Carcinoid – Encomium to Extinction (Smarty Pants Grave-Splitting Death Doom)
Well this one surprised me now, didn’t it? Just the other day I was saying how Australia’s Werewolves pretty much satisfies everything you’d need in death metal from the country, but now I decided to add to the list Carcinoid, which opts for the death doom angle, with some cocky smartypants attitude. On the surface there seems to be a blatant simplicity to it, the opposite idea, and which in itself is a fine approach for most, but this clan presents far more in the details. I mean, hell, I actually had to look up the first word in the title of this EP, Encomium to Extinction, to know what in the hell it meant! Bunch of smarties.
Since they’re so smart, sir, are there gimmicks? No, you’re not going to find that. But, is it sepulchral? Is it of the crypts? Does it tear the listener into human mulch? Does it split open graves, no, an entire cemetery with its riffs? Yes to all! Encomium to Extinction feels longer than an EP, possibly because it’s over 3 minutes past the cut-off, but, more importantly, because it has that much to offer in so little space. Carcinoid will play with your assumptions about death doom pretty quickly, breaking tempo, suddenly going silent, and mixing the vocals in a variety of ways. This here is how you do the classic thing of making something feel new while sticking to form.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Carcinoid – Encomium to Extinction
Headsplit Records, Me Saco un Ojo Records
Cover Art: Necro Frost
4.5 / 5
