Review by Ben for Pharmacist - Flourishing Extremities on Unspoiled Mental Grounds (2022)

There are a lot of Carcass clones out there, and very few of them come close to the real thing. Exhumed and Impaled have certainly made good attempts at cloning the sound that the legendary Brits nailed on the likes of Symphonies of Sickness and Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious, but they generally only make me want to listen to Carcass. Well I'm very happy to say that Pharmacist have outdone them all with their latest album; Flourishing Extremities on Unspoiled Mental Grounds.  If you love Necroticism, you owe it to yourself to spend some time with this release, as all the ingredients are there. Fantastic riffs that have that dirty mortuary thing going on, alternating death vocals that have very similar tones to Steer and Walker, and exceptional drumming with the perfect production for just this type of death metal. The band have also taken on Carcass' tendency to write lengthy tracks that provide ample room for songwriting creativity, not to mention a multitude of excellent leads. In short, this is the album that sounds like Carcass at their best, but doesn't leave me wanting to listen to Carcass instead.

I've gone with 4 stars for now, but it's possible that could increase with further listens. As things stand, every track has sections that really get me excited, and one or two that let the momentum slip just a bit. There's also nothing that reaches the heights of Incarnated Solvent Abuse or Corporal Jigsore Quandary, so as good as this is, it doesn't threaten Carcass' place as the kings of gore-drenched, medical-themed death metal.