Many bands out there claim to be “fucked up and twisted” but Gothenburg’s Karnarium truly are. Almost as if they wanted to ruin the reputation of the world’s melodeath capital all by themselves, since their inception in 1998 this mob, who shelter various ex-members of Pagan Rites, Devil Lee Rot and Kill, have churned out some of the most noisy and bizarre death metal Sweden has ever given birth to, leaving a trail of drug-fuelled madness and experimentation behind them without never toning down the bestiality factor. Yet, somehow for their second proper full-length, ‘Otapamo Pralaja’, they seem to have straightened themselves up a little bit. Still, according to the collective voice of the band, nothing could be further from the truth: “I think we are a bit weird as people, no matter where we were based, but the aversion held towards melodeath surely worked as an incentive to make twisted music. Karnarium does not wish to be dualistic in that sense, even though we are mere humans. First and foremost, our initial plan was to make a sick twisted form of death metal with a sense of chaos that at the same time didn’t sound too much like the … Read More

Within ten seconds of pressing play our immediate thought was, “Damn, these dudes got some swagger.” That’s not a typical thought to bubble up when you’re confronted with the kind of grinding hardcore/desperate sludge alloy that Liverpool’s Corrupt Moral Altar have banged out on their first EP, but, there it was, just the same. “I guess a lot of that comes from our love of rock ‘n’ roll,” guitarist John shrugs. “Just trying to keep it super simple and have catchy songs. We all come from backgrounds of playing in super fast, technical bands and the whole idea of this band is simplicity, and being able to play the tracks when pissed out of our heads: playing brutal music and having fun with it!” They certainly nail the “brutal” part. ‘Luciferian Deathcult’ (out January 8 via Baitin’ The Trap Records) is positively rank, browbeating its poor listener into an absolute pulp. Ten seconds after first blush, we needed a drink – and so did they, probably. “The four members got together through their mutual love of getting fucked up and cider,” we’re told. “The band was formed in Merseyside in 2012, all members have been around for years in various other bands, some … Read More