FOE: Carved Up "Matador" Crowquill Review

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Carved Up "Matador" Crowquill Review

CARVED UP

"Matador"

Crowquill Records

Released: November 13, 2015

This has been a Carved Up kind of month for me.

I got to see Carved Up do a special Halloween show where they did a Snapcase covers set, dare I say better than Snapcase could have done. Carved Up is TJ Schilling, Nick Norvilas and Josh Cooper. They filled the lineup out with guests Keats Rickard and Ryan Ratajski to perform the Snapcase set.

I had the privilege of checking out this advance copy of Carved Up's "Matador".

I went on a walk this week with said advance of "Matador" playing in my headphones. I got lost. Literally. Just kept walking, enveloped in the music. Beautiful fall day, loud music in my ears. Gone. Escaped reality. Carved Up as the soundtrack.

The week will end up with me seeing Carved Up live at the Burners in Bethlehem PA on 11/13/15 (and then hopefully traveling to Jabber Jaws in Allentown PA to see some power metal later - great night in the Lehigh Valley for music).

I will also purchase "Matador" in the preferred vinyl format at the Burners / Bethlehem show. "Matador" deserves the respect of being in my vinyl collection, not just on my computer & ipod. You know how I roll. #vinyljunkie since 1971.

Pretty swell week.

By the way, Carved up is from Philly PA. They are a three piece. They play some instrumentals, then they come full on with vocals that destroy. They create music that is damned beautiful one minute and crushes the next.

Somehow, the heavy, hardcore metal rage ("Death Remains the Same", "Crevice - Crevasse"), the AmRep pedal fueled noise ("Riffer Phoenix", "The Riffer Wild"), the intricate and beautiful instrumental landscapes ("Hot Pocket", "Mystic Riffer", "Ωx") all fit as an album and as individual songs. How they can be so good at the variety of music they perform is a treasure. Influences such as Jesus Lizard, Helmet, Snapcase, Torche (especially on "The Arrangement"), Tar, Jawbox, Lotus ("Hot Pocket" could fit as well on the SPA Sirius Channel - which I love almost as much as Liquid Metal channel) and so many others gel into something very special. There is no weak spot on this record. Gonna be one of the top releases of 2015.