Carrion Vael‘s rise continues in 2026.
For this fifth album, entitled Slay Utterly, Travis Lawson Purcell (vocals), Alex Arford (bass), Trenton Limburg (guitar), Ryan Kurder (guitar), and Matt Behner (drums) continue to place their trust in Unique Leader Records, which has been supporting them for several years now.
The band kicks off strongly with 19(fucking)78, a technically accomplished track that offers complex melodies, furious riffs, devastating vocals, and even some extremely catchy groovy parts, as well as moments of majestic clean singing, demonstrating a wide range of diversity. The track is sure to surprise us before the final sample lets us catch our breath, finally giving way to Truth or Consequences, which begins in a very calm and intriguing way with Flamenco influences, only to explode in turn. Once again, the band members show off their skills, with devastating rhythms supported by imposing samples, but the vocals are not to be outdone, contrasting with a finale that is as gentle as the introduction and does not prepare us at all for 1912’s striking melancholy. The track heavily draws on Symphonic Death Metal, but also borrows from Deathcore, particularly in its massive central break and the rhythm that accompanies the particularly airy solo, before returning to clean vocals to move on to 30 on 9, where the sound becomes disturbing and alternates between ultra-fast passages and much slower, crushing riffs. Unfortunately, the song passes a little too quickly, but it is followed closely by 40 Echoes Upon the Parlor, where harmonics rage while the rhythmic base tramples us at a good pace, allowing the vocalist to experiment with all his techniques, offering cavernous growls or terrifying screams while the band tosses us around in its violence. Some passages are slightly more accessible, such as Lord of 74, which starts very slowly but intensifies note by note, offering a very communicative clear voice before the song suddenly bursts into flames and delivers all its long-awaited power at full speed to hammer us properly. The samples also reinforce certain key moments of the track, making it even more unifying, including on this calmer break that doesn’t last long but offers a captivating vocal duet before returning to pure rage and slightly more Old School touches, but still oriented towards Technical Death on Bisection 47, without denying the support of the keyboards or forgetting to offer us a moment of respite between two waves. The plaintive clean vocals give the tranquility a rather dark hue, but the return of the galvanizing fury will have us banging our heads again before Black Chariot takes over with very jerky riffing, particularly in the piercing leads that complement the incessant roars, which are joined by clean vocals for a grand final.
I’m discovering Carrion Vael‘s music with this album, and the least we can say is that the musicians have worked hard! Slay Utterly is a tornado that allows no downtime, crashing into our ears and mixing its influences to our great delight!
90/100