"For my money one of the most interesting contributors to the extreme metal scene. The invention of goregrind and melodeath is rightfully attributed to Carcass with their release of “Reek of Putrefaction” and “Heartwork” respectively. But “Symphonies of Sickness” was, I would say, an important contribution to the development of the deathgrind hybrid genre, while “Necroticism...” - one of my all-time favorite albums – was an original technical death metal piece drawing on complex and progressive song structures and juxtaposition of midtempo solid riffage and ferocious blastbeats. Much underrated, “Swansong” is as important a contribution to the development of death 'n' roll as Entombed's “Wolverine Blues” and Gorefest's “Soul Survivor”. Sadly, the band broke up after the release of “Swansong” and was struck by tragedy when founding member and drummer Ken Owen was suffered from a brain hemorrhage and ended up in a coma, causing the post-Carcass project Blackstar (which explored further the traditional heavy metal direction that Carcass had taken on “Swansong”) to dissolve.
Having reunited a couple of times for gigs and festivals, Carcass eventually was reestablished as a band proper and released the much expected “Surgical Steel” in 2013. And, boy, this must be among the most kick-ass comebacks of any rock band in the history of music.
After a hyper-melodic intro in the form of '1985' and its rich Iron Maiden-esque twin guitar harmonies, the album explodes into the aptly titled 'Thrasher's Abbatoir' which combines thrashy riffage (some of which has the same compact quality as Exodus' trademark riffs had back in the day), brief and explosive blastbeats, and old school death metal riffage as well as some more hardcorish elements. The uptempo 'Cadaver Pouch Conveyor System' features both thrashy drums and twin guitar harmonies and is overall a pretty catchy and very memorable track, while 'A Congealed Clot of Blood' is a heavier affair and treats the listener to both doom-laden heaviness and midtempo near-galloping riffs. This song is naturally in an interesting contrast with the blastbeat-based grindcore opening of the following track 'The Master Butcher’s Apron', which in itself is an extremely affair, offering heaviness, thrashiness, melody, and grinding madness as well as crust-inspired guitar leads. 'Noncompliance to ASTM F899-12 Standard' (one of the best song titles from Carcass, by the way) likewise takes the listener through a landscape of blastbeats, classic metal riffage, melodic guitar solos, and uptempo thrash metal, and in all honesty, it's a fucking great track! 'The Granulating Dark Satanic Mills' opens up with a dark but melodic guitar harmony-based intro before a catchy and melodic guitar riff sits in. Exploring primarily melodic and classic metal in this track, Carcass sets up a linkage of sorts between “Heartwork” and “Swansong” with this track, which also features the most rock 'n' roll guitar solo from Carcass to date (perhaps the fruits of Steer's work with the blues rock act Firebird). Also leaning towards “Swansong”, 'Unfit for Human Consumption' rocks hard and is groovy as hell (really the guitar riff in the chorus has a slight Led-Zep-on-speed feel to it), and this track also features a thrashy bridge with a super intense grindcore section as well. A title track of sorts '316L Grade Surgical Steel' is another heavy rocker, while 'Captive Bolt Pistol' draws on “Heartwork”-era thrashy riffage and the grindcore-inspired parts that were used on “Necroticism...”. Perhaps the grand opus of the album 'Mount of Execution' opens with an acoustic intro and then seamlessly combines heavy thrash metal, groovy riffage, and melodic hard rock and classic metal into a sublime melodeath affair.
The Japanese version – which I have – features two additional tracks in the form of 'A Wraith in the Apparatus' and 'Intensive Battery Brooding'. The former is a heavy and groovy midtempo affair which is slightly reminiscent of the songs on “Necroticism...” albeit less complex in structure and more melodic. The latter is even heavier and even groovier, and both tracks go well together with the album proper, as it were.
The production is super well defined, and the guitars are both razor sharp and heavy-sounding (perhaps the bass could be more audible – but it is the in the background, providing an important bottom). Performance-wise, there is nothing at all to criticize about the album which displays a very high degree of musicianship across the board. Jeff Walker's sneering vocals have not changed since “Swansong” and suit the thrash-rock-melodeath style on this album perfectly.
“Surgical Steel” has more in common with “Heartwork” and “Swansong” than with the two first albums, and there is also a slight feel of “Necroticism...” here, too. This will probably disappoint those few people who were hoping for some “Reek of Putrefaction”-styled grindcore madness. Since I prefer “Necroticism...”, “Heartwork” and “Swansong” to the two first albums, I have absolutely nothing at all against “Surgical Steel” - on the contrary, I think it's a brilliant album. Now, do not think that we are dealing with a completely retrospective album here. It is true that there are many pointers to the previous three albums on “Surgical Steel”, but Carcass are known to reinvent themselves on every album they have released, and “Surgical Steel” also brings something new to the Carcass sound. For instance, they use guitar harmonies to a larger extent than on any previous album, and they sound thrashier than ever on “Surgical Steel”, too.
In any case, we are dealing with an excellent metal album here showcasing Carcass' ability to seamlessly combine elements from various metal genres into one well-integrated sound which is characterized by melody, flow, and aggression."
"First off, "Wake Up and Smell the... Carcass" is one of the friggin' best puns on "Wake up and smell the coffee" I've ever seen.
So what does this compilation have to offer? Firstly, there is a DVD included with various promo videos and live material. Secondly, the CD contains a number of tracks that were recorded during the "Swansong" sessions, but not included on that album. This means that these tracks can be considered originals. Of course, one might expect them to be sub par since they're essentially rejects from "Swansong", but I do not think they are any worse or any better than most of the other tracks one that album (although they do not quite reach "Keep On Rotting in the Free World" and "Tomorrow Belongs to Nobody" from "Swansong". These tracks, like the tracks on "Swansong" are more in the vein of traditional heavy metal, souped up with snarled vocals and down-tuned guitars, so if you belong to those Carcass fans who hate "Swansong" you might not like the first six tracks plus track nine.
Tracks 6-9 are from a Radio 1 Rock Show session, and "Buried Dreams" and "No Love Lost" are slightly different than the versions on "Heartwork" but still retain their melodic death metal feel, which also characterizes "Rot 'n' Roll".
The remaining tracks have been released on EPs and various grindcore compilations and are not as interesting - other than being good Carcass death metal and grindcore tracks.
I don't know whom exactly to recommend this compilation to. The most interesting tracks are the first original ones, but many Carcass fans are bound to dislike them. These track will probably appeal to fans of traditional heavy metal, but I doubt that these people will like the death metal and grindcore tracks towards the end of the album. If you consider yourself open-minded though, then you can safely purchase this album.
(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"
"Gone is any trace of extreme metal, grindcore and tech progginess, Jeff Walker's growling vocals being the only hint of the Carcass' past as an extreme metal band. In the mid 90s a lot of thrash metal, death metal and other extreme metal bands slowed down the pace and became more rockish than extreme. In many cases, what they ended up producing was less than interesting.
Not so with Carcass' "Swansong". While not as good as "Necroticism" or "Heartwork" the straight forward metal album that is "Swansong" is actually not half bad. It is packed with catchy yet hardrocking metal tunes, and I must admit, I like it more than I thought I would. I especially like the extensive use of guitar harmonies and varied drumming. The growly vocals fit nicely into the picture, adding some edge to the album.
I know a lot of Carcass fans were disappointed with the album, because they expected another extreme metal album, but if you like metal in general, then I think "Swansong" will appeal to you."
""Heartwork" is yet another improtant and groundbreaking metal release by Carcass, mainly because it is one of the first melodic death metal releases. A lot of diehard Carcass fans disliked this album because Carcass turned away from many of the elements that had defined them, such as gory lyrics and musical brutality, but the Carcass boys themselves are very proud of this album - Bill Steer even thinks it's the best album they made.
Musically, this album is simpler than "Necroticism" - both in terms of the complexity of the guitar riffs (there atill are some qurky and odd riffs though) and the structure of the songs, and there's plety of melody and groove. But, this is by no means a bad album. In fact, it's a brilliant album, and I certainly understand why the Carcass boys are so proud of it.
I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Swedish melodeath and American melodic metalcore.
(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"
"This is no less than a masterpiece. The lyrics are still clinically gory and kind of silly (in a humorous and charming way, of course), dealing with various eays of disposing of dead bodies.
The music is brilliant, combining face ripping blastbeats and death metal shred riffs with complex riffs (as the opening riff of "Pedigree Butchery") and even melodic riffs ("Incarnated Solvent Abuse" contains a riff which might as well have occurred in 2000s melodic death metal). The songs are relatively long on this album and all songs are complex containing several changes in tempo, key, style and other twists and turns (Carcass allegedly even "stole" some Beethoven parts and used them in their own songs).
Notable songs are "Corporal Jigsore Quandary" (my favorite), "Symposium of Sickness", "Pedigree Butchery", "Incarnated Solvent Abuse", and the aptly titled, "Lavaging Expectorate of Lysergide Composition".
I consider this album a death metal masterpiece and recommend it to anyone who likes death metal and technical/progressive extreme metal.
(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"
"Production- and music-wise, "Symphonies of Sickness" is much, much better than the debut album, and it's interesting to hear how the guys in Carcass had imrpoved their skills as well. Musically, this album combines grindcore and death metal and is less noisy than the debut. The clinically gory lyrics are stil extremely hilarious."
"Legendary grindcore album, "Reek of Putrefaction" is really not a very good album - the production is awful and, musically, Carcass had yet much to learn back then. Still, there's a certain charm to this onslaught of noise, and the gory, medicine-jargon-laden lyrics are just hilarious."
