#16: Carcass - Heartwork

Due to the amount of grief latter-day Carcass gets from the tr00 metal dicks, I was pretty prepared for something drastically different on Heartwork than the earlier sludge-and-gargle symphonies like Reek of Putrefaction, which is the only Carcass record I owned up until now.

When I first bought Putrefaction, I thought either my speakers were busted or the record was misprinted. But it turned out that, no, it was just the most poorly-produced record ever made until Transilvanian Hunger came along. Over time, I grew to appreciate the never-quite-graspable, yet somehow inviting sound of that record, and I don't own anything else quite like it.

So when the polished production and half-time tempos of Heartwork came on, even though I had read quite a bit about the record, it was still a big change. Right now, as I'm listening to "This Mortal Coil," there's a guitar solo that wouldn't be out of place on a Megadeth record. Not that any of this is particularly bothersome - the songwriting is clearly better, and there's no 'everything but the kitchen sink' mentality - but I kind of miss the panic and the vomit.

But the band's prior albums aside, it's easy to hear why this is hailed as a landmark metal record. The riffs are there, the songs are tightly constructed, and the tones on the guitars is perfectly gritty but not as off-putting to the casual metal fan. There's still not much to grab hold of in terms of verses and choruses, and the songs hang around for around four minutes each, as opposed to the two-minute bursts of the band's earlier work. I suppose Swansong is when the shit really hit the fan about people giving the band a hard time, but Heartwork really bridges the gap between the more straightforward goregrind of the first few records and the advanced melodicism they'd later adopt.

My only gripe is that there are no track titles as awesome as "Microwaved Uterogestation" and "Vomited Anal Tract."

"No Love Lost"



"Heartwork"