Interview / Carnosus

Carnosus is a Swedish Techincal/Melodic Death Metal band from Örebro that was formed in 2011. To date, the band has released two full length albums. "Dogma of the Deceased" was released in 2020, while the their latest "Visions of Infinihility" was released in 2023.

I had a comprehensive interview with the band about a number of topics including their influences and style.

Hello there! I just wanted to let you know that we are happy to have come across your latest album, Visions of Infinihility, in one of our reviews, and we are happy that you guys agreed to this interview. I’d love for you to introduce the band to our readers. How did the band come together? First off, thanks for the review and for reaching out with the interview! We appreciate it. The band originally came together as a classic high school-band back in 2011. With a desire to create heavy music our drummer Jacob, guitarist Rickard and ex-vocalist Olof teamed up and started to write some meat-heavy riffage - and thus Carnosus (Latin for "an abundance of flesh") was born. With a few member changes over time the sound has grown to incorporate everything ranging from death, thrash, tech and melodic influences.

Coming from Sweden, a country renowned as the center of the melodic death metal universe, what motivated your band to pursue technical death metal as the genre of choice? We would probably not label ourselves as tech-death to be honest. All of our members come from different musical backgrounds and that means we mix a large number of sub-genres, including classic Swedish melo-death. We do however like to push the limits of ourselves and our instrument, and therefore step into the territory of technical death metal. Listening back to our demos however, one can probably hear a bit more influence from the melodic death metal sound, and how we get more technical as the years go by. Evolving as musicians and enjoying a technical challenge are probably the reasons why we step into the techy territory. We try to keep the music fun. Sweden has a rich history of producing iconic metal bands. How has the local metal scene influenced your music and overall style? The Swedish death metal scene has probably influenced Carnosus in a more indirect way, to be perfectly honest. While bands such as At the Gates, In Flames and Entombed have all played a huge role in influencing foreign bands such as The Black Dahlia Murder, Revocation and others, Carnosus has probably gained more inspiration from the latter bands. Sort of going full circle in a way. This is also probably the reason why we are often told that we have a "sort of non-swedish sound" despite being a Swedish semi-melodic death metal band. Technical death metal is known for its complex compositions and intricate instrumentation. How do you approach the songwriting process to maintain the balance between technicality and keeping the music engaging for listeners? We try to maintain this balance by introducing groove and contrast both within songs and in the album as a whole. Stacking technical riffs on top of each other only for the sake of technicality would create a never-ending technical riff-vortex that the listener easily can get lost in (unless they are really tuned in to that stuff). We ourselves probably enjoy that space in between the technicality and groove, and thus our own sound incorporates both. Perhaps it also plays a part that our vocalist tries to be articulate as well as treat the vocals as an instrument in itself. The classic "you can’t even hear what they’re saying” becomes extra prominent with faster vocals, and even more so when the words are distorted with strange vowel sounds like gurgles or pig squeals. At the same time, the twisting of the pronunciations and sound choices are what makes the vocals more “instrument like”. So long story short, trying to find the sweet spots in between different extremes if you will, seems to have generated some interest and engagement from our listeners. Who are some of the band's biggest musical influences, both within the death metal genre and from outside sources? Some of our biggest influences from within the Death Metal genre are probably The Black Dahlia Murder, Revocation, Rivers of Nihil and Job For A Cowboy. As for outside sources, it is more of a personal flavor where each member brings something from their own influences into Carnosus, to give it a unique touch. Bands such as Dream Theater are responsible for our bassist’s noodly lines, Armagedda and other black metal lurkers have influenced our vocalist’s mid range a great deal and Jon Rice from aforementioned Job For A Cowboy have influenced our drummer loads. Technical death metal often incorporates elements of other genres. Are there any specific non-metal influences that have shaped your sound? Yes! We incorporate a lot of different genres outside the metal space into the sound. Blues for catchy solos, Jazz for tasty chords and progressions and Classical music for intriguing riffs are some examples.

Going back to Visions of Infinihility, what was the total number of copies released for this new edition, and which medium did the band choose to use - CD, digital, vinyl, or cassette? Visions of Infinihility was originally released on 100 vinyl copies (yellow/black marble), 400 CD copies (200 digipak, 200 jewel case), and 25 copies on cassette. A second press of the vinyl has been available since the beginning of August, this time we went for 200 copies in gold with black splatter. Visions of Infinihility showcases impressive technical prowess. What were the main challenges you faced while recording and producing this album? We recorded this album at home, by ourselves, except for the drums which were recorded together with producer Rob Kukla at Obsidian Recording Studios in Gothenburg, Sweden. It’s less pressure on the artist when tracking at home. You can take breaks at any time or rearrange riffs without the feeling that the money you spent on studio time is being wasted. However, it's also easier to get hung up on truly miniscule things and lose focus or keep rewriting things only to lose the essence of the intention, when you don't have a producer next to you with an "outside perspective". In live performances, technical precision is crucial. How do you prepare and maintain the high level of musicianship expected from a technical death metal band during your shows? Practice, practice and then some. As you say technical precision is crucial and the only way to achieve it is through practice. We do play our shows with in-ears including a metronome, and naturally we also practice our instruments at home to these same click-tracks. We are also fortunate to all live near each other and our rehearsal-space, so we rehearse quite a lot even when there are no upcoming shows. We have also rehearsed a lot without click during the years and so we feel like we are interlocked with each other as a band. This is important as well - if there's an issue during a live show and we have to stop the click, it's important that everyone can continue and feel confident with the natural flow of the band as its own entity. Apart from this we also frequently practice in darkness or "stagelike" lightning.

In an ideal world, where you have the authority to reshape the industry, is there any particular aspect you would choose to change? What transformation do you envision for the industry's future? Everything nowadays evolves around clicks and likes. It’s hard for an underground independent band to break through the algorithm and reach new fans. So instead of just having to spend your time writing new music or play shows, the bands have to be experts in marketing and other fields not directly related to music. Experienced bands with label-deals can outsource these tasks. Also it’s nowadays expected for a band to have a strong brand before being considered for a deal at a major label. Not like “the olden days” when labels signed completely unknown bands based on a demo and helped create that brand together with the artists. It becomes kind of a Catch 22, you know. We understand that the scene is more saturated today with awesome bands spreading like lice and that labels today can’t sign them all, but it would be nice if the artistry was valued higher. What about your plans for the future? What do you want to achieve with the band? Our plans for the future is to release more music and continue the journey of Carnosus. We are currently writing for our next release and have some plans for touring Europe. Playing some festivals around the world would also be pretty cool. We have dreams of going over to the US and play some shows and/or do tours over there. We are hopeful that this will not be too far into the future and we think that if we keep on making music and playing shows in Europe, that won't be an impossibility! Lastly, anything you would like to share with your fans? Continue listening to our music and spread the word to your friends if you like what we do! We truly appreciate all the support our fans are showing. Releasing Visions of Infinihility completely independently was a bit of a gamble, and we are very thankful that people took the time to listen and shared it with their friends, and supported us.. It really means a lot to us that people are enjoying what we put out!

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For more on Carnosus , visit the following links: Instagram | Spotify | Bandcamp