Band:	Carnage
Album:	Dark Recollections
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	1990
A review by:	omne metallum

01. Dark Recollections
02. Torn Apart
03. Blasphemies Of The Flesh
04. Infestation Of Evil
05. Gentle Exhuming
06. Deranged From Blood
07. Malignant Epitaph
08. Self-Dissection
09. Death Evocation
10. Outro

No mere one-hit wonders.

Carnage may be more famous for their alumni than for their sole recorded output, but don't let that be the sole arbiter of quality here. Carnage jump-started not only some of the most famous bands in the Swedish metal scene, but the Gothenburg scene in general, by producing an overlooked classic in Dark Recollections, an album that is worthy of renown based on its own merits rather than solely due to what the members would go on to do.

The line-up is effectively a proto-supergroup, featuring some of the most important musicians in all of death metal, let alone the Swedish variant, before they established their names. Featuring three members of (then disbanded) Dismember, as well as future Carcass and Arch Enemy player Michael Amott (Johnny Đorđević is credited as playing bass but didn't actually feature on the album), Carnage attracts a hell of a level of anticipation, and one that they thankfully live up to.

Amott and Blomqvist's guitars utilize the fuzzy overdriven tone that, along with Entombed's Left Hand Path, would leave its sonic fingerprints over the burgeoning death metal scene and produce some of the best guitar work in the genre. On Dark Recollections, the overdriven tone allows songs such as "Deranged In Blood" to hit incredibly hard, particularly in the bridges and breaks, hooking and dragging you throughout the entire song rather than just during the main riffs and solos, which, when you consider the quality of the riff and solo on "Torn Apart", would have been brilliant enough on their own. Added to this are the (much copied) vocal stylings of Kärki, who sets an early standard for the genre (and continued to maintain it with his future work in Dismember) with his nigh-on possessed performances on tracks like "Blasphemies Of The Flesh".

Being among the first records to be recorded at Sunlight Studios with the band working in tandem with Skogsberg, Dark Recollections features a sound that many a Swedish death metal act would go on to replicate. Featuring that dark and gritty tone that somewhat belies the true power of what is being channelled through your speakers, it hits hard while also emanating an atmosphere of darkness that adds to the whole experience. "Infestation Of Evil" has several more layers added to it beyond solely being a heavy track, while "Gentle Exhuming" highlights how the entire track can hit hard even after the opening guitar salvo recedes into the dissonant main riffs.

Given the entire experience lasts just shy of 40 minutes, I would recommend hearing this album in full, with each track adding something that together forms a formidable whole, though if you don't have the time to spare, each track does work as a lone song. If I was to be pushed to pick a favourite I would say the opening title track with its driving pace (thanks to a sublime performance by Estby on drums) and the shifting "Self Dissection" showing the breadth of talent on show, ensuring that the band are not written off as solely speed merchants.

Being a key release in the history of both Swedish death metal and death metal as a whole, Carnage produced a hell of a footprint in their short time together as a band. Dark Recollections is often given the nod by fans of the genre but not nearly enough in relation to its quality, with it mostly featuring as an audition tape for several key players in the genre. Worth listening to for the quality of the music alone.