I’m sure I’ve said it here before, but Carcass was one of the most important bands on my metal journey. If Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and 70s Rush were my gateway into metal as a whole, then Carcass and At the Gates were my gateway into death metal. Both bands pioneered the melodic death metal sound in their own unique way. In the case of Carcass, their hybrid of Priest/Maiden melodies and ripping thrash made me a fan overnight. Heartwork was essentially an extension of what I was listening to already, but with harsher vocals. As junior high segued into high school, I dived deeper into their far gorier and grindier back catalog. It was almost coincidental that they dropped their long awaited comeback album, Surgical Steel, when I was two weeks into my freshman year.
The collective reaction to Surgical Steel was widespread praise. Fans and critics alike hailed it as a “creative triumph”, “comeback of the year”, and a bunch of other sensationalist hyperbolic labels. Personally, I thought it was alright. I bought it on CD and listened to it a handful of times, but it never stuck with me the way past Carcass releases have. Let me put it this way: In the eight years and four days that have passed from the release of Surgical Steel to their latest album, Torn Arteries, not once did I find myself eager to revisit it. If I was going to listen to Carcass, it was going to be Heartwork, or Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious, or Symphonies of Sickness.
So where does Torn Arteries fall into the putrified puzzle that is the Carcass catalog? Well if we were ranking this year’s releases on hype and anticipation alone, it’d be second to only Iron Maiden’s Senjutsu, which I found to be half enjoyable and half uninspiring. It was the musical equivalent of the term 50/50. Unfortunately, the same description applies to Torn Arteries. I wanted to love this album as much as the next guy, and from the fire of the first few tracks, I thought I was going to. The title track kicks things off in high gear with deadly riffs and devastating d-beats. “Dance of IXTAB (Psychopomp & Circumstance March No. 1 in B)” sees the band do a 180, showcasing their hard rock influences. The lead riff is groovy as all hell, the solo screams Zeppelin, and the backbeat is led by a cowbell. It doesn’t get more death n’ roll than that.
This album didn’t start to lose me until “The Devil Rides Out”. This by the numbers melo death cut sounds less like a Carcass song and more like if I prompted a computer to generate a Carcass song with AI. I assumed this snoozefest would be a one off. Then I heard “Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment Limited”. If there isn’t a law against Carcass writing nearly 10 minute songs, there needs to be one. The first few minutes showcase dark riffing and twin leads, combining the melody of Heartwork with the bloodthirst of Necroticism. If it were only a few minutes long, it’d be far more effective, but no. “Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment Limited” goes on and on and on, before getting to the obligatory mellow passage characteristic of these lengthy suites. 13 year old me probably would’ve been all over this, saying something along the lines of, “Carcass can do prog too!” 22 year old me? Hard pass.
“Kelly’s Meat Emporium” briefly channels the cathartic thrash of “Torn Arteries”, but the riffs, solos, and overall structure is very predictable, as is the remainder of the album. Therein lies the problem. Carcass albums used to be adrenalizing affairs. You never knew what you were going to get. Now well into middle age, they’ve become comfortable assuming status as the godfathers of melo death, capitalizing on it with each subsequently average release. My innermost hopes and dreams of Carcass doing another grind album are simply that, but so long as they keep putting out pedestrian drivel like this, I’ll keep dreaming.
5 out of 10
Label: Nuclear Blast
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
For fans of: At the Gates, Entombed, Arch Enemy