Carcass, Swansong (Earache-1996)
Up till a few days ago this was the bands last album. Reforming in 2007 for some live shows the band took a while in deciding to enter the studio. It was worth it was the new album is a cracking album all of it's own.
But this band back in the early 90s were a big influence to so many metal fans. But back then metal fans were really just people who liked Metallica and Iron Maiden. This music was really considered to many to be unlistenable even in the metal world. I remember a college friend who wore a denim jacket that had band patches on it like Slayer and others hated this style of music. But the band have up to this album done five quite different sounding albums. This was supposed to me a major label debut with Columbia who were trying to capture some guaranteed money in a band who were going places.
Guess what? The major asked to change the music and the band did in a way. But they were going to do so anyhow. Carcass have been described differently with each album. Death, grind, goregrind and many more. They have if you like invented more genres than studio albums out. This one is called and labeled as the first melodic death metal album. Or death and roll (No joke).
"Keep on Rotting in the Free World" opens the album in a great way. More of a joke song at the time it can if you like have some link to many political problems in the planet. Still the big drum sound from Colin Richardson and the blastbeat drums are fantastic. You get the melodic feel right away, still the sound is just so much more than a metal album.
Next song "Tomorrow Belongs to Nobody" has my favorite riff of the album, the whole intro is just fantastic. Melodic and heavy in such a catchy riff. You feel like you have heard it before but then you realize it has never been done like that. Again nice blastbeat drums carry the song well. Into "Black Star" and I really do not get peoples negativity and labels of being sellouts back in 96. A slower song and still full of riffs and that voice just cuts the speakers open. Jeff Walker has never sounded so good (or bad) his voice is like nothing I have heard before. Heavy but nothing like you can get in this area of metal. His sound is not just a scream or even a grunt as you can clearly hear all the words, it is as if there is some digital trickery but all fans know he can sing like that.
More of the same and a great formula "Cross My Heart" has a great classic rock n roll feel to it. You could almost dance to it. "Room 101" has a little bit of a alt metal feel to it. Little bit less melodic but repetitive to fit well into the album. Later songs like "Firm Hand" and "Go to Hell" are less melodic more so in the vocal area. But still a great sound. The band seem to work very well later on and take over the album. I see why the death roll tag came about "Firm Hand" even has a little acoustic guitar.
"Don't Believe a Word" sounds very negative and it could be linked to the bands fortunes at the time. The album was released after the band split and the title was also given as they knew it was all over. No tour or big goodbye for the fans. Just one last album that at the time was not taken very well by many fans.
But this band on every album made and lost many fans. Those are not the sort of fans a band wants. And as ever time is the judge. They were right, this album is fantastic and a great starter for someone looking into the metal area that may have scared them or if you are just simply ignorant and find all music outside of the classic metal bands just not up to the classic stuff. Now the band have a new album, headlining tours and a legacy that showed so many how to play and also more importantly you can play like this. Some metal fans then would have crossed the street if they were walking down the street. Now they headline the Barrowlands in Glasgow.
Easily available but the 2008 re masters are great value with an added DVD.
Twitter: @29xthefun
