ALBUM REVIEW: Caratucay – Deranged Serenades

Here I review the new full length from German Melodic / Progressive Death Metallers CARATUCAY!

1. Ex Speculis introduces things with some lovely acoustic guitars creating a mellow and sombre mood for the release, with some more aggressive playing of it and the piano and strings joining there is something very Fleshgod Apocalypse about this to me. The ending of the intro brings in the full band with some catchy riffs, shredding leads and awesome drums. Awesome introduction.
2. To Hit Rock Bottom properly brings the band in with some nice clean and technical guitar, the screams, electric instruments and drums kick in really beautifully. The song is very upbeat and melodic, the riffs are super tight and catchy, absolutely awesome stuff. The band do not immediately sound like anything else in their genre to me, maybe Scar Symmetry but with a less clean and melancholic feel. The songwriting is excellent and the musicians very talented. Finally the vocal range used on the screams/growls sounds killer. The clean vocals actually caught me quite off guard, they sound pretty cool and fit the song well, but I prefer the vocalists growls personally. The guitar solo is really well played and features some gorgeous technicality while not being particularly fast.
3. Waste opens with clean guitars once more, they sound really ambient and then some hectic sweeping kicks straight in with a simplistic rhythm and bass section. The full assault of the song hits and is absolutely brutal, very atmospheric and unexpected. This song has slightly more of a raw feel to it, but is still pretty tight in terms of production and playing. The riffs are groovy as hell, and the drums punctuate each note very nicely. The second half is a bit more melancholic and works really nicely before a blistering little solo.
4. Inevitable begins once more with clean guitars, however this time with some nicely song clean vocals too. At this point I’m sort of waiting for the in your face attack, but the cleaner music keeps running. It is very nice to listen to and a nice break from the technical chaos we have heard so far. The melodic but still nice and heavy riffs kick in followed by the full band. The vocals sound absolutely perfect on this track using both modern and old school styles of Death Metal vocal excellently. There softer parts of the songs are interwoven with the fast paced attack very well which makes for some awesome music.
5. Companion Of Void kicks straight in for the first time, the lead work is both dissonant and really melodic. The higher vocals sound killer and the bass really punches through on this track. The varying tempos and levels of attack work really nicely with the compressed punchy production of the song, which even goes into more Death-Doom territory at parts even if briefly. The upbeat style of the song works very nicely with the atmospheric tremolo picked riffs in between with tons of technical guitar work too. The ending riffs are so damn catchy, amazing work.
6. Burden Seeker has some ambience this time, creating a really dark and space like atmosphere, it sounds both really gorgeous and pretty creepy too. It works nicely as a little interlude from the bombastic and heavy attack of the other songs.
7. Self-Inflicted comes straight back in with really fantastic riffs, pummelling drums and a headbang worthy level of groove. The super fast tempo of the song sounds killer with the varied and excellent musicianship of the whole band. The vocals are really precise and the pronunciation of each word is done very well, something I really appreciate in Extreme Metal. The little lines of lead guitar break up any sense of repetition we may get, very nicely so. The solo section features little background, is really stunning and atmospheric and shows no need for overkill on the shredding. We are led out by some gorgeous clean vocals over melodic guitars and quiet drums.
8. Stalemate Asylum has a more Thrash Metal feel to it to begin, with some excellent Melodeath riffing to follow. The cheerful feel of the song is lovely, with a more bleak acoustic part thrown in too! There is such a well used mix of sounds here. The clean vocals are slightly off key but sound pretty nice all the same over the atmospheric guitar chords, and rhythmic drumming. The song picks up the pace very nicely with triplets being used to full effect, and a real Scar Symmetry vibe as mentioned earlier in the review.
9. A Picture Of Putrid Aesthetics starts thing off with lovely acoustic guitars, a more flamenco rhythm to them this time. The awesome riffs soon kick in, with some amazing bass guitar playing and groovy rhythms. The drummer is on best form and the vocals are so brutal. The groovy guitar riffs are plentiful and really original with tons of catchier parts. The clean vocals are at their best by far on this song, sounding really haunting. The acoustic mid section followed by a bass led technical break and more groovy, aggressive verses sounds absolutely wonderful. Some of the riffs even feel slightly more like Black Metal with how they are played, and once more we are led out with acoustic guitars and clean singing. Awesome track, and a probable best of the album, with once last lead line over more tech riffs to end.
10. Paradox brings a more frantic vibe than other songs. The sheer speed of this song is really impressive, and the punchy mute picking words really well as do the harmonics. There is a really strong amount of melodic lead work but this song feels more rhythm led and really groovy. There is tons of huge changes in style throughout making it a very interesting listen.
11. Nexum is the last track of the album. It opens with some ambient guitar playing that’s very pleasant and peaceful. The introductory section of this song is much longer than others, but still rises to precipice with tremolo picked madness and absolutely killer drums. The grooves return once more but in a more mellow fashion this time around. The band really pulled out all stops on this track with the atmospherics for sure. The song ends on a more breakdown like rhythm with some lovely lead guitars.

With the wide range of bands that can arguably be called “Progressive Death Metal” there are many I love, and many that I am not so keen on. This is nothing like “djent” or other similar things, but rather tons of technically brilliant and catchy songs. There is loads of great riffs here, really groovy pieces and just wonderful songwriting. Great work indeed. -8.5/10