Carnal Viscera are about to bring their technicolor death metal show to Bad Habit Records as part of their east coast tour, joined by The Plague and Unbound. We caught up with the band's head honcho to talk horror movies, gallows humour and stalking cult Australian actors.
BAD HABIT: We chatted about how there's a Sydney metal sound. To me it's sort of bogan, jokey, extreme. Bit different to Melbourne, that's a bit more straight-faced and serious. Maybe it's the legacy of Sadistik Exekution? How would you describe Sydney extreme metal, and how does Carnal Viscera fit into It?
CARNAL VISCERA: I mean, with Sydney it really depends what part of the overall metal scene you're talking about. But to sum it up, we have a lot of hardworking bands across the board. Sydney seems to have a holdover “pub rock” attitude; most bands are keen as fuck to play in front of people and are not shy to have fun while doing it.
BH: In your song “Wrong night to pull over”, you have Roger Ward, the cult Australian actor, doing an intro. How the fuck did that come about?
CV: To put it simply, I stalked the poor man online and found his contact and asked him. He is a super down to earth bloke, he doesn't know anything about metal but was enthusiastic because we were enthusiastic, definitely a 10/10 bloke and Australian treasure.
BH: There's a big influence of VHS era horror and schlock movies in the band. What came first out of movies or metal in your development as an underground maniac?
CV: Dunno, I just love it, I think horror films came first for me. Standing around in the horror section as a kid knowing I wasn't cool enough to rent Leatherface and religiously watching Godzilla films.
Fuck dunno, the descent into extreme music and cinema just kinda naturally happens when you froth over it, you just keep digging and more cool stuff pops up (part of the fun), hahaha.
BH: What was your first exposure to cinema outside the mainstream and extreme metal? Is your brain damaged in a serious way from these encounters?
CV: ahahahahahah brain damage… think it's healthy to be exposed to this kinda creative violence or whatever you wanna call it. Like gallows humour – it's just a way for one to express themselves.
BH: What are the top 5 movies people should watch to understand Carnal Viscera?
CV: The list is endless but to throw out five, it would be:
BH: Top 5 albums that have impacted your head and formed the musical stew of CV…
CV: Can only speak for myself here but my top 5 would be:
The Bleeding – Cannibal Corpse The Dethalbum – Dethklok Reign in Blood – Slayer Dead Man's Party – Oingo Boingo Monolith of Inhumanity – Cattle Decapitation
BH: Anything else to add? What can people expect from the Queensland shows?
Melbourne hardcore punx Persecutor are heading to Queensland in June 2023 for a string of shows including an All Ages matinee at Nambour’s Black Box Theatre on Sunday 25 June. Known for exploring themes of race and the non-white experience, Persecutor have quickly drawn attention with their mission to uplift the voices of people of […]
The brutality continues. Sorting through records to go this Saturday. If you're new here, here's the deal. We put new stuff out on Saturday mornings at 9am. Locals get first go for all of Saturday, then Saturday late afternoon the leftovers go live on the webstore. Don't dm asking for holds or anything like that. Don't be an annoying nerd.
@blackdeity1r lp is now well and truly out. The Launch at Rottenfest was great. I'm still recovering.
We just put it up for free download on bandcamp. So go sus that. There's also copies of the purple version still left over. Hit the bandcamp or webstore.
Or get out to the following places to get a copy. @middle.5tore , @badlands.vinyl @blackened_records_brisbane @popeyesskateshop @sonic_sherpa @rockinghorserecords @hideousrecords @19th_nervous_breakdown . And @sorrystate for Americans. Big love to all the independent stores who take our releases. You guys are legends and centres of underground scenes.
There's a Brisbane launch on October 28th @thebeardedladywestend with Exit Ploom , @pisssshivers and @oratory666 . Presented by @r.i.ppeace
Brisbane punk had a real golden era in the early/mid 2010s. The explosion of the more commercial side of hardcore in the 2000s had made 100s of teenagers aware of hardcore and the accessibility of the internet and explosion of obscure punk blogs had drawn them past the bigger rock star type bands into the weird and wild world of underground punk. Brisbane was also lucky enough to have a loose all ages venue that showed kids what total madness was possible once all the grown ups/businessmen types left the room and let the real heads run wild.
Out of that era came some total world class hardcore. Shackles, Last Chaos and Sick People were all total powerhouses in this era. There was one more band. A total sore thumb in the hardcore scene, but just as important and vital. That band was Black Deity. Some drug damaged maniacs playing bluesy punk. They still had cats going crazy and, personally, I saw them a bunch of times high as shit, and they always blew me away.
Black Deity released a Demo and 7", recorded an album, played a bunch of shows, drunk a bunch of beers, pulled a bunch of cones, took a bunch of pills then broke up. With the LP never coming out.
Now 10 years later, finally, the album can see the light of day.
Nine songs of sleazy blues punk tunes about self destruction and love and love lost. Think Black Sabbath for an obvious comparison, or Sir Lord Baltimore, Pentagram or Mayblitz....