology is noted on Spotify as a “compilation” rather than a de-facto album, something I’ve never noticed on the app before. It’s important to bear this in mind when evaluating Anthology; it isn’t marketed as being eleven entirely new tracks. Instead, Carcosa have propositioned Anthology as containing five new tracks, the single “Devoid”, and the five redux tracks from Absent. What does admittedly sting a little is that those five new tracks are really just three, with “Excerpt” being a forty-odd second intro and “Spiral” being an unnoticeable interlude.
Furthermore, whilst I personally am absolutely happy with the vocal features provided, those not attuned to the spectrum of deathcore vocals — such as the newcomers that Carcosa are sure to attract — may struggle to truly hear those features when they matter most. The only other factor that stops Anthology reaching into the 9/10+ category for me is its length. I truly appreciate the feat that Carcosa have achieved in re-engineering previous tracks and writing stellar hits like “Hypnos”, “Descensus” and especially “Vermin”, however it is apparent to me that Anthology is a product of the self-imposed time limits of the band.
Ultimately though, Anthology is up there with …And I Return To Nothingness by Lorna Shore in terms of 2021’s best deathcore offerings. I am beyond stoked to see where Carcosa go in the future, and if they ever come over to the UK, you can bet your bottom dollar you’ll see me in the pit.
Anthology is available now via self-release, and you can stream/purchase the album here. For all things Carcosa, deathcore and music in general, stay with us on Boolin Tunes.
8/10