This autumn another British legends release their new album after long period of silence. After eight years Carcass comes back with the new release named Torn Arteries.
Unlike Iron Maiden, who kept the information about upcoming release in secret, there were some premises for the new album from the band: in 2019 the single “Under The Scalpel Blade” was released and in October 2020 a short EP Despicable have seen the light of the day as well. Actutally, Torn Arteries was supposed to be released in 2020 too but due to pandemic issues and all the stuff musicians decided to postpone the date of release. The name was chosen not accidentally as well – this is a nod to original drummer Ken Owen; his first one man band before he joined Carcass was called “Torn Arteries”.
To be honest, the new album causes some mixed feelings: on one hand it is definitely Carcass – meaty sound, Bill Steer’s interesting riffs, gloomy growls from Jeff Walker and his deep, verbose lyrics (let’s not forget about guitarist Tom Draper, who plays in Carcass since 2018). On the other hand, if you expect just meat, Grind and Brutal Death, you can be disappointed because there is a lot of Groove in this album, while most of the songs are mid-paced.
From the titled song “Torn Arteries” it is clear what is Carcass in 2021: music goes Groove than changed with Death and back, Daniel Wilding delivers some blast beats from time to time and Bill Steer plays great solo. The next one, “Dance Of Ixtab” slowing down the tempo and sounds somehow strangely melodic; nevertheless it has a great riff and the song itself is pretty catchy. “Eleanor Rigor Mortis” starts with old school Thrash Metal but it rapidly changes with slow Groove/Death and gets the fast pace only in the end, seamlessly turning into “Under The Scalpel Blade”, which can be heard on last year’s EP.
The fans of old good Carcass certainly joyed the first single from the album, “Kelly’s Meat Emporium” – a three and a half minutes of brutality and meat. Almost 10-minutes-long “Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment Limited”, in its turn, is much more diverse – slow and grim intro, the sound gradually becomes more and more mighty, the tempo increased too and soon it is grim Death Metal. But then the pace suddenly reduces, which turn the music almost into Sludge, some thick solo is coming and everything starts again, while in the end of the song the main theme is changed rapidly too.
“In God We Trust” (the four words you least expect to hear from the band like this) starts also deceptively slow and melodic but soon turns in brutal Death with sudden lyrical solo and mocking claps. I’m sure this number will be great when performed live. Some mocking lyricism is also sounds in “Wake Up And Smell The Carcass – Caveat Emptor”, quite fast and brutal song.
Robust “The Devil Rides Out” has quite simple pattern and dark atmosphere but there are lots of melodic solos and Groove elements. And the album ends with melodic (I’d rather say, unexpectedly melodic) “The Scythe’s Remorseless Swing”, which turns into fast-paced Death Metal later but still has enough melody in guitar solo.
Maybe Torn Arteries will be a disappointment for somebody, while it has a lot of things, which were expected from Carcass for long eight years, if you ask me. However, I need to say that the album is interesting, at least. What the hell, the album is good, really! Maybe it’s not a masterpiece (because people usually expect masterpieces from Carcass) but it is good. So maybe it is not about the band, which tries to move forward (or doesn’t stands still, at least) but about our nostalgia?
Torn Arteries will be released on September, 19th via Nuclear Blast.
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