ALBUM REVIEW: Evil – Bonecarver

Formed from the ashes of the brilliantly named CANNIBAL GRANDPA, Spanish outfit BONECARVER have been at the forefront of the extreme scene in their native Madrid since 2014. Combining stories about infamous serial killers with their own take on brutal death metal, they have undergone a self-proclaimed reinvention in the past few years, which included a changing of name. Today sees the release of their debut album under the BONECARVER moniker and their first via Unique Leader Records – a telling of the American murderer Albert Fish with the title Evil.

Although their first full album, BONECARVER released two EPs during the second half of last decade under their old name, so it’s not like this is their first rodeo, but in terms of quality and sheer impact, what a way to go about it. That scene in Raider of the Lost Ark where two of the characters have their faces literally melted off their skulls? This is the aural equivalent from the moment opening track Revolver explodes with a fury of double kick drums and thunderous guitars, replete with savage, guttural vocals. It doesn’t so much grab the listener as throttle them with ease and then delivers the final blow with a devastating breakdown; and there are still nine tracks to go.

Overtorture brings in pig squeals alongside everything else and The Scythe continues the relentless assault, throwing in a brilliant THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER-style solo in the middle; the ending is even better though, as a spoken word build gets the adrenaline going before it drops into a filthy, repugnant finale – you can actually see the bodies flailing around the pit as you listen.

Although this remains the nucleus of the album’s style, there are moments here and there which add a different flavour on top of the bludgeoning riffs and blistering drums. Mallevs Maleficarvm has a slight symphonic edge in places, which harks back to DIMMU BORGIR in their prime and the false finish in Nest of Traitors is a well-executed curveball; it comes out of absolutely nowhere at the exact moment when the listener begins to breath a bit easier after another round of sonic bullying.

The closing title track, however, asks ‘Why not both?’ and delivers a softer, momentary interlude of piano that just as quickly reverts to a pig squeal and all out assault. For the most part, though, this is just straight up carnage; Wormhole takes after its title and could easily rip a hole in space and time if it were played loud enough whilst Hound Pound, the shortest track at just over two minutes long, somehow manages to be even faster than everything that’s come before it, which is already played at a breakneck speed. There is absolutely no let up and yet, despite the battering to the senses, nobody will ever get enough of it; this will be spun on repeat for the rest of the year, guaranteed.

When the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse descend from the skies on Judgement Day, this will be their soundtrack as they set about their own destruction of the planet. BONECARVER have spawned a monster in Evil, something truly disgusting and downright revolting; as a result, it’s one of the best death metal releases 2021 will see.

Rating: 9/10

Evil is out now via Unique Leader Records. 

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