Mangled Carpenter is a faith-based Deathgrind band that was formed by Seth Metoyer and Kristeffor Olson during their High School years. Seth and Kristeffor decided to write the album “Under the Shadow” through much of the 2020 pandemic. Seth recorded the guitars and vocals and engineered the album from his studio in Monterey, Kristeffor provided bass tracks from Connecticut and the mysterious drummer, MACHINE, tracked drums from his lair. Their debut full-length album “Under the Shadow” was released on the May, 7th 2021 via Hagah Recordings (sub-label of Rottweiler Records).
Some musical influences for the band’s style fall in the realms of Cattle Decapitation, Deranged, Six Feet Under, Dying Fetus, Pig Destroyer, Benighted, Cephalic Carnage, Wormrot and Brain Drill. As far as faith-based bands, the band members cite Fleshkiller, Becoming the Archetype, Abated Mass of Flesh, Crushing The Deceiver, Demon Hunter, Soul Embraced, Crimson Moonlight, Living Sacrifice, and of course are fans of older releases from bands like Vengeance Rising and Mortification.
The album starts with a rip roaring “ The Summoning” which is nothing short of brutal madness, be it for its ultra-fast double bass drum kick or the guttural vocals that are paired with heavy chugged guitars. “Clawing the Ark” builds forth the energy with bits which get you grooving and takes the grind to its penultimate giving sort of jarred texture to the song. “Lost and Found” pillages with maddening blast beats with muted guitar chugs and a constant aggressive vocal delivery which leaves little room for experimentation.
“The Hanging of Judas” like its predecessors uses the same formulaic, starts and ends at the same energy levels. The songs often cross the 2-minute mark which doesn’t give the band enough time to bring out nuances in their songs. The band does experiment a little with “Under the Shadow” where it alternates the tempo of the drums giving the song a distorted effect. “FishVomit” has an incredulous overlapping of vocal styles which brings about a staggering effect and is sure to put a chill down your spine. ”Slices” is quite distorted and disconnected in bringing out random aberration which somehow gets pieced together and will surely bring about confusion to its listener.
“Bone Tomahawk” starts off with a catchy riff but falls back into formulaic, I’m guessing it very difficult to write songs within a very confined Sub-genre of Death-Grind. Loved how diminished chords prop up at the intro for “Extract the Ghosts” and spine chilling screams that follow. “Valley of Dry Bones” has a dry riff running and it suddenly struck me that the mix has a very loud emphasis on guitars and the drums, bass on the other hand feels left out in the production. Lastly, we have a monochromatic riffage and vocal delivery on “Fear and Trembling“ which culminates the album on a light ambient note.
Production – The songs on album are produced well but I missed hearing the bass.
Conclusion – Its difficult to write a Death Grind album, specially bringing out different styles for different song. At times, It becomes cumbersome for the artist to maintain uniqueness within the bounds of such a sub-sub-genre. Nevertheless, the band delivered a tight, original and yet a refreshing sound which for me was in the meddled vocal delivery. As a Debut album, the fans know what they’re in for with Mangled Carpenter. Looking forward to hear more from them in the future.
Rating: 6.5/10
Written by: Ankit Sood
Tracklist:
- The Summoning
- Clawing the Ark
- Lost and Found
- The Hanging of Judas
- Under the Shadow
- FishVomit
- Slices
- Bone Tomahawk
- Extract the Ghosts
- Valley of Dry Bones
- Fear and Trembling
Band Members:
Seth Metoyer – Guitars & Vocals
Kristeffor Olson – Bas
Machine – Drums
Release Date: May 7, 2021
Record Label: Hagah Recordings
Social Media: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Bandcamp
Visualizer video for ‘The Hanging of Judas’
Visualizer video for ‘Clawing the Ark’
Video for ‘Lost And Found’
