Monday 9 November 2020

Carcass "Despicable" (2020)

I was eagerly awaiting a new Carcass album. It has been seven years of silence since the reunion record Surgical Steel. Disappointment struck upon learning this release is simply a four track tie over to the full length pushed back by the ongoing pandemic situation. Despicable's four songs apparently "didn't make the cut". Considering these are pretty darn enjoyable numbers, I'm now even more excited for Torn Arteries, now delayed and set to drop sometime next year.

Returning again with their defined textural flavor of Melodic Death Metal, seasoned musicians Jeff Walker and Bill Steer craft warm, inviting strands of extreme music. Residing mostly within the mid-tempo, even temperaments of aggression and melody play out mostly from an approachable middle ground. The drums rock steady grooves with fractional forays into challenging blast beats and dexterous sequences. Distortion guitars churn out sturdy power chord arrangements with exciting iterations on the fretboard, mostly manifesting into dazzling sparks of color as the lead and rhythm guitars work in tandem. Its only notably "extreme" in brief moments.

Its the raspy, whispering shouts and screams permeating all of the music that anchors the edge down. With a snaky serpentine flavor, they slither over these songs with severity. Not to get too hung up on the Extreme Metal angle but if you strip out the vocals, this record is basically an accessible set of adrenaline charged songs with gorgeous melodic entanglements and great song writing. Everything comes together wonderfully, even with a catchy hook or two. On Slaughtered In Soho, the slaughtered lyric is cried out, wrapped in a brief reverberation after the lovely unraveling melodic refrain from the lead guitar. Its leads are continuously sublime.

Everything about this record feels measured and in balance. Some of the more creative, tempo breaking riffs come with a keen sense of quality over going "full throttle". The breakdown riff on Manchester Morgue makes great use of deadening the power chords on path to the next. Small details and moments like this are illuminated when a guitar solo wails over top. Its great writing, over exploiting techniques. Despicable has a fine production, crisp, bright instruments get to dance in the forum of aggression underpinning the overall mood. My only annoyance is the use of cowbell. It forays into the music on occasion but something about that instrument never feels right to me.

Rating: 6/10