Swansong

AAA+++

Many Thanks

goode value

Death hadn't always been sure about metal in the 20'th centuriesbut he was fond of a good riff, his own march contained one of the most well known riffs of all time.Lately he'd had to spend 2 weeks at a metal wake in which the departed and subsequently nine of the mournersbecame his business.After two weeks of listening to Thin Lizzy, Metallica and Megadeath 24/7 however he'd become convinced of the need to commence a new genre of metal.He'd already laid down the blueprint with Heartwork, now it was time to go for the jugularTwin guitars, a properly recorded bass, louder than Heartwork, (none of your Napalm Death sheet of noise for him)and a precision hyperactive drummerwho understood light and shade---well loud and much louder.He would take the vocals with his rattling whisper and the guitars would define a melody the the punters could hum.But wait, the band was already there, called Carcass, a most suitable name. Death rubbed his bony hands together.He would call it melodic metal.It would be good.It would be indespensible.

Swansong needs no introduction. This album has an unfair, and more importantly unjustified reputation as a major disappointment. Well, for once, listen to me and not Metal Hammer, Kerrang! or whatever poorly written drivel tells you what to listen to these days. Swansong is Carcass' best album, and arguably one of the best 'lost' gems in metal history.See, people didn't/don't/won't judge this album based on its merits. God forbid someone listens to an album and likes it because of the way it sounds. No, this album is chastised because for five straight albums Carcass had gotten less frantic, chaotic and frankly terrible to the point where they were actually wholly acceptable, even being picked up briefly by a major record label. This seems to be a huge factor in Swansong's dismissal, as metal fans are more concerned with perception, trends and the concept of selling-out as being important than they are prepared to let on. True fans of music realise that a band becoming popular isn't a problem. Staying unpopular would be a problem. So, as Carcass shed the skin of unpopularity, the pitchforks and torches came out.Simply put, Swansong is full of great, GREAT riffs, excellent guitar solos, Ken Owen's ferocious, innovative and personable drumming and Jeff Walker's inimitable and never-bested vocal attacks. The production, for a relatively underground band, is phenomenal, with a huge meaty bass and guitar combo underscored by great punchy drums. Oh, and it even has cowbells. What it doesn't have is messy blastbeats, lyrics that read like a dictionary and cadavers on the cover, which for some is adequate reason for ignorance of the fact that the album is BRILLIANT. Fans of progression in songwriting, musical craftsmanship and unique expression know this is the best Carcass album, and truly one of the greatest metal albums of all time. Why, with a little polishing and less, er, abrasive vocals, "Keep on Rotting..." could have been a top 40 single. It's easy to forget that back in these days, Carcass were outselling Placebo in the British charts.Rant and review over, its time to analyse this particular re-release of Swansong. Like this year's other Carcass reissues, it includes a 30-minute documentary/interview with the band members, in which they discuss the band's breakup, Ken's stroke and rehabilitation, their influence (or lack thereof if Bill Steer is to be believed) and other Swansong-specific issues. Whilst the band have plenty to say (Walker in particular coming across as a supremely smug and argumentative but knowledgeable fellow), the footage itself is terribly shot, filling about a third of the screen, with a pointless sepia filter and barely-audible voices. I mean, why on earth film a feature-length interview in a series of North London pubs with chart hits blaring in the background? Still, once you get past this minor quibble, there's plenty to learn here. The set of Carcass stickers included are decidedly old-school actual-size album covers printed on faded paper. I can just imagine Digby Pearson nipping round the corner of Earache Records to Snappy Snaps to get the sheets printed out. Judging by their quality, all 10,000 or so probably cost him all of a tenner. Most fans I imagine will have these discarded before popping the CD into their players.The packaging is lovely though, with the disc presented in a huge (12-panel!) digipak with all the original artwork and lyrics included. Oh, and there's a previously unreleased (in Europe anyway) song included too. For a tenner, you can't fault that for a great package. So, go forth and buy, if you haven't already, and let's see if we can't change this album's ill-deserved reputation once and for all.

In 1988 when Carcass unleashed 'Reek of Putrefaction' no one would have thought 8 years later the Liverpool death metal legends would release an album of catchy, heavy metal....but they did.Although, shocking and very different from the bands early days of medically inspired gore grind death metal and being hardcore fans least favourite this is still a fantastic album.Containing such gems as 'Childs Play', 'Firm Hand', 'Cross my Heart' and 'Keep on Rotting in the Free World' which all stand out very well and are all brilliantly structured tracks with catchy, groove ridden riffs.'Tomorrow Belongs to Nobody' remains the key track on the album, nothing more to say than the track is amazing!Buy this album and have a go at attempting not to either tap your feet or nod your head to this. Excellent!

I like this carcass cd albumAlong with heartworkBoth very good

The fact that I give this 4stars based on only half the tracks being any good shows you just how good those tracks are. Melodic death metal is a good descrption for carcass at this stage in their career. Very different from decanting... But all the better for that