During the 13^th century, Friar Thomas de Celano wrote a hymn reflecting upon the return of Christ and the Last Judgment, "Dies Irae" ("Day of Wrath"). For a band of "6 angry Metalheads" (Facebook), an album entitled as such would certainly fit. In this new release by Bakerteam Records I found passion, but not anger.

The title track, and ending track seem to match each other, but not with the rest of the album. "Dies Irae" evolves from an organ dirge into a drum-driven funerary march out of the village with solemnity, sans bile. Musically, it is quite lovely. It is bookend, "A New World" is an equally delightful orchestral sound byte. But, without a ramp-up from "Dies Irae (Praeludium)" and cool-down to "Black Lily of Chaos", I'm hearing samplers to another album entirely. "Echo of My Cinderella (The Final Symphony)" till "Ashes of a Scar" are well-grouped and evenly energetic.

"Verba volant, scripta manent" is a Latin proverb that translates as "Spoken words fly away, written words remain". The words that remain in "Scripta Manent" are "bullshit". Although, I'd love to hear the story behind this one, I'm satisfied that this track is a great one for listening to while in traffic. The repeated "bullshit" are my sentiments regarding traffic, as well. I offer kudos to Alessio Rossano and Damiano Terzoni for the insaneness at 1:25 and to Mattia Nuti for impressive keys at 1:35.

It has always been my automatic pilot practice to tune in the instruments when the singing does not appeal to me. I'm not a fan of the growling, but I admire the craft. It takes incredible practice and controlled of one's diaphragm and vocal cords. Cristian Guzzon proves strong and consistent in his expertise and I would very much like to know, as a fellow singer, what exercises he does to achieve such well-balanced vocal force.

Now, back to this anger issue, my emotional barometer tells me that we have an angry vocalist surrounded by merely passionate band mates. Convince me that you're angry and I'll say, "Hell, yeah! I'm pissed, too!" Even better, you need to scare the crap out of me to convince me. CARVED did not achieve this for me this time, but I know they will in days to come. Keep the passion and talent guys. Just get mad about it.