Occularis Infernum

Rarely does a new band in the vast BM world grab me by the balls upon the very first listen of their first demo. Such is the case for Carpticon, a band from Norway formed just 4 years ago, in the town of Jessheim. I especially didn't expect this coming from Norway. It's comparable to Bael's 'Bleeding for Him', in terms of raw riffs and extremely fast madness (though not as good). Every single song on this demo wastes no time at all, starting every single song in a traditional manner. No keyboards or other instruments like that are there to ruin the experience. I mean I love keyboards and such, but they definitely wouldn't fit Carpticon; with this band, it's all about fast riffs and mean drums from start to end. Vocals on this are good. Nothing oustanding, nothing new, just average BM vocals. The production... if you're fearing any underproduced basement type of crap, then fear not. The production on this demo is professional, no instruments shines out or is hidden under the mix. It evens sound too perfect at certain times. That's just the production though. Guitars on this are mixed wonderfully. Now for the negative points. The riffs.. yes, they're fast and everything else you want, but sometimes they honestly feel a bit too cliched - perhaps the 'perfect' production is responsible here. Well, considering it's a demo and their very first release, i'm impressed. Definitely worthy of a record deal, without forgetting they have to work on a few things here and there. Brief review for a brief demo.