CARTHUS – Images Of Tyranny

RELEASE YEAR: 2023

BAND URL: https://carthus.bandcamp.com/

It’s raining independent debuts here at ER so, after the British death thrash groovers Lokust now comes the Australian progressive melodic death metal folk quintet Carthus with Images Of Tyranny²⁰²³ released on July 21st just 3 years after formation. What stands out the most are the band’s extraordinary skills as Abhi Jain (vocals), Marko Žegarac (guitars), Jimmy Johnstone (guitars), Sam Marino (bass) and Jack Karavas (drums) seem to be hell bent on proving themselves worthy of the highest accolades on the metal meat market, something they definitely deserve if only for their ability to pack multiple riffs, hooks, solos and transitions into on average 5 minute tracks with the best result the aptly titled “Method In The Madness”, a thrashy, groovy death metal concoction of Lamb Of Godly and Mastodonic layers with a pinch of metalcore a’la Society’s Finest in the end for good measure but the remaining 7 actual songs, but for 2 (referred to later), all easily deserve 5.5 rating on both sides (meaning that in different ears some of them could be perfect) which are fairly even, and even the short closing acoustic meets piano instrumental is first class songwriting. Stylistically, we are all over the genre fretboard, now some classic Megadeth (Nightmare) now ancient Dark Tranquillity from Trail Of Life Decayed¹⁹⁹¹ and A Moonclad Reflection¹⁹⁹² in “Fed To The Lions”, “Vindictive Retribution” and “Swamp Monster”, that last one particularly masterful and with a riff to these ears an obvious allusion to Marilyn Manson’s “Beautiful People”, and then we also seem to appreciate Hypocrisy and Arch Enemy songwriting especially in the last song proper “Blind Supremacy” where Abhi Jain “broadcasts” a message against those who are “worshipping a god with sinister intent” Randy Blythe style as if to echo his “this god that I worship this demon I blame conspire as one, exactly the same” from “Descending” on Lamb Of God’s landmark Sacrament²⁰⁰⁶, and then, finally, it’s important to emphasize how much traditional metal with a powerful Black Sabbathian feel this album is soaked in. Some of the tracks, particularly “Vindictive Retribution” and (back to back) “Blood Crown” could have been better, particularly the former appears one-dimensional in comparing with even the latter but there’s no denying that “Images Of Tyranny” is a very strong debut signalling an up and coming heavy metal giant the size of Mastodon or Lamb Of God if not The Chasm or Autopsy in terms of ability of creating powerful, catchy and riff-laden songs that are layered rich and get better with every application.