All fans of extreme metal over a certain age should be overjoyed at the final return of Carcass, legendary, groundbreaking and unique purveyors of gore-drenched yet witty and sharp, crushingly heavy death/gore/grind/metal… Call it what you will, Carcass made it totally their own. For those of you who don’t know this band – I urge you to rush out and buy their back catalogue immediately (yes, you remember – part with some cash in exchange for an album). The band’s sound has changed over the years, but always on their own terms, from their early gore-drenched pathological grindings, to a more refined, melodic, yet still crushingly heavy metal with acerbic, grim lyrical musings in their later years.
This album sees a return to the second half of their previous career. For those of you expecting the low budget, frantic gore-grind mayhem of their first two albums, you will probably be disappointed with this slick affair, fantastically produced by Andy Sneap (and partly by Colin Richardson). However, almost all of the elements that made Carcass such an influential and unique band are present on Surgical Steel. For a start, those riffs are back. Carcass always knew how to write fantastic riffs, something that seems to be entirely lost on swathes of gory, grindy bands following in the wake of these sick Scousers. It is hard to pin point exactly what makes Carcass’s riffs so special, but special they are. Perhaps it is the sheer mix of influences which makes the music so distinctive; this album is not just a mix of Carcass’s own styles throughout their career, but also a testament to three decades of extreme music. As per `Necrotism…’, `Heartwork’ and `Swansong’ there are chunks of filthy punk, gobbets of grind, razor sharp shards of thrash (try saying that after a few ales), and great slabs of pure NWOBHM, as well the distinctively grim death metal fury that Carcass always managed to infuse their racket with.
Jeff Walker’s voice is as vicious, rasping and berserk as ever, with swollen, maggot-infested tongue firmly in rotten cheek. There are some truly wonderful guitar solos and harmonies littering this album, dark, twisted and atmospheric but thick with melody and feeling. It only goes to show; Carcass are more than capable of stinking the place out without the `Amott effect’.
This isn’t entirely flawless affair; there may be one or two tracks that some of the more death metal people might find a tad pedestrian, not every single moment on the album is jaw-dropping metal joy. However, you can really tell that the band have put their hearts (and probably other organs) into this album, and after such a long hiatus, Carcass have managed to produce a fine, festering body of work. This really is a welcome reanimation.
(8.5/10 Jon Butlin)
Leave a Reply