Carcass – ‘Torn Arteries’ [Album Review]

Masters of surgically-inspired grind, Liverpool’s very own Carcass are back with their seventh studio album which, despite a nod back to the old days in the form of the title, Torn Arteries, is ten more tracks of splatter-soaked death n’ grind from the Merseyside goregods who, incredibly, are about to head into their 35th year as a unit.

With mainstays of the band, vocalist/bassist Jeff Walker and guitarist and longtime friend Bill Steer, at the helm, Torn Arteries shows how Carcass in 2021 has lost none of the cutting edge that is so often the result of such a lengthy career. A mixture of thrashy death metal and rock n’ roll with a splash of classic metal for good measure, the title track is a ripper of a start to the album, hurtling along at a lethal pace with Walker’s familiar gravely growl barking away over the top. Elsewhere “Under The Scalpel Blade” follows a similar thrashy death metal sewn together with Walker’s gruesome poetry.

What Torn Arteries demonstrates perfectly is how modern-era Carcass isn’t about stomach-churning artwork or lyrics you need a medical degree to understand. Yes, the artwork to the album is still fairly grim and lyrically, songs like “Eleanor Rigor Mortis” may have those of a weaker disposition feeling a little nauseous, but these traits that made Carcass such the pioneer of the whole goregrind scene are now hammered home in a more mature, more thought out manner. Songs like “Kelly’s Meat Emporium” may still have maggots crawling through their rotting heart but, as Carcass has shown time and time again, being gruesome just for the sake of it doesn’t really cut the mustard anymore.

Seven albums in and Carcass are still at the top of their game. Walker fronts the group with a menacing growl while his bandmates have stitched together a grisly collection of glorious death n’ roll heavy metal dandruff shakers. Unmistakeably Carcass, the likes of “Kelly’s Meat Emporium” is as clinical in their execution and as utterly foul as anything in the Scouse gore master’s modern-day catalogue.

Torn Arteries Track Listing:

1. Torn Arteries
2. Dance of Ixtab (Psychopomp & Circumstances March No. 1)
3. Eleanor Rigor Mortis
4. Under The Scalpel Blade
5. The Devil Rides Out
6. Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment Limited
7. Kelly’s Meat Emporium
8. In God We Trust
9. Wake Up And Smell The Carcass / Caveat Emptor
10. The Scythe’s Remorseless Swing

Run Time: 49:03
Release Date: September 17, 2021
Record Label: Nuclear Blast