04/29/2012: Carcass - Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious (1991) [Crossover Review 6]

04/29/2012: Carcass - Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious (1991) [Crossover Review 6]

1. Inpropagation
2. Corporal Jigsore Quandary
3. Symposium Of Sickness
4. Pedigree Butchery
5. Incarnated Solvent Abuse
6. Carneous Cacoffiny
7. Lavaging Expectorate of Lysergide Composition
8. Forensic Clinicism: The Sanguine Article
9. Tools Of The Trade
10. Pyosified (Still Rotten To The Gore)
11. Hepatic Tissue Fermentation II

     I am months behind on my entries. I am going to take an hour or so to rock out as many as I can in one sitting so I will keep these short. This is a long over-due crossover chosen by oksentaminen and you can read his review here. He is pretty much spot on for calling it Prog Death Metal as well as his line of "riffs on riffs". Its a really cool album. I enjoyed the long compositions and the music in general. The only reason I wasn't really into it was the vocals. I can appreciate the death metal growl/scream, but I tend to need a breather from vovcals of the type. I know why this album was chosen for me and it was  cool to hear bands that influenced or paved the way for bands I love like Between The Buried And Me. (120)

Carcass - Wake Up and Smell the...Carcass

Rot 'N Roll

#86) Carcass - Wake Up and Smell the...Carcass (1996)

 1.Edge of Darkness
 2. Emotional Flatline
 3. Ever Increasing Circles
 4. Blood Spattered Banner
 5. I Told You So (Corporate Rock Really Does Suck)
 6. Buried Dreams
 7. No Love Lost
 8. Rot 'N Roll
 9. Edge of Darkness
 10. This Is Your LIfe
 11. Rot 'N Roll
 12. Tools of the Trade
 13. Pyosisified (Still Rotten to the Gore)
 14. Hepatic Tissue Fermentation II
 15. Genital Grinder II
 16. Hepatic Tissue Fermentation
 17. Exhume to Consume

this is a collection of rarities and unreleased stuff. here's the breakdown:

when Carcass went into the studio to do Swansong they recorded 17 tracks. of those 17, 12 made it onto the album. tracks 1 -5 are the tracks that were cut. at the time there were rumors of an EP containing these tracks but it never happened. luckily they put them on here because they're really solid tracks and are probably the biggest highlight of the album.

tracks 6 - 9 are taken from a Radio One Rock Show session recorded in 1994. it's pretty much your standard radio recording, no real surprises, good audio quality. the only really notable thing is that the set includes Edge of Darkness, which is a Swansong track, 2 years before Swansong was released.

tracks 10 and 11 are taken off the Heartwork EP, released in 1993. This is Your Life is in the same vein as the other midtempo tracks off Heartwork and is a great track, while Rot 'N Roll is a little faster paced. not quite a shredder like Death Certificate or Carnal Forge but a rad track nonetheless.

tracks 12 - 14 are the Tools of the Trade EP which i talked about here

15 and 16 are off the Pathological comp, released in 1989, and features a reworking of Genital Grinder, off  Reek of Putrefaction,  and the original version of Hepatic Tissue Fermentation. the reworking is a really cool instrumental track. Hepatic Tissue Fermentation is pretty much the same track as what you hear on the Tools of the Trade Ep, the biggest difference to me was that the Tools EP had way better production value.

track 17 is taken off the Grindcrusher comp, released in '89, and also appears on Symphonies of Sickness. the big difference between these 2 tracks is that the Grindcrusher versions starts off with about 30 seconds of guitar noises before getting into the track, other than that it's pretty much the same track.

the version of the cd i have also comes with a bonus dvd. i'm not gonna get too into the dvd but it contains:
music videos for Heartwork, Corporal Jigsore Quandry, Keep On Rotting in the Free World,
Incarnated Solvent Abuse and No Love Lost. the videos range from cool (Heartwork, No Love Lost) to unintentionally funny (Incarnated Solvent Abuse) to lame live footage with the studio track playing over it (the rest.)

a live set from The Gods of Grind Tour recorded at the London Astoria, March 18th 1992 and another set from the Grindcrusher Tour recorded at Nottingham Rock City, Nov 14th 1989. the sound isn't the best on either sets but it's not overwhelmingly bad and it's slightly better on the Gods set. 

the cd was a great collection and definitely worth checking out.
after 6 1/2 hours of audio and over 5 hours of video my Carcass journey is over. what a great fuckin band.

Carcass - Swansong

Consumer Or Consumed Your Life Is Cheap

#85) Carcass - Swansong (1996/2008)

 1. Keep On Rotting In the Free World
 2. Tomorrow Belongs To Nobody
 3. Black Star
 4. Cross My Heart
 5. Childs Play
 6. Room 101
 7. Polarized
 8. Generation Hexed
 9. Firm Hand
 10. R**k the Vote
 11. Don't Believe a Word
 12. Go To Hell
 13. Death Rider Da

Carcass' 5th and final album is basically the Carcass equivalent of Metallica's Black album. there are still a lot of great riffs but the songs are pretty straight ahead verse/chorus/verse affairs. it's not really a "mainstream" album  but it's definitely not as, i don't know, challenging maybe, as some of their other stuff.  even the band has stated that this is more of a straight forward "rock" record.  like i said before, there a some great riffs here, and Keep On Rotting In the Free World still remains one of my favorite songs, but having heard their back catalogue i just feel like the record is missing something. i'm not knocking the album, i actually really like it and it holds a special place for me as it was the first Carcass album i heard (the 2nd was Heartwork, which i listened to like once and i recall not being into it, apparently i was an idiot) back in like '98. i listened to it a ton until it was stolen out of my friend's car a couple years later and i haven't heard the album since. it's still a solid album and it was great to hear it again.

Carcass - Heartwork

Welcome To A World Of Hate, A Life Of Buried Dreams

#84) Carcass - Heartwork (1993/2008)

 1. Buried Dreams
 2. Carnal Forge
 3. No Love Lost
 4. Heartwork
 5. Embodiment
 6. This Mortal Coil
 7. Arbeit Macht Fleisch
 8. Blind Bleeding the Blind
 9. Doctrinal Expletives
 10. Death Certificate

Pre-Heartwork Parr Street Demos February 1993

 1. Blind Bleeding the Blind
 2. Buried Dreams
 3. Carnal Forge
 4. Death Certificate
 5. Deliverance
 6. Doctrinal Expletives
 7. Heartwork
 8. No Love Lost
 9. This Mortal Coil
 10. Arbeit Macht Frei

the band's 4th album sees a big change. the gory artwork is replaced by an HR Giger sculpture, and other than 2 songs (Carnal Forge and Arbeit Macht Fleisch, and even those are barely gory by early Carcass standards) the over the top medical dictionary lyrics are gone. the riffs have become more melodic and while there are still a lot of  rad, intricate riffs, the song structure is a little more streamlined. on Necroticism most of the songs were 5 minutes or over, with a few topping out at 7 minutes, here the songs are in the more average range of 3 to 4 minutes. the tempo has also leveled out a bit. while tracks like Carnal Forge and Death Certificate are total shredders, overall the album is mostly mid-tempo stuff. Death Certificate is up there with some of the fastest non-grind Carcass and also has some super melodic riffing going on, definitely one of my favorite tracks. this album fucking kills.

the bonuses this time comes in the form of an entire 2nd disc worth of demos. it's the entire album demo-ed out. the tracks have a rough edge to them and sound great, i think some of the tracks actually sound a little better in the demo versions. other than the different track order and the fact that here the song Embodiment is called Deliverance, i didn't really notice any huge differences. admittedly i didn't listen to the discs back to back so there are probably some things i missed but overall it's a rougher sounding version of the normal album. once again a really cool extra feature.

Carcass - Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious

Orchestral Horrors I Vehemently Conduct

#83) Carcass -  Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious (1991/2008)

 1. Inpropagation
 2. Corporal Jigsore Quandry
 3. Symposium of Sickness
 4. Pedigree Butchery
 5. Incarnated Solvent Abuse
 6. Carneous Cacoffiny
 7. Lavaging Expectorate of Lysergide Composition
 8. Forensic Clinicism/The Sanguine Article

Tools of the Trade EP (1992)

 9. Tools of the Trade
 10. Pyosified (Still Rotten to the Gore)
 11. Hepatic Tissue Fermentation II


Carcass' 3rd album once again finds the production and songwriting improving. tracks are longer and even more complex. they've pretty much abandoned grind at this point and have created more of a progressive death metal album. it's also the last of the gore albums. there are so many rad riffs on this album it's ridiculous, just riffs on riffs. this is also probably one of my favorite album titles ever.

the bonus tracks here are the Tools of the Trade EP which consists of Tools of the Trade, a new track for the EP, Pyosified (Still Rotten to the Gore) which is a re-recording of Pyosified (Rotten to the Gore) off of Reek of Putrefaction, and Hepatic Tissue Fermentation II which is a re-recording of Hepatic Tissue Fermentation, a track that originally appeared on a comp called Pathological. Tools of the Trade goes back to the grind roots and the re-recorded tracks are awesome, it's a shame they never did more.


i'd definitely say these Earache reissues are the way to get into these albums

Carcass - Symphonies of Sickness

Your Rectum I Will Flood, With Bleach, Detergents And Suds

#82) Carcass - Symphonies of Sickness (1989/2008)

 1. Reek of Putrefaction
 2. Exhume to Consume
 3. Excoriating Abdominal Emanation
 4. Ruptured in Purulence
 5. Empathological Necroticism
 6. Embryonic Necropsy and Devourment
 7. Swarming Vulgar Mass of Infected Virulency
 8. Cadaveric Incubator of Endoparasites
 9. Slash Dementia
 10. Crepitating Bowel Erosion

Symphonies of Sickness demo (1988)

 11. Reek of Putrefaction
 12. Slash Dementia
 13. Embryonic Necropsy and Devourment
 14. Cadaveric Incubator of Endoparasites
 15. Ruptured in Purulence
 16. Crepitating Bowel Erosion

the 2nd album by Carcass finds them improving both sound quality and the overall quality of their musicianship. in just 1 year they already started distancing themselves from the goregrind of the first album and moving into more death metal territory. the grind is still there but there's also a lot more going on. the songs are more intricate, there are slower parts and the tracks are longer as well. while Reek of Putrefaction had 22 tracks with most under 2 minutes, Symphonies of Sickness has only 10 tracks with the shortest being 3:10. the riffs are awesome and the lyrics are just as disgusting and hilarious as before.

this is part of the 2008 reissue series and includes the Symphonies of Sickness demo as bonus tracks. the recording quality is actually worse than their first demo but it's still cool to have.
also included is a dvd with the next part of the documentary, The Pathologist's Report Part 2 - Propagation. during the tours for Sickness, Carcass picked up second guitarist Michael Amott who would become a permanent member after. most of the dvd focuses on the touring and the acquisition of Amott, although the band members, including Amott himself, all seem to have different stories about how he came into the picture.

another great album and a great reissue from Earache. 

Carcass - Reek of Putrefaction

Nothing Gives Me Greater Pleasure Than A Bowl Full Of Chyme

#81) Carcass - Reek of Putrefaction (1988/2008)

 1. Genital Grinder
 2. Regurgitation if Giblets
 3. Maggot Colony
 4. Pyosisified (Rotten to the Gore)
 5. Carbonized Eyesockets
 6. Frenzied Detruncation
 7. Vomited Anal Track
 8. Festerday
 9. Fermenting Innards
 10. Excreted Alive
 11. Suppuration
 12. Foeticide
 13. Microwaved Uterogestation
 14. Feast on Dismembered Carnage
 15. Splattered Cavities
 16. Psychopathologist
 17. Burnt To A Crisp
 18. Pungent Excruciation
 19. Manifestation On Verrucose Urethra
 20. Oxidised Razor Masticator
 21. Mucopurulence Excrtor
 22. Malignant Defecation

Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment Demo (1987/2008)

 23. Genital Grinder (Intro)
 24. Regurgitation of Giblets
 25. Festerday
 26. Limb From Limb
 27. Rotten to the Gore
 28. Excreted Alive
 29. Malignant Defecation
 30. Fermenting Innards
 31. Necro-Cannibal Bloodfeast
 32. Psychopathologist
 33. Die In Pain
 34. Pungent Excruciation
 35. Face Meltaaargh

so after doing my last post about Napalm Death i decided to dedicate my next few posts to the Carcass discography. this is their first album, released in '88 and reissued in 2008 as a series of reissues to coincide with their reunion tour. the Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment Demo is their first demo and is included as bonus tracks. also included with each reissue is a dvd, called The Pathologist's Report, containing new  interviews with the band members talking about each album and some archival footage, but more on that later.

with their first few albums they were credited as being pioneers of grind, especially death/gore grind, though each album after this saw them move more and more into death metal territory and find them eventually becoming one of the founding fathers of melodic death metal. these guys are definitely one of the most influential extreme metal bands.

they were originally formed in 1985 in England by guitarist Bill Steer and drummer Ken Owen as a D-Beat band called Disattack. after releasing a demo in '86 their bassist and vocalist quit. they recruited a singer named Sanjiv and Jeff Walker on bass, changed their name to Carcass and recorded the Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment demo in '87. Sanjiv left the band after this and Walker, Owen and Steer recorded Reek as a 3 piece with all members sharing vocal duties.

the album sounds pretty terrible. according to the band the engineer sucked and they didn't have enough time to mix the album properly before they needed to get it to the label so they were stuck with it. despite the bad mix you can still hear the beginnings of the innovation the band would later become known for. even with the bad sound and graphic artwork and lyrical content John Peel named it his favorite album of 1988.


the bonus dvd, The Pathologist's Report Part 1 - Incubation, is great.  they talk to Jeff, Ken and Bill about how they all met, the recording of the album and things like that and it's highlighted with some photos and clips of live footage from around that time.

bad sound aside, this was a great album. i'm kinda glad i waited this long to listen to it though because this reissue was the way to go. it was pretty rad being able to listen to the album and then hear the band talk about it. definitely worth checking out.