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CARCASS
Torn Arteries

Nuclear Blast (2021)
Rating: 8.5/10

With more gory grooves than you can shake a severed head at, UK extreme metallers Carcass return with their seventh full-length studio album – an opus with pus-coated tongue firmly in cheek yet with enough tidal wave riffs to drown you in your own bile.

This is Carcass as we’ve come to know them over the last few years; infectious, at times polished, rhythmic and quintessentially melodeath of the highest order.

But Carcass always brings extra dollops innovation, whether in the form of unexpected claps on ‘In God We Trust’ to the fantastic percussion of Dan Wilding. This is a record – their first for eight years – which nods towards 1991’s Necroticism – Discanting The Insalubrious and 1996’s Swansong. Bill Steer’s gargantuan riffs sweep the listener up like black, congealed tides of scabbed vomit and Jeff Walker’s vicious scowls and smirks match his crushing bass lines.

Torn Arteries is a natural progression from 2013’s Surgical Steel but this release appeals more, squirming with technical prowess as the title track opens proceedings. The track rages hard and fast, the speedy precision giving way to Steer’s masterful juggernaut riffage.

The more standard thrash and straight up heavy metal influences emerge on the slower ‘Dance Of Ixtab (Psychopomp & Circumstance March No.1)’ where Steer channels Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi for groove-based monolithic slogging.

Walker’s bass sounds more prominent and continues throughout as Carcass applies little anaesthetic, instead mashing and gnashing with glinting tools to enable the slightly more unorthodox ‘The Devil Rides Out’ and the aforementioned ‘In God We Trust’ do step away from the expected framework and stride majestically with catchy dynamics.

Other tracks of note are ‘Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment Limited’, a ten-minute epic beginning with an acoustic strum before shuddering with metallic malice. Steer’s axework drives everything; an accomplished musician who plies his trade with orgasmic aplomb, teasing then grinding in swashbuckling style.

In a sense this is very much the Carcass we’ve now become accustomed to, a world away from those halcyon days of putrid grindcore. However, they remain an exemplary act, especially with tracks such as ‘Kelly’s Meat Emporium’ with its slow-baked percussive plod and scathing velocity where again the band reaches into the vile necrospheres of Necroticism… before lashing the flesh with a smothering of Heartwork-influence.

Arguably the best song, ‘The Scythe’s Remorseless Swing’, is saved for last, but it merely proves just how consistent this beast is. The track somehow maintains a bluesy edge, as well as doomy flings before the sonic avalanche drowns you.

Carcass remains fresh, energised and an act evolving while remaining sonically ripped and occasionally dipping into past album regression for those melodic death twangs. Torn Ateries is both gory and glorious.

Neil Arnold

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