Full of things that have never been done before
“Carcass” changed its musicality more and more, and eventually disbanded without knowing where it would end up.
Their talent and differentness had the power to overwhelm others.
Their first album “Reek of Putrefaction”
and their second album “Symphonies of Sickness” featured gluttonous grindcore with super poor sound quality (especially the first one!).
The album is full of things that have never been done before, such as emphasizing momentum over performance, lyrics lined with medical terminology, and grotesque cover artwork.
This style of music has continued to create new followers, and has even formed a genre called “gore grind”.
With their third album, “Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious,” the sound quality was improved, and the band’s performance became more consistent, approaching that of standard death metal.
The album was criticized by traditional fans and welcomed by death metal fans.
The two elements, which should have been incompatible in the first place, are fused together on the very edge, as if they were about to separate
Then came the fourth album, “Heartwork”.
I feel that this album is built on an unstable and precarious balance.
The introduction of flowing melodies while still retaining elements of grindcore.
The two elements, which should have been incompatible in the first place, are fused together on the very edge, as if they were about to separate.
That is why this musicality did not last long, and that is also why it seems to me to be a miraculous masterpiece.
It is a truism that death metal and melody match each other, but the fact that grindcore is included in the mix is miraculous.
I would have liked to see where they went from there
With their fifth album, “Swansong”, the melodies began to diminish and the band began to move away from death metal.
The sound quality and vocals were death metal, and musically the band changed to orthodox heavy metal.
I’m not sure how many of the people who liked “Heartwork” and bought it would like this, but luckily I was able to like “Swansong” as well.
I wonder what kind of style they would have changed after this, if they had not broken up?
As a great band that has been controversial on all their albums, I would have liked to see where they went from there.
April 30,2010 Freakz
(Postscript)
I wrote this in 2010, so I never thought I would actually be able to see “where they went from there”.
At this point, they have two new albums out: 2013’s “Surgical Steel”
and 2021’s “Torn Arteries”.
However, it may not simply be a continuous stream of groundwork, since it took them quite a few years to reunite.
In other words, it’s not the musicality that connects “Heartwork” and “Swansong”, but rather a nice mix of the past five albums.
The grindcore smell is still there.
The exiting feeling during blast beats is also still there.
The sound quality is extremely clear and powerful.
Bill Steer’s vocal part is back.
The cleverness of the development is now at an artistic level.
This is their achievement after many trials and errors.
June 8,2022
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