Carcass left the heavy metal party way after it had ended for them. Their 1995 album Swansong was, as the band themselves put it, the sound of “a band on the decline”. It was hard for the metal world to swallow. 1989’s Symphony Of Sickness and 1991’s Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious, took the chest-bursting horror-violence of grindcore, and coupled it with a new direction in songwriting for the bombastic rock n roll attitude could be injected into a grindcore record. Then, Swansong hit, and the Carcass faithful were left dejected.
Enter 2013, and the return of Carcass. Well, not the complete return. Original drummer Ken Owen suffered a brain hemorrhage in 1999 and, sadly, was unable to return for the new album. While not sold as a comeback record Carcass’s new record Surgical Steel, still feels like a return to form. The blistering tempos that were abandoned on Swansong are back, as are the growl backing-vocals, which hadn’t really been part of the Carcass sound since before Heartwork. For the truly Carcass obsessed, even the cover of Surgical Steel will bring back memories of the 1992 Tools Of The Trade EP. Okay, Carcass have brought back their golden age, but is it any good?
Reunion records succeed, or fail, on the chemistry of the band. Carcass have held the chemistry together over the last thirteen years, something they look to prove with Surgical Steel. When the band is firing on all cylinders, they can’t be stopped. “Cadaver Pouch Conveyor System” holds down the blast-beast style of grindcore, but adds a nearly Iron Maiden sounding lead.
“Captive Bolt Pistol,” a track attacking slaughterhouse advocate Temple Grandin, is a venomous rapture of blast-beats and thrashing guitars. Even when Carcass reach into their bag of catchy, as with “The Granulating Dark Satanic Mills” use of Judas Priest school thrash, the band nail it. “Unfit For Human Consumption” boasts a seriously unforgettable riff playing over some of the grooviest guitar work Carcass has ever whipped out. Back and forth between ultra-violence, blistering rock and brutal grindcore, Surgical Steel is a constantly shifting monster.
Bringing us to the lyrics. I really thought Demolition Hammer had pushed the idea of Thesaurus Metal as far as it could with the song “Pyroclastic Annihilation” (aka death by volcano), but I was wrong. Carcass bassist Jeff Walker, who has long been heralded as one of the better lyricists in extreme metal, hits some new highs here. “Captive Bolt Pistol” has some of the greatest Thesaurus Metal lines ever. “Non-lethal pneumatic percussion cap”, or “Cold and rational premeditated death sanitizer”. Throughout Surgical Steel, Walker fires out sweet gems like this throughout. My particular favorite, “Dearth metal”, a line aimed at those extreme metal bands that render the genre completely boring. Lyrics are usually a second or third level concern to most extreme metal bands. With Surgical Steel, Walker not only focuses on them, he makes sure each one is a keeper.
Overall Surgical Steel is an excellent return to what Carcass can do. Occasionally the band sounds strained, as if they’re overworking the need to sell that they’re back, and better than ever. The random misfire solo, those few points when the band attempts to smash too many time changes into one song, or they cut a groove where it didn’t need to happen. None of it derails the album; it’s more the frenzied excitement of Surgical Steel getting slightly out of the band’s control. Outside of those moments, Carcass deliver one hell of a comeback album.
