Viscera are a death/metalcore band from the UK and this is their second album.
Carcinogenesis follows on from 2020’s Obsidian, which was a record I loved, so I have been really looking forward to hearing this new one. It has not disappointed.
Carcinogenesis once again offers a masterclass in how to play modern heavy music. The songs combine elements of groove metal, metalcore, melodic death metal, and deathcore into nine tasty treats that smash, crush, and destroy over the course of 40 minutes. Imagine a mix of The Black Dahlia Murder, Thy Art Is Murder, Gojira, Pantera, Psycroptic, Decapitated, Fit For an Autopsy, Killswitch Engage, and Divine Heresy, and you’ll have an idea of the sort of killing fields that this record stalks.
One of the key reasons that Obsidian stood out from the crowd was the band’s songwriting skills, and this is also true of Carcinogenesis. Viscera’s music has a dynamic catchiness and depth of emotive content that’s simply rare in anything of this sort. Viscera are massively brutal, but within this they also inject real emotion and immersive atmosphere.
On Carcinogenesis Viscera sound heavier than ever, but haven’t lost any of the extra touches that elevate them above the norm. Atmospheric enrichments, emotive vocals, and key melodic licks are just some of these elements, and all join the rest of the monstrously heavy music in thoroughly demolishing the listener. The band continue to be a creative force to be reckoned with in the contemporary heavy music scene, and these new songs cement why they are so very good at what they do.
I should also mention the band’s talented singer, as it is one thing to be able to write and play good songs, and another to be able to front them effectively. The vocals, like the rest of the music really, take all of the strengths from Obsidian and reinforce them with iron rods. The man can sing, and his varied performance is just excellent.
Louder, heavier, faster, more dynamic, more emotive, hookier, and just bigger and better, Carcinogenesis is everything I wanted from a follow up to Obsidian and then some.
Yes, this is a particularly gushing review. I don’t care, Viscera are great, and Carcinogenesis is a ridiculously strong album.
Essential listening for any fan of modern heaviness.
Wonderbox Metal 