AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CARCOLH — “TWILIGHT OF THE MORTALS”

(written by Islander)

Carcolh is the name of a mythical beast from French folklore, a large snail-like serpent that oozed slime and grasped with hairy tentacles. Carcolh is also the name of a powerhouse French doom metal band from Bordeaux/Herbignac. They have two albums to their credit so far, and are about to have a third one released on February 14th by Sleeping Church Records. Its name is Twilight of the Mortals.

Thankfully, the band and the label didn’t put too much weight on the name of our site — because Carcolh‘s Sebastien Fanton sings the words (in a voice that is truly spine-tingling) — and so we have been invited, and have happily agreed, to premiere the entire album today.

The new album is an honorable devotional to the old gods of traditional doom metal, but with a steadfast orientation toward musical narratives that earn the adjective “epic.” As we discuss in greater detail below, they have created dynamic music that is earth-quaking in its heaviness, pulse-pounding in its surges, and melodically sinister and stricken, glorious and gutting. We venture to predict that it won’t be soon forgotten.

It is best for us to begin at the beginning, as Carcolh intended, and at the beginning of Twilight of Mortals is “For Every Second…” Here, the band lay out the musical backbone of the album, a spine made of pulverizing blows, sinister and slowly slithering riffage, and sky-soaring vocals with grit in the gears.

Haunting choral vocals, immense groaning chords (also grit-coated), and miserably wailing but exotic guitar harmonies add to the song’s atmosphere of peril and punishment, of bereavement and pain.

In both the high and low frequencies, the music is powerful and piercing — primitive and pavement-fracturing in the low end, top-of-the-head-off up above, and sinuous, seductive, eldritch, and stricken in between — the kind of thing that causes heads to pump and torsos to heave while its striking vocals and infiltrating melodies captivate the listener’s emotional encampments.

“For Every Second…” also displays a production quality that creates distinct separation and clarity (though the tones aren’t too shiny), but without sacrificing bludgeoning power.

As revealed right away, these ingredients may form the album’s backbone but not all of its flesh. In subsequent songs, Carcolh occasionally crank up the pace and dial up the intensity of both their clobbering heft and the feelings of desperation in the melodies.

You soon get an example of that in “Ashes Are Falling Down“, which continues shifting gears until the song becomes a fierce, galloping charge, again led by spine-tingling vocals, and augmented by electric multi-guitar soloing that swivels, swirls, and gloriously spirals high.

“Ashes…” isn’t the only song that conjures visions of barbaric war-charges or torch-waving glory leavened by moods of downfall and distress (“The Battle Is Lost” does that too). Carcolh‘s manifestations of doom create heart-pounding epics of sword and sorcery just as powerfully as they do slow-motion audio scenes of abyss-gazing oppression and heart-sinking tragedy (e.g., “My Prayers Are For Rain“).

But there’s yet another manifestation waiting for you in the album’s instrumental (but drum-less) title song, one that’s ethereally beautiful, gently wistful, and of course quite sad. It functions as a glimmering and glittering interlude-spell before the album’s monumental closing song, the nearly 12-minute “Empty Throne“.

Partly a rumbling tank-attack, partly a pulse-pounding war-surge, partly a grand procession into the halls of ancient kings, and partly a crushing and haunting reminder that all glory is fleeting and the grave awaits us all, “Empty Throne” is epic in achievement as well as epic in length.

Throughout the album, the rhythm section play vital roles in pushing and pulling the energy with spine-shaking and gut-punching force, and the soloing vividly seizes attention every time it rears its flame-lit head, even when its mission is to sear us with anguish. Carcolh also clearly have a talent (as they’ve shown before) for crafting melodies and vocal lines that are irresistibly mood-moving and memorable.

In short, Twilight of the Mortals is a don’t-miss album for fans of traditional doom sagas, and for anyone else who wants to get completely carried away from the mundane world for 47 minutes.

Now we’d like to share a statement about the album from Sleeping Church and Carcolh:

“Carcolh continues his slow and inexorable path on the ways of doom metal throughout this new album Twilight Of The Mortals. It was recorded as the previous opus The Life And Works Of Death at the mythical Helscalla Studio by Raph Henry, sound engineer as mad as talented.

“The band refined its epic and heavy formula to better accompany its end-of-the-world stories full of rage and despair.

“The painter J.R Erebe has once again answered the call and created this cursed canvas with a bleak vision of a world in decay. If you like to get lost in melancholy, mid-tempo or slow grooves, and you worship legendary bands like Count Raven, Candlemass, Doomsword, Iron Man, Reverend Bizarre, this humble contribution to the building of doom should please you.”

CARCOLH are:
Sebastien Fanton – vocals
Olivier Blanc – Guitar
Quentin Aberne – Guitar
Mathieu Vicens – Bass
Benoît Senon – Drums

Twilight of the Mortals was mastered by Drudenhaus Studio, and includes design work by Brouard. In addition to the other reference points mentioned in the quotation above, Sleeping Church also recommends the album for fans of Solitude Aeturnus and Crypt Sermon.

The album will be out on February 14th and is available for purchase here:

https://sleepingchurchrds.com/fr/2-e-shop

For more info visit:

https://www.facebook.com/Carcolh
https://carcolh.bandcamp.com
https://www.sleepingchurchrds.com
https://sleepingchurchrecords.bandcamp.com/