All Artists:Carnage Title:Dark Recollections Members Wishing: 1 Total Copies: 0 Label:Earache Records Original Release Date: 1/1/1990 Re-Release Date: 7/18/2000 Album Type: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued Genres:Pop, Rock, Metal Style: Number of Discs: 1 SwapaCD Credits: 1 UPC:745316023229
Masked Jackal | Ft. Lauderdale, FL United States | 02/19/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is brutal and beyond....Carnage are truly one of the most impressive Death Metal bands I've ever heard. I'm very into bands like Death / Entombed / At The Gates / Kreator / Massacre / Obituary / In Flames {old}/ and Carcass. I must say that this release "Dark Recollections" goes beyond anything theses bands have to offer as far as brutality is concerned.....They sound like Entombed, and "Dark Recollections" is very similar to their classic release "Left Hand Path" IMO. It's a very, very nice piece of work. I think it's safe to say that this release is one, if not the most impressive piece of Death Metal ever. It's that good....Carnage only lasted a very short time, and this is their only available release. The former memebers of Carnage also went on to form and join other bands likes of Dismember/Carcass/and Entombed. That should give you a very good idea of what to expect here. It's a mixure of all three of those bands in one, and let me tell you, it's incredible to say the least. The vocals are straight from hell, and the musicianship is very good. I wish these guys would have stayed together longer. They would undoubtably be considered one of the best Death Metal bands ever IMO.....This is pure brutality, and if you've never heard Carnage, you're in for a real treat. This is easily worth five stars IMO, and nothing I've heard comes close to this in comparison....CARNAGE RULES!!!!!"
Where it all started
Pablosa | Buenos Aires, Capital Federal Argentina | 10/10/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Carnage today would be somekind of superband. Featuring Michael Amott(later in Carcass, Arch Enemy and Spiritual Beggars), Matti Karki, David Blomqvist, Fred Estby(now in Dismember) and Johnny Djordevic(later in Entombed). "Dark Recollections" has something from each band.
Imagine Entombed, Dismember and Carcass together, but with a crappy sound. The album was recorded at the beginning of the 90's, where everything was starting and then would become one of the greatest death metal scenes. So, the production (or lack of) it's understandable. Besides that, is a good album. 100% raw death metal (growls, fast guitars and drums, and grotesque lyrics and environment) and all these guys playing together. What else can you ask for?
Anyway, an album with a great symbolical value. Where it all began. Listen to the Swedish pioneers!
"
Classic
M. Sharp | The Valley of the Sun | 04/12/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This album is along the same lines as old MASSACRE, or old CANNIBAL CORPSE when they used to be good. Just good solid death metal. The riffs are simple, but technical at the same time. If you are looking for some good "Old School" death metal this is a must have."
A great companion piece to Entombed's "Left Hand Path"
Tom P. the Underground Navigator | Park Forest, IL USA | 01/02/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"As hinted at in the headline, the tracks that Entombed layed down in the course of that one fateful week in December of 1989 that would become the classic "Left Hand Path" often seem like they have yet to be bettered nearly 20 years later. That is arguable, but no one can deny that they did serve to ignite a firestorm of a movement (that had already taken effect at the underground tape-trading level) that would become one of the most revered death metal scenes in all the world, namely the classic "Stockholm" Swedish death metal sound.
Only two months later, in February of 1990, sister band Carnage, featuring guitarist Michael Amott (who currently resides in Arch Enemy) and other members of leading Swedish death metal bands such as Dismember and Carbonized, assembled at the now famous Sunlight Studio, where Entombed had recorded, and created their one and only studio Long Player, the album in question "Dark Recollections." And if these guys didn't better Entombed (which sometimes I think they just may have), they certainly came as close as any other band ever did.
I'm sitting here listening to this near-masterpiece and I'm hit by how absolutely powerful the sound still is, how crystalline the production of Tomas Skogsberg remains, and how despite scores of imitators that have emerged since, this recording has not dated one bit and probably never will. From the 50 megaton bottom-end buzzsaw guitar and bass to the sick guttural vocals of Matti Karki to the well placed and not overused blast beats, this record remains a landmark for brutal death metal.
That sound is only enhanced on this stellar 2000 remastered version that brings out all the performances as clear as a bell, while taking away none of that essential rawness and immediacy that has made this material endure for nearly two decades.
Furthermore, included here are extensive liner notes from Amott himself detailing the history of both the band and this album, which was originally released on the tiny U.K. Necrosis label, a subsidiary of Earache that was run by a young Bill Steer and Jeff Walker (Carcass). The original CD pressing also included Cadaver's "Hallucinating Anxiety" (please see my review of that album on the Amazon U.K. site) and now commands considerably more than its original list price (I've seen it go for $80 or $90 many a time on eBay, sometimes more). Another thing I like about this reissue is that the band's thank list from the original 1990 pressing is preserved here and is like a time capsule to the underground death metal scene of the time.
Finally, even if you already own a past pressing of this album, this reissue is well worth picking up because included are bonus tracks taken from the 1989 demos, when the band was still more of a splatter-grind outfit in the vein of early Carcass, who served as the benchmark of brutality for underground bands of the day. Carnage's first demo "The Day Man Lost" reminds me of another demo existing at the same time, Xysma's seminal "Swarming of the Maggots." (Please see my review of the Xysma 2-CD discography set elsewhere on Amazon. It is well worth picking up as it includes this demo. Also note that Carnage thank Xysma on "Dark Recollections.")
All in all, a classic death metal release and an excellent reissue that does the album justice and includes enough goodies to be more than worth the asking price."