Carnifloor - Engulfed In Gold

Carnifloor is a solo effort band from Amsterdam. The band is inventively titled after his own name; Vocalist and instrumentalist Floor Van Kuijk, who has from what I've gathered, managed to complete this album by scratch including the recording process on his own. Having been in the brutal death metal scene for many years (Current guitarist of Korpse aswell as being in other death metal bands over the course of time), it will come as no surprise that the years of experience have done Floor and his band justice on album number two. Whilst Floor's first release, 2016's "Process Of Disorderly Conduct" clearly pointed the band in the right direction, the album itself offered very little in bringing something fresh to the game. Fast-forward four years and here we have "Engulfed In Gold" - The sophomore album that has aimed higher than ever and fortunately struck gold (excuse the pun), by exploring exciting new elements combined with the genre's usual recipes.

The genres I'm about to describe are definitely not one's that I would usually consider myself familiar with, so to see this fused with death metal is a real eye-opener aswell as an inspiration for bands to dabble into new territories. Now that's not to say elements of these genres have never been done before, but Carnifloor are committed in doing it right and sounding awesome. The segments of hip-hop and trap fused with brutal slamming death metal sounds idiosyncratic, this is especially hyped with Floor's grand and well-deserved production skills. The album is littered with samples of beats, conversations and even the odd gunshot, often used as a background for atmospheric synth-like dance music. This more often than not blends carefully with brutal death metal's usual grunts, gurgles and growls, tin-like immense drumming and also Floor's impressive and huge sounding bass drop slamming breakdowns. So generally there's still much to admire even if the additional trap elements fail to get you pumped, you can't argue that this album isn't heavy as balls. Floor's vocals are gnarly and more evil sounding than ever, 'Squandered Existence' possibly showcases his craziest and most diverse range of brutal vocals yet. Even his trap "screaming" is pulled off well as introduced on 'Entombed In The Hood'.

Floor's personal music taste involves metal and hip hop, so it's absolutely no surprise that he's chosen this unique direction to merge them together. The true applause comes from the fact he's taken such a risk on doing it, and that it's worked in his favour massively. There will be brutal death metal addicts that will pan this off without bothering to listen, and these metal fans would be missing out on a genre-defying gem in the underground metal scene. More bands need to pay attention to Carnifloor in 2020 to reduce the possibility of becoming stale and forgettable. Now is the time to get creative, combine passion and talent to form something truly opposed to the modern reality of an unfortunately repetitious genre.

4 / 5 STARS 

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1. Haters Eradication
2. Gore Paradise
3. Blunt Disembowelment
4. Mass Murder Mack
5. Entombed In The Hood
6. Misanthropic Intermission
7. Influential Rampage
8. Og Malefactor
9. Hustlers Wasteland
10. Engulfed In Gold
11. Squandered Existence


Label: https://www.facebook.com/rottenmusic.net
Band: https://www.facebook.com/carnifloor
Reviewer: Max James
Sep 2, 2020
Next review: Pothead - Skunk Fiction: The Tales From Žižkov

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