Peter Steele wasn’t singing about love and broken hearts when he started Carnivore. Back in 1985, he was Lord Petrus Steele leading a band that sounded like it had just crawled out of a nuclear wasteland.
Released through Roadrunner Records, “Carnivore” is a wild mix of thrash metal, hardcore punk and slow, crushing doom. It’s raw, sarcastic, dark and full of strange ideas. And if you discovered Peter Steele through Type O Negative, there’s quite a different side of him waiting here.
Welcome to the Wasteland
The album opens with “Predator”, inspired by a post-apocalyptic dream Peter Steele had. Fast thrash riffs suddenly give way to a heavy, doomy breakdown, and that’s pretty much a good introduction to what Carnivore are all about.
The title track “Carnivore” keeps things direct and aggressive, while “Legion of Doom” brings plenty of hardcore punk energy. But this album isn’t just about playing fast and hitting hard.
“Male Supremacy” stretches things out over seven minutes, mixing heavy grooves, dark humor and a surprising acoustic guitar section with Steele’s clean baritone vocals. Listen to that change of mood and you can already hear little hints of what would later become part of Type O Negative.
Then there is “God Is Dead”. Because why make a normal thrash song when you can throw in bongos, Latin-inspired rhythms and falsetto vocals? It’s one of the strangest moments on the record, but that’s exactly why it works.
And just when you think you’ve heard enough, “World Wars III and IV” arrives as a ten-minute closing track about nuclear destruction and surviving in a wasteland. Not exactly the happiest way to finish an album, but very Carnivore.
Peter Steele Before Type O Negative
On this record, Peter Steele appears under the name Lord Petrus Steele. Alongside guitarist Keith Alexander and drummer Louie Beato, he created a band that mixed thrash, hardcore punk and slow, crushing doom metal.
The lyrics are full of misanthropy, dark humor, barbarian mythology, post-apocalyptic stories and World War III and IV nightmares. There’s no shortage of shock value either.
The band fully embraced the image. On the back cover, the three members appear in homemade, Mad Max-style outfits, looking more like wasteland warriors than musicians. They also wore this spike-and-fur gear during their chaotic live shows.
It was a strange image, but it fitted the music perfectly.
Bongos, Folk Melodies and Other Strange Ideas
Carnivore weren’t afraid to throw unexpected things into their music. “God Is Dead” is probably the best example, with its bongos and falsetto section appearing in the middle of an otherwise heavy record.
“Thermonuclear Warrior” has another unusual moment, using the famous melody of the traditional Russian folk song “Song of the Volga Boatmen” during a massive doom breakdown.
These details make the album more interesting than just another collection of fast riffs and angry vocals. You never quite know what the band will throw at you next.
There was also some confusion for fans trying to find the album on CD. While a straight reissue landed in 1990, Roadrunner quickly replaced it with a bizarre 1991 compilation CD that removed “Legion of Doom” to smash the rest of the debut together with tracks from their second album, “Retaliation”. The original standalone tracklist was finally given the definitive treatment on the 2001 remaster, which also came with completely redesigned comic-style artwork.
A Different Kind of Carnivore
“Carnivore” is a strange, heavy and sometimes completely over-the-top debut. It doesn’t always follow the rules, and that’s part of its charm.
You can hear the thrash and hardcore influences, but the slow doom sections give the album a different character. And knowing what Peter Steele would later create with Type O Negative makes those quieter moments even more interesting.
This isn’t the romantic, gothic Peter Steele that many people discovered years later. This is Lord Petrus Steele in full wasteland warrior mode.
Final Verdict: “Carnivore” is a rough, unpredictable debut with plenty of attitude. It mixes thrash, punk and doom without worrying too much about where one ends and the other begins. If you like your metal raw, weird and a little twisted, give this one a spin. You might discover a side of Peter Steele you haven’t heard before.
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