Carcass Albums (6)
'Wake Up and Smell the Carcass'
Release Date 11/12/1996
Tracks 17
Label Earache
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
When Carcass finally called it a day after ten years of some of the most disgusting music in existence, casual observers couldn't be blamed for wondering what the point of a collection of rarities, demos, and the like would be. However, Carcass did mutate and change over time, a fact little appreciated by those who only know their initial blasts of vocal and musical insanity. That's why Wake Up serves as both a gift for fans and a not-bad way for newcomers to figure out what the heck is going on. Arranged in reverse chronological order, starting with leftover numbers from the Swansong sessions and concluding with a version of the classic "Exhume to Consume" from the Grindcrusher compilation, Wake Up is in many ways a model retrospective package. Detailed, appreciative liner notes go over the band's complete history while explaining the origins of all the tracks, while tons of photos of the group in its full long-haired glory crop up throughout. The sound is crisp and clear throughout; about the only thing missing is the intentionally hilarious, over-the-top lyrics which accompanied most of their albums. The later selections showcase both the more deliberate, less crazily psychotic playing and curt images of general darkness in place of biological grue. The surprisingly pretty guitar chime of "Ever Increasing Circles" demonstrates the band's abilities to move beyond the expected. Best title and lyrics of the bunch -- "I Told You So (Corporate Rock Really Does Suck)." Tracks from both the Heartwork and Tools of the Trade EPs will satisfy rarity hunters, while a great BBC radio session from 1994 is included in full. "No Love Lost" is very much not the Joy Division track of the same name, instead being a reworking of a Heartwork cut. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Although 1994's excellent Heartwork opus had already served notice of Carcass' increasingly commercial new direction, much of the group's loyal contingent of fans still viewed 1995's Swansong album not as a natural progression but as a huge betrayal. One of the leading lights of the British grindcore movement, Carcass had made a name for themselves with their unrelenting sonic fury and unbelievably disgusting lyrics. But on Swansong, much of that fury was reigned in to accommodate more conventional song structures topped with articulate, at times even humorous lyrics (see "Keep on Rotting in the Free World") from vocalist Jeff Walker. With axe men Bill Steer and Carlo Regadas trading scorching leads to pave the way, the band's technical mastery and newfound melodic sensibility come through like never before, resulting in a style reminiscent of latter-day Coroner, or even Megadeth's work in the early '90s. Memorable numbers like "Tomorrow Belongs to Nobody" and "Child's Play" highlight the quartet's keen sense of dynamics, and their desire to experiment with new sounds leads to such unexpected moves as employing acoustic guitars on "Firm Hand." Simply put, Swansong represents such a remarkable evolution (or de-evolution, depending, again, on your viewpoint) for Carcass that comparing it to their prior achievements leads to an interesting quandary. While it is easily the most accessible chapter of the band's career, the album hardly offers a fair introduction to the bulk of their brutal legacy. Therefore, while fans of unadulterated grindcore should approach with caution, listeners seeking out an excellent example of technical thrashing will love what Swansong has to offer. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Heartwork marks Carcass' return after the self-imposed hiatus that followed 1991's Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious. It's also the pioneering grindcore outfit's breakthrough release, successfully grafting melody onto the existing muscle of Carcass' punishing antimusic. After a blistering opening salvo, the title track decelerates into a mid-tempo guitar lead, only to shift gears into a meaty verse that suggests the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. "Carnal Forge" and "Arbeit Macht Fleisch" are compacted with intricate, overlapping riffs that are relentless in their move forward, and yet there's still a sense of structure and melody, buried somewhere amid the carnage. Jeff Walker's vocals are consistent in their throat-ripping fierceness throughout the record, especially on "This Is Your Life," which messes with mixing to make the track truly arresting if listened to with headphones. While of normal album length, Heartwork nevertheless seems over too quickly, as if its bloodthirsty front end bit off its own backside. Some purists might decry its melodic breaks for soloing or nods toward conventional structure. But Heartwork is that rare album that so carefully dissects and reconstructs its original form that its additional body parts seem like they were there all along. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The now out of print Tools of the Trade EP followed the group's excellent Necroticism album as yet more product for the group's hungry fans while the group toured as part of Earache's infamous Gods of Grind tour. Very much like Necroticism, the songs on Tools of the Trade find the group developing their songs beyond mere explosive grindcore blasts to more fleshed-out songs with multiple transitions in tempo. The title track of the EP features both Jeff Walker's demonic snarls and Bill Steer's aquatic utterances exchanging barely decipherable lyrics about scalpels and other medical tools. The guitar riffs of this song move along at a quick speed before eventually slowing down to a near halt near the end of the song, when a contemplative mood sets in, establishing a suiting mood for a short guitar solo before the group suddenly concludes the song with a short grindcore blast. The other songs sound very similar to the work on Necroticism, leading one to assume that they were recorded during the same session. The midtempo riffs found near the latter half of "Hepatic Tissue Fermentation II" allude to the slower, more focused sound the group would move to on their successive album, Heartwork. While not nearly as epic as the full-length Necroticism, Tools of the Trade's short length and comparable quality level make it a more digestible alternative to the full-length album, though it is now nearly impossible to find by itself. [Note: Tools of the Trade is now available as bonus tracks on Necroticism]. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
'Symphonies of Sickness'
Release Date 1/1/1990
Tracks 10
Label Earache
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
If Reek of Putrefaction was one series of brusque, quick, and brute explosions after another, Symphonies of Sickness, as its title indicated, is something of a complex step up. None of the power is lost at all, but thanks to a combination of crisper recording and a desire on the part of the band to stretch things out a bit more -- three- to five-minute-long songs and so forth -- Carcass here play with their enjoyably ugly sound just enough. Thus, hearing a brief stab of synth strings and an actual sense of space in the opening title track might not be too much, but it's still quite a lot in context. But once the vocal growls and a quick, solid riff heralds another hyperspeed section of musical and vocal delivery, Carcass as they were initially known and loved reappear in full effect. Nothing too much changes beyond the slightest of touches throughout Symphonies, but one notable difference is that the lyrics actually sometimes come through, if only just. One of the best bits comes in the middle of "Empathological Necroticism" -- in the middle of detailing another hard day at the office with crushed limbs and general evisceration, the working stiff hero of the piece admits, "Life is hard as a mortuary technician." Given that the guy's problems have to deal with such things as pulped cerebellums mucking up his slab and the problems of rigor mortis, it's hard to disagree with the sentiment. An all-time Carcass highlight comes with the perfectly disgusting second number, "Exhume to Consume," which gives an all-new insight into the joys of grave-robbing and, shall we say, feasting on preserved meat. Then again, ignore the lyric sheet and just go nuts with some of the deepest male vocals ever recorded and overall feedback doom crunch. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The title alone. Anyone taking the lyrical content here even slightly seriously -- and that includes the bandmembers -- clearly needs to be taken away by the nice men in the white jackets. Thoughtfully, complete lyrics are provided -- thus, a verse from "Vomited Anal Tract": "Your vagus implodes, as nausea strikes/Savaging your body in terminal retch/Violent spasms and decaying enzymes/Engulf your throat as you belch." That this or anything else on the album is completely impossible to understand otherwise is part of the insane fun, of course, which is why Carcass is both one of the best and funniest bands around. Musically everything is basically just one step away from Napalm Death's early sound, if even that far, but there's something just that much more engagingly nutty about what Carcass do. It might be the way that Bill Steer's guitar solos sound like they're turning themselves inside out every time he plays one (with blood dripping from exposed musculature and so forth, no doubt). Alternately, it might be how Ken Owen matches early Mick Harris for sheer frazzle with drums played so fast everything sounds more like a wash of static than anything else. Whatever it is, Reek of Putrefaction consists of songs so immediate and there that trying to analyze them in depth is practically impossible -- you accept it and let yourself go from the start or you never ever want to hear anything like it again. There are occasional moments of calm -- "Genital Grinder," which starts things off, begins with a low bass rumble and a great, chunky riff, a smart way to draw folks in before the final slaughter. Top everything off with the barked, whined, and yelped vocals of the threesome in full unintelligible glory, and Reek succeeds thoroughly and completely at what it does. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
