For 4 albums since 2020 , Sweden’s Carnal Savagery has been one of those solid to decent Swedish Death metal bands that I have enjoyed, purchased albums, etc, but never truly loved or considered an heir apparent to the legends of the genre.

Despite members coming out of the genre’s birth in the early 90s as Cromlech (then diverging to melodic death metal act Divine Souls, they have always been just ‘good’, and never a threat to acts like Entrails, Necrom, Brutally Deceased, Iron Flesh, In Pain, Demonical or Ripped to Shreds as the genre top dogs.

However, with album number 5, released earlier this year, Into the Abysmal Void, the duo of Mikael Lindgren and Matthias Lilja appear to have found the sweet spot and improved their efforts into something far more memorable than 2023’s Worm Eaten. And that appears to have continued for the quick sixth follow-up album.

What’s changed? Well, the Dan Swano master is still there delivering a full-on buzzing chainsaw-ridden HM2 sound, and the songs are still rooted in Dismember’s more melodic canters (tell me opener “Nailed to the Cross” isn’t “Of Fire” from Death Metal).

But as with their album from earlier this year, there is a much more increased Autopsy stench (though it’s always been there), with about every other song brimming with crawling, sinewy, icky pacing and riffs. And when blended with the already solid, if unoriginal Dismember worship (“Gallery of Flesh”, “Graveworms, Cadavers, Coffins and Bones”, “Charred Mass of Flesh”, “Burnt to Death” and thunderous closer “Decapitated”), it comes together to finally deliver a top-notch album (s?) of the genre.

As with their Dismember-inspired songs, the likes of  “Carnal Blasphemy”, and especially “Bind Torture Kill”, “Death Triumphant” and “Mutilation”, come criminally close to Autopsy cover songs (I mean look at the album title- Autopsy’s last album was called Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts), but it all finally clicks with an energy and confidence you’d expect from a duo of veterans that came up when the scene started, much like Entrails and In Pain.

With their two 2024 albums, Carnal Savagery has finally elbowed its way into the conversation as one of the genre’s better/top acts and appears to entering the conversation in the same breath as early Entrails… finally. A fine feat considering the quick turnaround and high productivity, usually a sign of quality over quantity. This is not the case for Carnal Savagery in 2024.

[Visit the band's website]

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