UMUR
"The Day Man Lost..." is the first demo release by Swedish death metal/grindcore act Carnage. The demo was independently released in January 1989. Carnage formed in 1988 under the Global Carnage monicker, but soon changed their name to Carnage. This early trio incarnation of the band features guitarist Michael Amott, drummer Jeppe Larsson, and vocalist/bassist Johan Liiva. Amott would subsequently go on to extreme metal stardom with first Carcass and then Arch Enemy, while Liiva would play in many different bands after Carnage. Among them the early incarnation of Arch Enemy, but also acts like Furbowl and Hearse, so Carnage was arguably one of the seminal acts on the early Swedish death metal scene. Not just because of the later success of some of the members but also because Carnage´s debut album "Dark Recollections" (November 1990, Necrosis Records) is one of the earliest Swedish death metal releases.
On "The Day Man Lost..." Carnage don´t really play death metal though, but instead a strongly Carcass influenced grindcore style. Fast blasting, murky, and featuring juicy unintelligible growling vocals. 3 tracks and a total playing time of 4:36 minutes and that´s it...it´s worth noting that none of the tracks from this demo made it unto "Dark Recollections".
The sound quality is decent enough considering that this is a late 80s grindcore demo, and compared to the sound quality on "Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment" (1987) and "Reek of Putrefaction" (1988), which are probably the two Carcass releases Carnage were influenced by at this point, "The Day Man Lost..." is actually pretty decent sounding. It´s obvious that Carnage hadn´t found their own sound at this point, but on the other hand the quality of the material, the performances, and the sound production are all of a decent quality and a 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating isn´t all wrong.