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Carnal Deity
By Chris Mastrovito 10/15/2009
A metal thing happened on the way to the produce aisle ...
If one were to guess the origins of one of Ventura County’s most brutal death metal bands, a chance meeting at a grocery store probably would not top the list of likely scenarios, but as rhythm guitarist and co-founder Logan Klain explains, Carnal Deity began when he met drummer Matt Jones at a Von’s supermarket and they compared metal T-shirts. Thus began the inevitable sequence of events for the development of any friendship based on common metal fandom: endless discussions of metal bands, comparison of influences, introductions to other musicians, and the eventual sweaty jam sessions. Dropping an H from the 1992 album title by Impaler, an influential ’90s death metal band, yielded a band name, and such was the unholy genesis of Carnal Deity.
Taking it back to the old school
Although influenced by a wide variety of metal — both past and contemporary, domestic and Scandinavian — the main concept for the band was to exhume the origins of American death metal. “We saw that there were so many new-school tech bands,” recalls Klain, referring to a highly technical style that utilizes more complex off-time riffs and jazz-influenced song structure. “We wanted to revamp and put a modern spin on ’90s death metal.” Along with such local bands as Encoma, Fatalist and fellow Camarillo High school mates Burning at the Stake, Carnal Deity does just that: bringing the thrash influence to the forefront of its songs, minimizing the confusing time changes and often overly showy arpeggios of tech-death, while cutting out the catchy melodic breakdowns that have become the staple of the more popular metal-core variety. “Without our metal forefathers and founders,” said Klain, “all the great new-school death and black metal bands would not exist.”
Partners in grind
Proximity to the band’s previous jam space in Ventura drew members naturally to the air-conditioned convenience of the nearby Megasound Studios, where the band has booked many of its live shows since early 2008. It didn’t take long for Megasound owner Sam Maxson to ask Carnal Deity to be the first to sign to his fledgling label. The new album, 2012, was completely recorded and mixed at Megasound, and the band has worked closely with Maxson to professionally press, distribute and market the release to local retailers, while saving up the proceeds from T-shirt sales to eventually place ads in one of the major heavy metal magazines.
Apocalypse Now
Use of 2012, the year when the Mayan calendar predicts the world will end, as the theme for the album was “just plain logic,” says Klain, flowing naturally from the band’s “interest in death and mass destruction.” Realizing that many of the new songs were about apocalyptic scenarios, especially “The Dark Rift,” which deals directly with the subject of the end of the world, the band decided to scrap its original title, “Unholy Bastards,” in favor of one with an already familiar apocalyptic connotation — not to mention a well-established promotional machine behind it courtesy of Sony Pictures’ November film release of the same name.
Carnal Deity will play on Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Ventura Theater, 26 S. Chestnut St., Ventura, as opener for established L.A. thrash metal band Warbringer. For more about Carnal Deity, visit www.myspace.com/carnaldeity.
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