Another year (2004), another album (Aren't You Dead Yet?), another ten songs spewing unremitting intensity…that's right, it's Carnal Forge time again. Tell you what: it's hard to believe such a chubby, almost cuddly group of Swedes can muster this much anger! But seriously, it must be the atypical three-guitar attack fueling the group's frantic neo-thrash, which stockpiles reams of staccato riffs while considering things like harmonies and melodies to be accessories of last resort. It's neck-snapping thrashers like Decades of Despair, The Strength of Misery, and the particularly face-melting My Suicide that rule the day here, proving that At the Gates remains a clear and inescapable source of inspiration for Carnal Forge (that intensity thing mentioned earlier). Bucking the trend for the sake of it, Burn Them Alive strikes a slower, more measured (if no less taught) brand of harmony-driven metal slightly reminiscent of the Gothenburg gang, and the surprisingly groovy Exploding Veins and Totally Worthless at times approach Entombed's rot & roll. Rather more forgettable are the borderline black metal of Sacred Flames and textbook thrashers like Inhuman and Final Hour in Hell, which combine to form a very dull string midway through the record, and are only barely saved by the odd strong harmony bridge or blinding solo. But then, nobody's perfect, right? And, that unfortunate ten-minute span aside, Aren't You Dead Yet? represents another (here's that word again) reliable if not quite brilliant outing for Carnal Forge -- may there be many more. [Aren't You Dead Yet? also features two live video clips of the band performing old favorites H.B.F. Suicide and Welcome to Your Funeral.] ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi

1		Decades of Despair
2		My Suicide
3		Burn Them Alive
4		Waiting for Sundown
5		Exploding Veins
6		Sacred Flame
7		Inhuman
8		Final Hour in Hell
9		Totally Worthless
10		The Strength of Misery
11		H.B.F. Suicide [CD-ROM Track
12		Welcome to Your Funeral][Multimedia Track]