May 232013
 

In today’s first post I commented about the fact that we usually don’t post press releases, or much of anything else that doesn’t involve the release of actual music, as opposed to forecasts of music to come. One exception to that general rule, as happened in that first article, occurs when we find disclosures of eye-catching album art. We’re making another exception in this post — because it involves fuckin’ CARCASS!!!

The news is this: After weeks of hinting around, Carcass has revealed that they’ve signed with Nuclear Blast for the release of Surgical Steel, their first album in something like 18 years. We’ll have to wait until an unidentified date this fall to get our mitts on it, but since we’ve been waiting for 18 years, what’s a few more months?

As noted, there’s no music to be heard, yet, but we do have this statement about the new album by Nuclear Blast owner and founder Markus Staiger: “It is a perfect mixture of Heartwork and Necroticism with a massive production to boot. The album is without a doubt just as perfect and lethal as surgical steel itself, and exactly what both old and new fans have waited for eagerly all of these years!”

Be still my beating heart. Continue reading »

May 132013
 

If you’ve been following us for very long, then you know we’re not a “news aggregator” site, by which I mean sites that simply copy and paste the daily flood of metal press releases and other newsy blurbs. That’s a useful service, but there are tons of other places out there which do that. In the category of “breaking news”, we usually focus on new music or videos, and we’re selective about what what we recommend. But mainly it’s because we have a small staff of unpaid slaves who spend most of their time sleeping or fending off creditors.

But I’m making an exception for the two items in this post, because they involve Carcass and Vader. Honestly, there’s not much meaningful news in this post, but . . . to repeat . . . the news involves CARCASS AND VADER!!

The news about Carcass is two-fold: First, we now have the first official photo (above) of the new Carcass lineup, courtesy of Adrian Erlandsson of Murder Mile Studios: bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker, guitarist Bill Steer, new guitarist Ben Ash (Pig Iron, Desolation, Liquefied Skeleton) and new drummer Dan Wilding (Aborted, Trigger the Bloodshed). And second, Carcass signed a deal last Thursday (May 9) with an as-yet-undisclosed label for the release of their new album, Surgical Steel. Why have Carcass not disclosed the label? Fuck if I know. Continue reading »

Jan 102013
 

In mid-November I wrote a feature about the decision by two landmark metal labels — Earache and Osmose — to establish Bandcamp sites and begin uploading albums from their landmark catalogues for digital distribution. At that point, I had gotten word that Earache was interested in receiving fan feedback on what they should add from the hundreds of albums under their control, so I put in my two cents’ worth with a list of 9 albums.

Since then, many of my wishes have been granted. As previously reported, Earache subsequently added groundbreaking albums from my short wish list by Entombed, Bolt Thrower, and Morbid Angel. And today I got an e-mail alert that they’ve now just added another album from my list — Reek of Putrefaction by Carcass. In addition to the fact that this album occupies a key place in metal history, it’s also timely, given that Carcass are apparently recording a new album.

But that’s not all!  Though I missed the news, Earache also recently added yet another album from my list — Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses, the 1992 debut album by Brutal Truth! I feel like Aladdin with a magic lamp and a drunk genie who’s lost count of how many wishes have already been granted.

But that’s still not all . . . Continue reading »

Nov 302012
 

I didn’t get a chance to pull together at the end of yesterday what I found in my daily web crawl and e-mail excavation, so I’m doing that this morning. And because I waited so long to patch together this round-up, there are quite a few items of interest in here:

CARCASS

This item comes first because it’s the kind of news that shakes the earth. Late yesterday Blabbermouth reported: “Reactivated British extreme metal legends CARCASS are rumored to be putting the finishing touches on their first studio album in 17 years with acclaimed producer Colin Richardson (FEAR FACTORY, MACHINE HEAD, NAPALM DEATH, SLIPKNOT, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE). The band has yet to secure a label home for the effort, which is expected in early 2013.”

As previously disclosed in assorted interviews, guitarist Michael Amott and drummer Daniel Erlandsson, who toured with Carcass following the announcement of their reunion in 2007, are no longer involved with the group due to scheduling conflicts with their main band, Arch Enemy. Blabbermouth reports that original guitarist Bill Steer and bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker are actively involved in the studio for the new CD recording sessions, along with drummer Matthias Voigt of Germany’s Heaven Shall Burn.

According to the report, Carcass is also in the process of booking a number of live shows for 2013, including the previously announced appearance at next year’s Maryland Deathfest and Chile’s Metal Fest. Continue reading »

Jan 282012
 

The unifying thread of this post is a connection between the old and the new — as well as the sound of the “old” when it was brand new. The featured bands are Carcass (UK) and Slash Dementia (Finland).

CARCASS

The first Carcass music I heard was their 1993 album, Heartwork. Only later did I learn that what I thought was a melodic death metal band started life as a d-beat riding, gore-splattered, death-grind act who were in fact one of the pioneering bands in the evolution of that genre.

The band’s original name was Disattack. After the name change to Carcass, they released their debut album, Reek of Putrefaction, on Earache Records in 1988 after only four days in the recording studio. Although they weren’t happy with the outcome, that album “reached #6 on the UK Indie Chart, establishing Carcass as one of the pioneers of the grindcore genre” (per The Font of All Human Knowledge).

All of this is relevant background to what I stumbled across last night at CVLT NATION — a free download and album stream of a live performance by Carcass in the year of their album debut, 1988. Continue reading »

Oct 162010
 

When you mentally strip away all the small and large luxuries of life, you are left with the basic rudiments of existence, the core elements necessary for subsistence — food, water, shelter, and in our case, death metal. Nothing fancy, mind you, just the stripped-down, fuzzed-out, palm-muted, drop-tuned, guttural-voiced, percussive approach of the old school, preferably played at a galloping pace.

Rhythmic dynamics and squalling guitar solos are plus factors. Melody is not required.

Eye-catching album art is also a plus, like that busy piece of black-and-white ghoulishness up above by an Indonesian underground artist who calls herself “Oikwasfuk“, depicting the Virgin Mary being impaled by a flying-v guitar while five zombies eat her alive. You know, fun for the whole family! Bring the kids!

Yes, when the band wrote us, they cleverly used that piece of art to hook our attention, like fish caught in a gill net — that, and the band’s viciously cool one-word name. But that was only the beginning. The art and the name only lured us into the music, which in this case (to persist with our commercial fishery metaphor) works like a processing plant — removing the head, guts, and pin bones and then blast-freezing the carcass.

The band is Carcinogen, the album is a five-song EP called Unholy Aggression, and the very satisfying sound is death/thrash of the old school. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »