Carnal Forge are a Swedish band, best classified as

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

with some

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavi ...

influences. Their name originates from a song on

Carcass Carcass or Carcase (both pronounced ) may refer to: * Dressed carcass, the body of a livestock animal ready for butchery, after removal of skin, visceral organs, head, feet etc. *Carrion, the decaying dead body of an animal or human being *The st ...

's album ''

Heartwork ''Heartwork'' is the fourth studio album by English extreme metal band Carcass. The album was released in the UK by Earache Records on 18 October 1993, and in the United States on 11 January 1994 by Columbia Records, making it the band's only m ...

''.

Biography

Carnel Forge was founded in

Sala, Sweden Sala is a locality and the seat of Sala Municipality in Västmanland County, Sweden. As of 2010, it has a population of 12,289. Sala is the home of several famous places and people, but it is most known for its silver mine, which today is a p ...

in 1997 by Jari Kuusisto and Stefan Westerberg as a side project to their band In Thy Dreams. They released their debut album ''Who's Gonna Burn (War Music)'' in 1998, then signed with

Century Media Records Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...

in 2000 and recorded '' Firedemon'' (2000) and '' Please... Die!'' (2001). In 2000, guitarist Johan Magnusson left and bassist Petri Kuusisto took his place.

Lars Lindén Lars Lindén (born 1945) is a Swedish Christian democratic politician, member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-o ...

replaced Petri on bass and made his debut at the 2000 Decibel Festival in Bengtsfors, Sweden and at the

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music, rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and su ...

Festival in Wacken, Germany. Around this time, the band went on tour across Europe with The Haunted and

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...

. The releases of '' The More You Suffer'' (2003) and '' Aren't You Dead Yet?'' (2004) came just prior to the departure of vocalist

Jonas Kjellgren Jonas Kjellgren (born 4 July 1977) is a Swedish musician and producer, now residing in Grangärde, Sweden. He has been lead vocalist for Carnal Forge and Dellamorte, played guitar for Centinex, and played bass for October Tide. He is most famou ...

just prior to the band's European tour with

Pro-Pain Pro-Pain is an American heavy metal band based in New York City, formed in 1991 by vocalist and bassist Gary Meskil and drummer Dan Richardson, both former members of Crumbsuckers.Strong, Martin C. (2001) ''The Great Metal Discography'', MOJO ...

. Jens C. Mortensen was chosen as their new vocalist in a matter of days. In addition to Europe, the band also toured the USA and Japan and played a number of festivals, including the

Sweden Rock Festival The Sweden Rock Festival is an annual rock/metal festival held in Sweden since 6 June 1992. While having a clear rock/metal focus, the festival is noted for its diversity across these genres, from southern rock bands such as Molly Hatchet to dea ...

, Metal Meltdown (USA), Fury Fest, Pressure Festival (Germany), Kaltenbach Open Air (Austria)

Summer Breeze Open Air Summer Breeze Open Air is an annual German heavy metal music festival. It was first held in 1997. The festival had been held in Abtsgmünd until 2006 when it was moved to its new location of Dinkelsbühl, Bavaria. The festival draws around 40,0 ...

, and Fuck the Commerce (Germany). They released a 2004 DVD "Destroy Live" of concerts in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...

, and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. In January 2007, the band signed to

Candlelight Records Candlelight Records is a British record label based in England and founded by former Extreme Noise Terror bassist Lee Barrett, though it has had a division in the United States since January 2001. Candlelight Records specialises in black met ...

and released the album '' Testify for My Victims'' later that year. Owe Lingvall, who the band had worked with before on previous music videos, directed the videos for "Burning Eden" and "Numb (The Dead)," both of which were filmed in Umeå, Sweden. In November 2007, Mortensen and Jari left the band because they were "fed up with the music industry;" other Carnal Forge members were grappling with personal problems too. Dino Medanhodzic (guitar) of Construcdead and

Peter Tuthill Swedish metal musician from Stockholm, Sweden. Peter is most known for his growling and clean vocals, and front figure role in the Swedish metal band Despite, which he joined as a full-time member in late 2012. Prior to joining Despite he has ...

(vocals) of Soulbreach were brought in to replace them. In September 2009, they released their next album's first single, "Blood War," and filmed the music video the next month. It was edited by Tuthill and mixed by Medanhodzic, then released the following summer. Not long after, in January 2010, Westerberg left the band and was replaced by Chris Barkensjö. In 2011, Lindén announced the band would be taking an indefinite hiatus due to personal reasons and because they "weren't having much fun anymore." They reunited in 2013; Mortensen and Jari returned and Lawrence Dinamarca joined on drums. They released a single, "When All Else Fails," in 2014. Mortensen became a father and withdrew from the band again in 2015 while recording their next album. He was replaced by Tommie Wahlberg. In 2018, after a 12-year hiatus, Carnal Forge released '' Gun to Mouth Salvation'', its seventh album, with ViciSolum Production. Jari departed again in January 2022.

Discography

Videography

Band members

Current members

* Petri Kuusisto – lead guitar ; rhythm guitar * Lars Lindén –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

* Lawrence Dinamarca –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

* Tommie Wahlberg –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

Former members

* Stefan Westerberg – drums * Jari Kuusisto –

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guita ...

– vocals * Johan Magnusson – guitars * Dennis Vestman – bass * Jens C. Mortensen –

* Peter Tuthill – vocals * Dino Medanhodzic – guitar * Chris Barkensjö – drums

Timeline

References

External links

*
Carnal Forge at Encyclopaedia MetallumCarnal Forge at MySpaceCarnal Forge at YouTubeCarnal Forge
at

Relapse Records Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists. History The label w ...

* AllMusic band entry {{Authority control Swedish thrash metal musical groups Swedish melodic death metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1997 Musical quintets