Carnifex — Dead in My Arms

intothewellsabyss
Jul 12, 2023
3 min read

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…

16 years ago, “These Thoughts Became Cages”!

On this day (July 12) in 2007, Carnifex released their debut full-length studio album, “Dead in My Arms” via This City Is Burning Records.

It is the band's only album with bassist Steve McMahon, as he left shortly after the album's release, and was replaced by Fred Calderon, who has played on all of Carnifex's albums since then. It was also the band's only album recorded as quartet until the release of “Graveside Confessions” in 2021.

Carnifex's lyrics are all based around negative themes. Lead vocalist Scott Lewis has stated the theme of Carnifex will always be negative even when the state of mind he is in is positive.

“Dead in My Arms” mainly concerns heartbreak and self-harm, while all the albums by the band reference lyrics about depression, betrayal, hopelessness, anger, and hatred.

“I always have written from a personal perspective. My personal life for the last few years really fell apart. Some of that was due to the nature on being in a full-time touring band and the amount of strain it puts on your life back home. Part of that was due to keeping some really damaging people in my life a lot longer than I should have.” — Scott Lewis

Background:

Carnifex were briefly signed to This City Is Burning in 2007, during so the group wrote and recorded “Dead in My Arms” during the proceeding months. Upon the album's release in June 2007, it managed to sell over 5,000 copies in its first week despite very limited publicity.

After its release, the sales of the album more than doubled amongst the summer of that year. "Collaborating Like Killers", "Love Lies in Ashes" "Slit Wrist Savior" and "Hope Dies with the Decadent" were re-recorded tracks that had previously been included on the band's first EP, “Love Lies in Ashes”.

The original distributed versions of the album sold on iTunes and copies at the band's concerts had the song "These Thoughts Become Cages" missing due to a marketing idea from This City Is Burning Records who placed the song only on the store bought versions of the album. The same version that includes the "These Thoughts Become Cages" track, also features enhanced content on the disc and includes the controversial music video for "Lie to My Face" along with other extras.

Carnifex began touring full-time with the record's release. Touring guitarist Jake Anderson was recruited as a lead guitarist from July to November 2007. During this time, the band toured with groups such as Emmure, Whitechapel, and mychildren mybride, For Today, 12:08, among others.

The reasonable success of “Dead in My Arms”, and the prevalence of the Deathcore genre as a whole, attracted the attention of Victory Records. In November 2007, after the departure of Steve McMahon and Jake Anderson, Carnifex signed a deal with Victory with now current members Fred Calderon (bass) and Ryan Gudmunds (lead guitar).

“Dead in My Arms” was released as both a jewel case and a digipak. The jewel case version of the album is rarer than the digipak.

Links to Artists, Albums, and Music Videos:

▶ Listen to “Dead in My Arms” via Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/dead-in-my-arms/294952774

▶ Listen to “Dead in My Arms” via Spotify: Dead In My Arms https://open.spotify.com/album/2a438TPhWUKXhfiYdgH07V

▶ Watch the official music video for "Lie to My Face": https://youtu.be/6z6BwX8O1os

▶ Follow Carnifex on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarnifexMetal

Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells

Carnifex — Dead in My Arms

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