CARCASS — Heartwork (review)

Album · 1993 · Melodic Death Metal

4/5 · 2016-12-31
UMUR

"Heartwork" is the 5th full-length studio album by UK death metal act Carcass. The album was released through Earache Records in October 1993. While Carcass first two albums were both groundbreaking goregrind/death metal releases, it was with their third full-length studio album "Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious (1991)", that they experienced some commercial success (underground commercial success, and pretty surely nothing they became rich by, but still success). It´s an album that made quite an impact on the death metal scene in the early 90s and propelled Carcass to underground stardom. The lineup on "Heartwork" is intact since the predecessor, but Swedish guitarist Michael Amott left Carcass almost immediately after the recording sessions to form Spiritual Beggars and later Arch Enemy.

The gore themed yet melodic oriented death metal style on the predecessor was unique at the time, and in many ways "Heartwork" is the more sophisticated and streamlined big brother to "Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious (1991)". There are quite a few differences between the two albums too though. What you notice right off the bat is that the gore themed lyrics and image are gone and the band now focus on other subjects like politics, religion and society, which is a pretty big change considering how much the controversial gore image was a part of Carcass identity from day one. The lyrics are pretty well written and quite intriguing.

The music ifself is still unmistakably the sound of Carcass though with sharp heavy death/thrash riffing, melodic guitar solos, and Jeff Walker´s snarling aggressive vocals in front. This time around with clear references to traditional heavy metal and hard rock too but still with room for the occasional blast beat part. Bill Steer´s deep juicy growls are not a part of Carcass sound anymore and in that respect the vocal side of the music is a bit more one-dimensional than was the case on the predecessor. It has the effect that the music is more accessible though. The musicianship are generally strong and it´s great to hear a band with a strong musical identity, where you can recognise instantly that it is them playing. Compared to the more organic sounding predecessor, the delivery is a bit clinical though and the same can be said about the sound production which is somewhat sterile. It´s a very professional sounding album and powerful too, but personally I could have wished for a bit more grit and filth.

The material are generally well written but there are tracks on the album that don´t stand out as much as the strongest material. highlights include "Buried Dreams", the groove based and hard rocking "No Love Lost", the title track, and "Death Certificate".

As you might have noticed I´m not all positive regarding "Heartwork" and in my book it´s overall a bit too sterile and cold sounding compared to it´s brilliant predecessor. The more streamlined and relatively more accessible nature of "Heartwork" don´t score high in my book either. Subjectively seen it´s always been a disappointment to me and no matter how many spins I´ve given the album over the years, it´s never been able to fully captivate me. Objectively seen it´s a high quality album though and in addition to that it´s another groundbreaking release by Carcass, that had quite an impact on the more melodic part of the death metal scene at the time and in the years to come and therefore a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating isn´t all wrong despite of my reservations.