As far as comeback albums go, the one that comes to mind is the recent return of Canada’s own Sacrifice. It took them 16 years after splitting in 1993 to record a brilliant album picking up where they left off, and since that time I can’t recall another album to accomplish this same feat. That is until now, when the mighty Carcass announced a reformation (after also breaking up in ’93) and returned to the hardened core of death metal with the appropriate title of Surgical Steel to adorn the cover of their latest release.
This time around Carcass alumni Bill Steer and Jeff Walker return to pick up where they left off after the release of Heartwork, and come at it again full tilt. Gone is guitarist Michael Amott and drummer Ken Owen, but replaced by 24 year old skins master Dan Wilding (ex-Aborted) and guitarist Ben Ash (ex-Desolation). Remarkably the influx of new talent has certainly infused the band with piss and vinegar once more, often channeling sick blast beats and twisted riffs to maximum perfection.
Understandably it’s been 17 years in between studio releases, but tracks like “Thrasher’s Abattoir” and “A Congealed Clot of Blood” will have you foaming at the mouth. It doesn’t seem like this much time has passed and the when the lethal sounding “The Master Butcher’s Aron” hits home, the massiveness and corpse-like precision pounding found on this track starts bleeding your ears, you will know the mighty Carcass has arrived. The band further punctuates their arrival with a dice of thrash to “316L Grade Surgical Steel” and tops it off with the 8 minute stunner “Mount of Execution”.
Comeback albums of this magnitude are very rare, but the uniqueness of Steer and Walker’s partnership proves that true genius is still at play. Surgical Steel exhibits the rabid youthfulness of classic era Carcass, but impressively pushes forward with the combined will of these wily veterans. This is definitely going to be ranked among the best releases of the year and I am glad these boys can continue to ply their trade in spades.
Kenneth Gallant, Editor HMS
Older reviews