Gold certified and 3-times Grammy nominated hard-rock titans Nothing More released their fifth studio album CARNAL on June 28, sending shock waves through the scene.
CARNAL consists of 15 tracks, including their single “IF IT DOESN’T HURT,” currently ranking #3 on the Active Rock radio charts. The album goes deep into the human psyche and combines it with philosophical elements, presenting itself in raw and primal, yet sophisticated facets. Get ready for a wild ride that is guaranteed to leave an ache to come back to it over and over again.
The album introduces us to a short intro track by the same title “CARNAL,” giving us both a psychological and a philosophical outlook on what’s to come. It touches on subjects such as dreams and the escape from reality, as well as the endless possibilities they offer. As is tradition for Nothing More, spoken words by the English writer and speaker Alan Watts are sampled throughout the second half of the song and throughout the album, providing the philosophical insight,
“If you want life don’t cling to it
~ CARNAL
Let go”
“HOUSE ON SAND” (feat. Eric V Of I Prevail) starts out with the entirety of the previous track before diving into heavy topics of the mind. It talks about the different forms of conditioning we go through in man-made systems such as the church, capitalism and the state.
“I’m a patient
~ HOUSE ON SAND
Going apes***
On the fourth floor
In the psych ward
I’ve been baptized
Franchised
Americanized
And left here wondering why”
Further wondering why life after growing up in such circumstances feels so uncertain. The protagonist draws the comparison to a house he built on sand, hoping it can withstand the forces of nature. This portrays a great deal of uncertainty and the wish to take life in one’s own hands, free of manipulation.
“IF IT DOESN’T HURT” gives off a heavy feeling of a story centered around betrayal.
“Knives in the back ready to attack
~ IF IT DOESN’T HURT
Knives in the back”
Stabbing someone in the back is synonymous with betraying someone. It further delves into how love and clinging to hope, presumably in the context of losing a partner, is a different kind of pain. On the other hand, it tackles the significance of pain and how such a strong feeling shows that something was or is of importance.
Watch the “IF IT DOESN’T HURT” music video below
“ANGEL SONG” (feat. David Draiman) inhabits a compelling junction of dreams, religion and once again man-made systems. The chorus describes this graceful scene of falling out of the darkness like an angel and entering a dream. Dream here might symbolize something better, or even something too good to be true, or simply an escape from reality.
“They try to own us and control us so we don’t get in the way
~ ANGEL SONG
But we get in the way (Oh)
Won’t take no sh*t, won’t be no b*tch
Not one more inch
Not today
No, we’re not going away”
“They,” maybe the state, maybe something else, tries to control and hold back the protagonist, but to no avail. They won’t budge an inch and together with everyone supporting their cause, (the “faithful”) they light up the sky as a beacon of hope.
“FREE FALL” neatly ties in with the image of the angel, falling out of the darkness, but gives the story a twist my making the protagonist human and dealing with the very real consequences such a fall would have for them. The song discusses the human experience and the existential dread that often comes with it. It asks the question of if we are at the point in life we are expected to be in and the uncertainty of the future.
“I’m in a free-fall
~ FREE FALL
Racing to the ground
I’m scared I’ll lose it all
Is anybody out there
Or am I alone
Reaching out for someone
In a free-fall”
Furthermore, it deals with the fundamental human need to reach out for someone so that we don’t have to suffer alone. It addresses the fear that at the end of this uncertain journey, here depicted as a free-fall, we stand alone, losing everything.
“BLAME IT ON THE DRUGS” seems to be about a toxic relationship, where the protagonist’s partner kept manipulating and lying to them. What’s more is that they didn’t see, or couldn’t admit the wrongs they were doing and kept blaming their actions on the drugs.
“Taunt me off the ledge
~ BLAME IT ON THE DRUGS
Just to push me off a cliff
So no one else could have me
Fed me lies and kept me sick”
For a third time, Nothing More give another perspective on the “fall.” This time they frame it as the toxicity of the protagonist’s partner infecting them to a point where people get scared of what it did to them and in turn of what they have become. Hence, “So no one else could have me.”
“HEAD” is a short interlude, once again making use of Alan Watts’ sampled, spoken voice, mixed with musical elements. It goes down a philosophical rabbit hole of existential dread, fundamental fears that according to him are irrelevant and how it all is just in our heads.
This perfectly segways into the next song that finally calls the topic by name, “EXISTENTIAL DREAD.” This track perfectly manages to capture exactly this feeling that has no shape and no name, yet can be so loud in our heads. It encapsulates the joys, fears and desires of the human experience and that good and evil aren’t always as clear as black and white. However, the chorus really puts things into perspective,
“Existential dread
~ EXISTENTIAL DREAD
We’re here for a moment
And then it’s the end”
Life is but a fleeting moment. There are so many scary aspects to it. Let’s do our best to overcome them and make the most out of the time we have.
“HEART” is another instrumental piece overlaid with the voice of Alan Watts. This time he discusses the stream of a river. Presumably a metaphor for society. Some people swim with the river, while some try to swim against it. Those who do, think they go in a different direction, but they are still carried by it. According to Watts, the only solution is to swim with the river and to use its momentum to make a change. If one does so and if one trusts the water, nature (society) does it for them.
CARNAL, at times, feels like a conversation between Alan Watts and Nothing More. “DOWN THE RIVER” takes his advice and directly replies to “HEART.” As the uncertain future awaits and the past slowly fades out, time and life move on. The protagonist doesn’t only let themselves be carried by the waves, they ask to be pushed down the river. But even though they wash along the stream, the future is still a wild mystery and they still hope for a savior to come.
“GIVE IT TIME” is one of the most emotional songs on the album. It further deepens the depiction of the human experience, focusing on the more painful aspects of it. The song talks about all the battles we have to fight alone and how they shaped us into the person that we are. The own heart is such a deep well of human emotions. It can lift us up and bring us down like nothing else. We rip it out, trying to heal ourselves and others, but sometimes, when the pain becomes unbearable, all we can do to is give it time.
“SIGHT” is another interlude using one of Alan Watts’ speeches. This time, Nothing More use a part of his speech “Intelligent Mindlessness.” The track takes a close look at the human perception of time and how humans think they are a result of their past, when the past is a product of the present that is an ever-fleeting point where the future turns into the past.
“STUCK” (feat. Sinizter) is a song for those who feel stuck, or trapped in life. Be it by their job, relationships, or other unfortunate circumstances. The protagonist retells how they did all the hard and dirty work, yet it led to nothing and they have nothing to lose. Hence they finally draw the line and decide that it is their time now. No more letting other people shackle them.
“RUN FOR YOUR LIFE” goes back to the beginning once more, remarking that everything is better when you’re dreaming. By telling us that we have to run for our lives right after, it juxtaposes the blissful escape from reality that comes from dreaming, with the dreadful terrors in our heads. It goes on about monsters under the bed.
“SOUND” acts as an outro to the album, once again using one of Alan Watts’ sampled speeches. It dissects the concept of holiness and how holy people are not always good people, but always slightly scary. Holiness is a concept beyond good and evil and people often react to them in strange ways, unable to decide whether they are saints or devils. The song ends by going back to lines from other songs like
“Run
~ SOUND
(carnal nature)
(everything is better when your dreaming)
(Locking all the doors in the house I haunt)
(Sleeping like a baby with the gas turned on)
(everything is better when your dreaming)
Run for your life
(carnal nature)”
It finishes the album by contrasting its titular “CARNAL” nature with the concept of holiness.
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