Carnifex are an American Deathcore band formed in 2005.
After a few demos recordings on Enclave Records and some lineup changes, they signed onto This City Is Burning label for their debut act. After the album was released, they decided to tour full time. The sucess of the album and the rise of Deathcore got them signed up on the more popular Victory Records, with Fred Calderon and Ryan Gudmunds joining.
They announced a hiatus in late 2012, likely to see what how future events will affect them. On Jone 10, 2013, they announced a return and stated that a followup would be released in 2014 under Nuclear Blast.
Members:
- Scott Ian Lewis – lead vocals (2005-present)
- Shawn Cameron – drums (2005–present)
- Cory Arford – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2007–present)
- Fred Calderon – bass (2007–present)
- Neal Tiemann - lead guitar (2022-present)
Discography:
- Dead in My Arms (2007)
- The Diseased and the Poisoned (2008)
- Hell Chose Me (2010)
- Until I Feel Nothing (2011)
- Die Without Hope (2014)
- Slow Death (2016)
- Bury Me in Blasphemy (2018) (EP)
- World War X (2019)
- Graveside Confessions (2021)
- Necromanteum (2023)
GOD DAMN THIS TROPE! GOD DAMN MY LIFE!:
- Anti-Love Song: Dead in My Arms was flooded with this as the lyrical theme.
- Ascended Extra: Jordan Lockrey was a longtime friend of the band who once filled in for Ryan Gudmunds on a Canadian run (as Gudmunds was not allowed in the country at the time) and was the most logical choice when the band reunited and Gudmunds wasn't feeling it.
- Audience Participation Song: Several:
- "Lie to My Face": "WHAT THE FUCK!?" and, later, the song's title in the final breakdown.
- "Hell Chose Me": "I didn't choose hell... HELL! CHOSE! ME!"
- "Drown Me in Blood": People typically shout the song's title in the breakdown in the final third of the song.
- Big Fun: Cory Arford is quite large.
- Brutal Death Metal: Dead in My Arms leans quite a bit towards this.
- Blackened Death Metal: Has elements of this, most notably on Until I Feel Nothing.
- Cover Version: "Angel of Death" by Slayer, "The Heretic Anthem" by Slipknot, "Head Like a Hole" by Nine Inch Nails, and "Dead Bodies Everywhere" by Korn.
- Deathcore: Trope Codifier for the black metal-tinged variant of it on Hell Chose Me, though they took a more symphonic turn on Die Without Hope. As of the 2010s, they are, along with Thy Art Is Murder and Oceano, the face of the genre thanks to Suicide Silence's disastrous self-titled, Whitechapel's steady move towards groove and nu metal and generally fading relevance with younger audiences, Despised Icon's part-time touring status, and All Shall Perish's lengthy period of inactivity due to legal battles with Mike Tiner all more or less taking them out of the game.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The music video for "Lie to My Face" has a guy beating up his ex with a crowbar...just for cheating on him.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Their demos and first two albums were far more brutal death and slam-oriented and had none of the blackened death elements that defines their modern work.
- Last Chorus Slow-Down: The ending of "Hell Chose Me", along with a breakdown.
- Nightmare Face: The Diseased And The Poisoned's album art.
- New Sound Album: Several:
- Hell Chose Me introduced the blackened death metal elements that would later come to define their sound and was overall more technical and less slammy and breakdown-oriented than their first two albums.
- Die Without Hope further expanded upon the blackened death elements and introduced guitar solos courtesy of newcomer Jordan Lockrey, as well as adding more prominent symphonic elements.
- Graveside Confessions is something of a return to Until I Feel Nothing stylistically, with the blackened and symphonic elements somewhat downplayed and some noticeable nu metal elements creeping in.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Very cynical.
- Symphonic Metal: Shades of this since Die Without Hope and especially Slow Death and World War X.
