### Carnal Forge: Testify for my victims

#### 22/05/07 || Lord K Philipson

Why Carnal Forge never got more recognition in the world of new-school thrash with their older albums is fucken beyond me. They have executed their flawless metal for quite some time and when The Haunted got all written up in the media, the girls of Carnal Forge were always forgotten.

It’s not fucken completely fair since Carnal Forge definitely thrashed with the best of them. With this album it seems like the utter furious thrash metal has been pushed to the side a bit…

After blasting the title track the first time I was struck by the fact that CF sound alot more melodic than I’m used to. And after going thru the complete album at numerous occasions, that fact is steadfast in my mind. Carnal Forge quite possibly let up on most of their speed in favor of heavier parts and more melody. I don’t mind all that much, but I definitely didn’t see it coming from these fuckers.

Where CF used to be a complete all-out crushing force, “Testify for my victims” displays a more mature act in many aspects. It might very possibly be a factor of age since Carnal Forge are (as far as I know, I did play with bassist Lars in Rosicrucian in the early 90’s, and I believe he was pushing 40 already back then, haha) well over their 30’s, and you all know what happened with The Haunted on their latest piece, right?

Right.

It seems like these bastards are aiming for a wider audience now, perhaps due to the fact that their strong past efforts haven’t earned them much credit in the metal universe. “Penis for my victims” is easy to digest and at times I hear some riffing that could very much have been something Rosicrucian would have composed if they were still around. I guess Lars is responsible for those riffs, he was always a good riff-maker. And a quite handsome fella at that.

But fear not, some of the tracks still show the guys haven’t completely lost the ability to thrash. At least “Numb (the dead)” rages all over the place for its whole (almost) 3 minute span. So does “Lost legion”.

So, what we end up with here on “Testify for my victims” is a 2007 effort of quality metal, lacking the bestiality of their past efforts but containing a huge dose of high quality metal of today.

It’s a fine album by all means, but I’m still a bit surprised about the decrease in tempo.

7,5 missing thrash parts out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Candlelight Records
- Website: www.carnalforge.com
- Band
- Jens C. Mortensen: vocals
- Jari Kuusisto: guitars
- Petri Kuusisto: guitars
- Lars Lindén: bass
- Stefan Westerberg: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Testify For My Victims
- 02. Burning Eden
- 03. Numb (The Dead)
- 04. Godsend Gods End
- 05. End Game
- 06. Questions Pertaining The Ownership Of My Mind
- 07. Freedom By Mutilation
- 08. Subhuman
- 09. No Longer Bleeding
- 10. Biological Waste Matter
- 11. Lost Legion
- 12. Ante Mori