CARCASS. (Wake Up and Smell the Carcass)

I do believe this is our very first CARCASS post, however, we've already had a lot of bands posted on here that are pretty deeply influenced by the goregrinders.

If you don't know who CARCASS is...


Now you know. Carcass was on the forefront of aggressive Death Metal and the progenitor's of the GOREGRIND genre, that even today, many fail to master. The band rose up sometime in the late 80s releasing their primordial "Reek Of Putrefaction" record, which featured songs like "Genital Grinder", "Foeticide", and "Oxidised Razor Masticator". They had a niche back then; they almost exclusively used medical jargon lifted from textbooks, and set it some of the most extreme, ugly, and crusty instrumentals they could muster.

The band began moving into more of a sophisticatedly structured Death Metal fit a couple of years later with their second album "Symphonies of Sickness" (my personal favorite), which still shared a lot in common with "Putrefaction", but managed to come off as a little more coherent. Then came one of their most popular works "Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious", which is where that song I posted above comes from. The band recruited Carnage guitarist Michael Amott to share lead guitar duties with Bill Steer and moved even deeper into Death Metal. They then released "Heartwork" in 1994, an album I believe to be deeply influenced by Amott's inclusion in the band, and the band naturally matured into the Melodic Death Metal genre. After "Heartwork" and touring for the album, Amott split, choosing to persue "Arch Enemy" with former Carnage (and DISMEMBER?) Vocalist Johan Liiva.

CARCASS then went and produced their final album "Swansong", which featured much slower instrumentals, less solos, and a generally underwhelming showcase of guitar-work. The band then briefly chose to pursue the "Hard Rock" genre, broke up CARCASS, and immediately reformed as the band "Blackstar (Rising)", which had a lifespan of one year, released one album, then split. Since the break-up, the members have all gone off to their seperate projects. Unfortunately, however, a couple years after the Blackstar split, their drummer Ken Owen suffered a brain haemorrhage, and spent 10 months in a hospital coming out of a coma, eventually finding himself unable to play the drums any longer.

So anyway--the band reunited this year, with Bill Steer, Michael Amott, the drummer from Arch Enemy, and Jeff Walker (Ken still tours with them--if you look close enough you can see him backstage air-drumming along), and they're planning to do around a dozen shows in North America:

9/05-Worcester, MA @ The Palladium w/ Necrophagist and Dying Fetus
9/06-New York, NY @ Nokia Theatre w/ Necrophagist
9/07-Montreal, QC @ Medley
9/08-Toronto, ON @ Opera House
9/09-Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom w/ Necrophagist and Dying Fetus
9/10-Baltimore, MD @ Sonar w/ Pig Destroyer and Misery Index
9/11-Raleigh, NC @ Volume 11
9/12-Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
9/13-St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Landing
9/15-Austin, TX @ Emo's
9/18-Los Angeles, CA @ House of Blues
9/19-San Francisco, CA @ The Grand Ballroom
9/21-Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
9/22-Vancouver, WA @ Commodore Ballroom


If you are anywhere near any of these venues...FUCKING GO. You probably won't ever have another chance at seeing them live considering Walker, Amott, and Steer's commitments to their other bands.

So--enough yapping. Included in this post is an Earache release put out in 1996; it's pretty much a Loose Ends compilation of CARCASS shit; stuff that really couldn't neatly fit onto any other release. It features unreleased tracks from the "Swansong" Sessions and tracks from various EPs and v/a compilations.

Enjoy this one: CARCASS - Wake Up And Smell The Carcass

Also, if you like CARCASS, you'll most definitely like these bands from previous grinder posts:
IMPALED
Broken Hope
Dystopia
GORED

And make sure you stop by Apoctosis' Blog Death By A Coat Hanger(fuckin' Bloodcum! I love Pro-Lifer Metal!) for his CARCASS Rare Demo post.

--fred