CARRION VAEL hailing from Richmond, Indiana was founded in 2017. They are a melodic Death Metal band and released their second full-length album "God Killer" last month. Their style is best described as a combination of melodic Death Metal influenced by the Swedish school, Thrash Metal, technical Death Metal elements, and drumming that reminded me on the good old Northern Hyperblast style. Listening to their debut album "Resurrection Of The Doomed", the new album "God Killer" sounds a bit more technical, faster, and more dominated by blast beats. "God Killer" was released by Horror Pain Gore Death Production and has a length of approximately 33 minutes.

The first song "Inception" largely sets the tone for the things to come: fast and catchy guitar riffs, melodic guitar solos, vocals that constantly switch between deep growls and high pitched screams, and hammering blast beats. While "Inception" is played at high pace for most of the song, a few other songs slightly vary in speed. "Strokes Of A Goya", "Black Chariot" and "Something Soulless" follow the pattern of "Inception", but have a few more breaks in tempo. All three songs contain technical comprehensive guitar solos. Especially notable, however, is the excellent drumming of Charles Smiley. He really makes the difference, not only on those songs, but on the entire album. The link to the video of "Black Chariot" is given below.

In "Waratah Blooms", CARRION VAEL raise intensity, brutality, and tempo. The song sounds darker than the rest of the album, and the fast parts are all played at breakneck speed. Main contributor is, yet again, Charles Smiley by playing blisteringly fast drums. "Waratah Blooms" is a very strong song celebrating the very best of Death Metal.

"Moonchild Ritual" and "La Fin Du Monde" continue with the high speed approach. Both songs include excellent melodic guitar solos which gives them a special note and underlines the technical ambition of CARRION VAEL's approach to Death Metal. "Psalm Of Lies" wraps it all up and summarizes the sound on "God Killer" quite nicely.

"God Killer" is CARRION VAEL's second album and an upgrade of their debut. It sounds more mature and is more comprehensive than its predecessor in many ways. Most notable, it sounds faster, the drums are insane and of high quality, and the guitars crunchy and slick. CARRION VAEL uses a Death Metal formula that is a mix of brutal growls and screams, hammering blasts, technical and melodic Death Metal as well as Thrash Metal elements. There is little variation in their sound that makes the songs a bit indistinguishable from each other, perhaps with the exception of "Waratah Blooms". Fans especially of THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER or of AT THE GATES will like "God Killer". It is a well-produced album. Clearly, CARRION VAEL is a band to watch and set a mark with their new album.