Review by Saxy S for Carcass - Heartwork (1993)

I discovered Carcass quite late into my exploration of death metal. Perhaps I was hesitant to check them out because of their goregrind roots, but 2013's Surgical Steel showed off a pristine side of the band that I resonated with. And given that Heartwork is considered one of the greatest death metal albums of all time, and that Vinny has selected it as the Horde's featured album for the month, it was about time for me write this review and listen to the album once again.

The first thing that I am reminded of when hearing "Buried Dreams" is the punk influence. Early death metal has plenty of plenty of hardcore punk roots, but not many of them explicitly name that influence like Carcass does here. You can certainly hear some of that Rites of Spring coming through in the grooves and riffing. Another aspect that I am reminded of is how wonderful the mixing is. Many older, cleaner death metal bands had a tendency to include strong bass presence in their mixing rather than letting the doubled guitars swallow the low end up. And Carcass leave lots of room for bass development throughout Heartwork.

This record is a divisive one for sure, and a fissure that we still see even more frequently today. Thinking back on the earliest, most successful forms of death metal (i.e. Death, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Seven Churches) they could assault the listener with blast beats, palm muted guitar chugging and Cookie Monster vocals for an entire album and audiences would fall in love with its primitivity. Here comes Carcass, who started their careers in much the same way, only to replace those guitars with melodic leads, and more groove heavy drum lines. There is technicality on display (this is death metal after all), but it is used for embellishment rather than as a "look how much better I am at playing guitar than you" kind of way. A lot of metal fans view this as a sign of weakness; it's natural that we never want to see our heroes grow old, but that's just the way the world works. Athletes can't compete in their thirties/forties the same as they did in their twenties, and musicians aren't able to play at an intense pace for as long in the same way. Whether or not this stylistic change was necessary or intentional is irrelevant. 

This is all a back handed way of saying that Heartwork represents a new era for heavy metal music and death metal specifically. The melodic sounds of Heartwork are taken a step further with the rise of Gothenburg death metal from At the Gates, In Flames and Dark Tranquility a handful of years later. And while I do like all of those acts, something about the intense side of death metal still brings a smile to my face. Heartwork's modulating styles and dynamics make it one of the better foundational death metal albums and continues to be a benchmark of sorts when it comes to balancing brutality with melody.

Best Songs: Buried Dreams, Heartwork, This Mortal Coil, Arbeit Macht Fleisch