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March 28, 2024, 08:07:27 PM

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Carcass - Torn Arteries

Started by Shaky, June 23, 2021, 03:37:01 AM

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Shaky

After a long Covid-related delay, this lot are finally releasing their new album in September, a whole eight years after the very tasty Surgical Steel. I liked most of their stop-gap EP last year, so really looking forward to this. New single "Kelly's Meat Emporium" pleasingly brings back bursts of old school grind while maintaining the catchiness of the last few albums. Nice to hear Bill Steer continue his vocal stylings, even in more of a background role.

https://youtu.be/hdcfhccjk78

A divisive band, and I know a fair few fans aren't keen on the drop in sheer gore drenched intensity after the first three albums, but they're still capable of churning out cracking tunes. A class act.

Surgical Steel is one of the my favourite albums of the last decade, hopefully this can hold its own quality-wise.

idunnosomename

Yeah sounds dead good. I have extremely high reverence for Surgical Steel too. I love the ultra-dry anti-establishment sarcasm. Bit like Napalm Death, very socially aware.

Also naming your lead single after a recently defunct butchers shop in north liverpool I guess is... a Beatles reference in itself (Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields)

Glebe

Sounding decent so far. The Despicable EP tracks (consisting of album rejects, apparently) are also on YouTube and are pretty good too.

Shaky

Quote from: idunnosomename on June 23, 2021, 04:40:15 PM
Yeah sounds dead good. I have extremely high reverence for Surgical Steel too. I love the ultra-dry anti-establishment sarcasm. Bit like Napalm Death, very socially aware.

Also naming your lead single after a recently defunct butchers shop in north liverpool I guess is... a Beatles reference in itself (Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields)

The new album has a track called Eleanor Rigor Mortis and the EP featured The Long and Winding Bier Road, so they're really leaning into the Beatles references these days. I love the thought of Macca sitting down and listening to these.

idunnosomename

There's also "Working Class Hero is something to be" used sarcastically in the outro of The Granulating Dark Satanic Mills

ASFTSN

I wish I liked their later stuff more as Reek and Symphonies are my favourite ever metal albums. It all leaves me cold though. Basically just sounds like Impaled/Exhumed in a lot of ways.

JaDanketies

I'm gonna post in here to remind me to check it out. Heartwork used to be easily one of my top 3 albums, and I've seen Carcass (at least) twice and was unbelievably hyped for them at Wacken 07, but I barely even listen to death metal nowadays and certainly not melodic death. Feel like a faker.

Shaky

Quote from: JaDanketies on June 25, 2021, 09:54:39 PM
I'm gonna post in here to remind me to check it out. Heartwork used to be easily one of my top 3 albums, and I've seen Carcass (at least) twice and was unbelievably hyped for them at Wacken 07, but I barely even listen to death metal nowadays and certainly not melodic death. Feel like a faker.

Yeah, I've little time for death metal now (certainly most recent-ish stuff) but Carcass just ooze class so they still frequently get blasted in the car.

Heartwork is a staggering piece of work. Absolutely blew my tiny mind back in the day.

Quote from: ASFTSN on June 25, 2021, 08:13:32 PM
I wish I liked their later stuff more as Reek and Symphonies are my favourite ever metal albums. It all leaves me cold though. Basically just sounds like Impaled/Exhumed in a lot of ways.

For me, their evolution makes them far more interesting and refreshing than other extreme bands. Each album is a snapshot of time to be enjoyed depending on mood. I'm not sure I could listen to six albums of Reek... type grind so I'm glad there's such a variety across the board. Been enjoying that first album again too, even if it is a sonic mess.

easytarget

Quote from: Glebe on June 23, 2021, 04:47:04 PM
Sounding decent so far. The Despicable EP tracks (consisting of album rejects, apparently) are also on YouTube and are pretty good too.
I was a bit disappointed with that TBH, I like the new song though - hopefully Torn Arteries is gonna be great!

Glebe

Quote from: easytarget on June 26, 2021, 06:16:39 AMI was a bit disappointed with that TBH, I like the new song though - hopefully Torn Arteries is gonna be great!

'Slaughtered in Soho' is top groovy Carcass.

idunnosomename

Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue was good too (which had the usual run of references, clearly a nod to the Impetigo song Breakfast at the Manchester Morgue, which in turn was a reference to the Spanish-Italian film Let Sleeping Corpses Lie which was shot in Manchester and released under the song name here on video).

I think the only thing that disappointed me about Despicable is it had mostly come out as singles before its release.

they're really going at with the merch (who can blame them). who doesn't want a Master Butcher's Apron




Shaky

Quote from: Glebe on June 26, 2021, 07:50:45 PM
'Slaughtered in Soho' is top groovy Carcass.

Yeah, I love that one.

Speaking of merch, I'm seriously tempted to get this since I missed out on the Surgical Steel first aid kit... you just don't get such gems from Cannibal Corpse or Morbid Angel.


Shaky

https://youtu.be/34uxC0cfQc4

Second single from Torn Arteries. Not so sure about this one - bit of a mishmash of some admittedly catchy riffs.

Magnum Valentino


wrec

Have only listened to the new songs a couple of times because I don't want to spoil the album (although Under the Scalpel Blade is on it).

I got Symphonies of Sickness in 1990 and Carcass became my favourite band. I remember playing it for the first time and could barely comprehend it as I hadn't heard anything that downtuned before. Unfortunately was too young and confused to manage to see them live at the time. As far as I was concerned Necroticism was the absolute peak of human achievement when it came out. By the time of Heartwork I was getting a bit alienated from metal, as many of the bands I liked were changing direction or getting slicker, and I was out of touch with decent new stuff. I honestly thought the death metal I liked had been forgotten about and replaced by nu-metal etc. One day around 2000 or so I happened to flick through a copy of Terrorizer mag that listed the best albums since they started, and Necroticism was no.1. I was flabbergasted because I honestly thought nobody cared about that stuff anymore, I didn't have any friends into metal and MTV was my only source of information. That and Electric Wizard's Dopethrone got me firmly back into metal.

Went to see Bill Steer's blues rock trio Firebird not long after. Got to shake hands with him after and told him he was my absolute hero when I was 15. He asked how old I was and it turned out he would still have been a teenager at the time (it was a bit like Bart meeting Ronnie Beck).

I did come around to Heartwork eventually, though the melodic death metal it influenced never clicked with me. Swansong is decent I think, just a bit repetitive and overlong, and doomed to be their weakest album, and Steer especially was losing interest at the time. I'd actually place Surgical Steel above Heartwork, certainly one of my favourite albums of the last decade, loved Despicable too. Have seen them live a couple of times in the last few years and they were incredible. At one point they just stopped dead in the middle of a song and Jeff went into some ridiculous dry banter, then they suddenly continued where they left off. It was as if they were so tight and impressive that it was Too Much and they had to undermine it somehow, which ironically made them seem even more tight and impressive.

Closing anecdote: after someone posted a Steely Dan album on Instagram, I got into deep Dan lore with a fellow commenter, who then followed me and continued the chat via DM. At some point I realised that was Tom Draper, their new second guitarist. If you had told me when I was 15 etc etc. Actually the idea that Carcass and Napalm Death would be still going in the 2020s wouldn't have occurred to anyone.

Shaky

#16
Great write up, man. I saw Firebird close to 15 years ago and enjoyed them, although I never really got on with their recorded stuff. A bit too "trad" for me, I think.

I hear you on how tight Carc are as a live act - saw them in 2014 and Jeff was stopping and starting the tunes with a wry quip or two. Dan Wilding is absolutely the best person to have replaced Ken - seems like a lovely guy and his drumming is off the charts.

Re Swansong, listening to it recently reminded me how brilliant the production is. Really thick, groovy and thudding without losing clarity.

idunnosomename

yeah if anything this song just makes me think what a really good song Kelly's Meat Emporium is. fine. will probably grow on me in an album context.

they didn't play Bloodstock this year did they? as mentioned in the death metal thread disappointed how they're supporting Arch Enemy/Behemoth this autumn. I want to see them headlining!!!

Glebe

Quote from: Shaky on August 15, 2021, 04:48:38 AMhttps://youtu.be/34uxC0cfQc4

Second single from Torn Arteries. Not so sure about this one - bit of a mishmash of some admittedly catchy riffs.

It's okey, prolly need to give it a proper listen. Good video.

Quote from: wrec on August 15, 2021, 05:08:16 PMHave only listened to the new songs a couple of times because I don't want to spoil the album (although Under the Scalpel Blade is on it)...

Interesting wrec, thanks for that. I saw them on the Necroticism tour here in Dublin. Jeff and Ken both signed my ticket 'rot 'n' roll fan'. I kind of tuned about around Heartwork, Swansong is the only album I don't have.

Some new interviews:

CARCASS' JEFF WALKER: MY 5 FAVORITE PUNK ALBUMS.

Carcass Wrote/ the Blueprint for Death-Metal Extremity. Now They Just Want to Write a Great Song.

CARCASS' JEFF WALKER ON BAND'S GRISLY "MULTIVERSE," SAVAGE NEW 'TORN ARTERIES' LP.

willbo

I was going through a big thing when "Surgical Steel" came out of wanting to get back into heavy rock and metal. And I ended up getting both that and Heartwork.  I like them, but I can only really bear extreme metal in small doses. I always remember them having good riffs though. I was more into Mastodon type stoner/retro stuff at the time.

idunnosomename

the Arch Enemy/Behemoth tour is postponed to next year. they're now headlining Damnation at Leeds student union which I'd quite like to go to but it's sold out also I have no money lol

JaDanketies

I'm going to Damnation. Pig Destroyer were supposed to be headlining :'(

Magnum Valentino

Aren't Akercocke playing Damnation? That'd be beezer.


Shaky

This is now OUT. I like it overall, but I keep running hot and cold on certain songs. There are several mid paced stompers (maybe too many?) but even they have grindy bursts throughout. Definitely some recycling of riffs here and there, but on the other hand there are a few twists that sound fresh (handclaps! Psychedelic interludes!) for Carcass. The 10 minute track I was most nervous about is really good, and absolutely flies by.

Way too early to say where it sits in the pantheon, like. The songs are both punchier yet more elaborate than anything on SS. I think it's going to be divisive.

Top tracks so far: The Devil Rides Out, Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment Ltd, The Scythe's Remorseless Swing

idunnosomename

it's just as eclectic as the surprise veggie cover certainly. I like it a lot, although it's not absolute dynamite like Surgical Steel. but definitely a good job, in production as well as songwriting.

wonder what sort of tour they will do. i thought i was working on a site in the midlands in Damnation week and now im not, boo. miiiight be tempted to snap up a ticket if something comes up on the waitlist.

Shaky

This is really growing on me, which bodes well. It just oozes class as only these guys can. Steer's harmonies are fucking godlike.

New vid out for the excellent final track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkE-o-5RqwM

wrec

Bought it today, am away from my turntable so have only had a sneaky listen on Bandcamp so far. I think the album is doomed to stand as their second "worst" after Swansong given how epochal the first four were, and what a strong comeback Surgical Steel was, but is also bound to be one of my most heavily played this year, and looking forward to spending time with it.

easytarget

This is great!
All the riffs.
All the speeds.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Glebe on August 23, 2021, 07:09:58 PM

CARCASS' JEFF WALKER: MY 5 FAVORITE PUNK ALBUMS.


It always makes me suspiciously smile when these rockers claim they were into punk at nine years old and attending iconic gigs in sweaty clubs when they were just twelve years old. Reeeeeally?