Album Review: Carnun Rising -Vercingetorix

Carnun Rising is a melodic death metal band hailing from Dublin, Ireland. Although they are a solid band as a whole, the guitar work outshines everything else. The vocals are decent but nothing original, just some generic gutterals. However, the vocals offer an interesting contrast when they syncopate with the guitar riffs, with the upbeat of one being the downbeat of the other.The drums get lost in the background, other than a few cool rolls every now and then.

Temple Of Flesh is the best track from this EP. Those energetic guitar licks will get stuck in your head. I’ve been raping the replay button for 3 days in a row, and I’m still addicted. The title track, Vercingetorix, offers some amazing solos, whereas Flames Of Gergovia falls flat and doesn’t stand out one way or the other. The final song, Caesar’s Bane, shows some folk influence with a Celtic melody.

The lyrics are not published, but the words I could understand were anti-religion, and often referred to chaos and death. The album art shows the Druidic deity Cernunnos (from whom the band derived their name) sitting cross legged in a circle, making a symbol that resembles an inverted pentagram.

Among other albums, Vercingetorix is available for download on Bandcamp. The production quality is surprisingly good and the guitar techniques are exceptional, but otherwise, Carnun Rising sound similar to many other melodic death metal bands. Four stars out of five.