Carcass - Best to Worst Tier Rankings

WARNING: some of the album covers displayed are NSFW - it comes with the territory of this area of metal.

A simple ranking list of all of Carcass’s albums, from their best to their worst.

Carcass one of many many great bands to come out of Liverpool and the UK, and have had great influence in two very different subgenres of metal - initially being a huge influence with gore-themed bands, then subsequently pulling the same trick in melodic death metal. Notable in that Carcass’ initial run of albums they changed sound in each and every one.

The tl;dr ranking

For those just wanting the raw rankings, here they are:

1. Symphonies of Sickness
2. Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious
3. Reek of Putrefaction
4. Heartwork
5. Torn Arteries
6. Surgical Steel
7. Swansong
8. BONUS - (Barbed Wire Soul by Blackstar)

The longer version

1. Symphonies of Sickness

Wow, this is an astonishing album, both standalone and how influential this has proven, spawning a whole (sub)subgenre of bands running wild with this specific sound. It begins a common theme in Carcass’ early album run of becoming more and more clean and melodic, and Symphonies is the first step towards that - there’s a far greater emphasis on pure Death Metal over the sloppier Reek of Putrefaction, the production is a little cleaner, the tracks are longer and allowed to be multifaceted, and yet its still demonstrably rough, filthy and digusting since it enhances the ability to discern the gore, a significant upgrade.

This enhanced production means that, in my eyes, the album totally sells itself. Fantasic gross vocals with plenty of different deliveries with Jeff and Bill complementing each other well, a boatload of good riffs and solos/leads with the drum work in the background, simultaneously gluing everything together but also being rather rickety in performance, contributing to the overall rough, twisted sound - and the individual tracks are given room to breathe and go a lot of interesting places, with plenty of grindy bursts interwoven throughout - and above all, its extremely fun and catchy despite the inherent goriness which is no mean feat. An excellent record.

Best tracks: Reek of Putrefaction, Exhume to Consume, Excoriating Abdominal Emanation, Ruptured in Purulence, Empathological Necroticism, Cadaveric Incubator of Endoparasites

4.5/5

2. Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious

The softening of sound continues apace, with the twisted rickety grindcore sound replaced in favour of a straight death metal sound, with the speed notched down and the complexity notched right up. The whole album is tight as hell, with the lengthy songs comes more opportunity to show off one quality riff after another, one quality melodic or brutal section after another.

The slowing of tempo to show off more technical compositions is a double-edged sword for me personally however, as it does give the opportunity to show off a more progressive and intricate side of Carcass and set a grisly atmosphere (along with the excellent introductory samples), but that necessitates a reduction in tempo and a reduction in more grindy, chaotic sections. However, this is a minor nitpick, because the music overall is still just that good, and the atmosphere is second-to-none in any Carcass album, and wouldn’t ever be replicated.

Best tracks: Inpropagation, Corporal Jigsore Quandary, Incarnated Solvent Abuse, Forensic Clinicism/The Sanguine Article

4/5

3. Reek of Putrefaction

An album that is simultaneously groundbreaking, genre-defining and yet completely unintelligible. This whole album’s production is all over the place, the guitars, bass, drums and vocals are all there, but good luck trying to pick out exactly what they’re doing in a mix this rough, this sludgy, this raw. The inconsistent sound volume, the inhuman vocals also buried in the mix, the guitar solos that come out of nowhere to be smeared on top of the whole musical sludge - the whole package makes it sound disgusting and gore-y…

… and for all the people complaining about the production, that’s the point. It really gives the album a unique sound and atmosphere that you won’t find in many other records, nor will Carcass ever sound this rough and sloppy again. Regardless, there are some quality moments/tracks here and the amazing starts strong with the intro of Genital Grinder segueing perfectly into Regurgitation of Giblets, the guitar hits/solos in Vomited Anal Tract and Excreted Alive, the deranged introductory vocals on Burnt to a Crisp - it all adds memorable moments to what is otherwise a whirlwind of growls, riffs and blast beats. Although I will be a massive hypocrite and complain about the production, I’d love this album a whole lot more if it was just a tiny bit cleaner/more able to pick what instrument is doing at each moment in time (and to be honest, a bit shorter), but I love just how unique this album is regardless.

Best Tracks: Genital Grinder, Regurgitation of Giblets, Maggot Colony, Vomited Anal Tract, Excreted Alive, Feast on Dismembered Carnage, Burnt to a Crisp

4/5

4. Heartwork

…and here we are - in just 4 records we’ve gone from straight goregrind chaos to fully fledged melodic death metal, and demonstrably so - keeping the heavy distorted guitars, pummeling metal drums and harsh raspy vocals - but applying a wholesale melodic sheen, with its clean clinical production, guitars that groove and soar more than chug, and tight songwriting that encapsulates Carcass’ aesthetic into catchy and quite frankly poppy songs.

It’s very well done, but I appreciate this album and its associated musicianship, songwriting, performances etc. more than I enjoy the act of listening to the album - the melodiousness and poppy sensibilities certainly make it instantly enjoyable but also inherits the weakness of feeling disposable, and not wholly rewarding on repeat listens. To many it may be an essential Carcass album, and I can certainly see why, what goals this album set out to do it achieved in spades - and while it can be a fun spin every so often, it just isn’t for me.

Best tracks: Buried Dreams, This Mortal Coil, Death Certificate

3/5

5. Torn Arteries

Well, the 2nd offering of post-reunion Carcass picks up right where Surgical Steel left off, retreading a lot of the same sounds and ideas but also making several nostalgic callbacks to previous (and to be honest, better) records such as Symphonies and Necroticism, and while again it shares a lot of the same issues as Surgical Steel (which could point to a potential sign of diminishing returns?) its still a very solid/workmanlike release.

There’s a bit more variation than on the very straightforward Surgical, such as the extended Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment Limited, a few grindier tracks (Under the Scalpel Blade and Kelly’s Meat Emporium), and the use of hand-claps (??) in In God We Trust - I’m perhaps over-emphasising the variation here but its said same variations that help smooth over the still-too-overly-clean production and that the band is still somewhat coasting or at least not aiming to beat their glory era (which is not all that surprising).

Its made me appreciate and come to terms that Carcass are not at their best but that’s ok, they still kick ass live - and if I want music inspired by Carcass’ early stuff I can still play their early stuff or look over the many imitators spawned over the years (e.g. Pharmacist, The County Medical Examiners, Pathologist are just a few), and that’s ok too.

also mmmm veggies, nice cover

Best tracks: Eleanor Rigor Mortis, Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment Limited, In God We Trust Worst tracks: Dance Of Ixtab (Psychopomp & Circumstance March No. 1)

2.5/5

6. Surgical Steel

After a significant hiatus (17 years in total), Carcass re-united with original members Jeff Walker and Bill Steer and returned with brand new material, but how do you return after such a long hiatus, especially given Carcass’ dedication to an ever-shifting sound and ending rather unsuccessfully with Swansong? Would it even be possible to hark back to the sound of Reek of Putrefaction after all this time? Instead they split the difference and pick their most commercially successful sound (the Heartwork era) and while it makes reasonable sense to return there… is the album any good?

Well, it is extremely listenable alright, quite obviously going for a safe/workmanlike/crowd-pleasing (delete as appropriate) sound, largely aping Heartwork with a sprinkling of Necroticism’s more technical and blasty aspects that do give it some unique flavour as opposed to being directly “Heartwork part 2” - but not much. At least its very demonstrably them still.

And that’s where the trouble of reviewing this album comes, the approval comes from knowing that Carcass can still write an album decent enough to be enjoyable while its on and say “Hey! Carcass are back!”, but it never really evolves from there - unsurprisingly the songwriting is not quite as good as Carcass at their peak, and the squeaky clean production doesn’t help. At least the intro of 1985/Thrasher’s Abbatoir has some punch that sets the mood well even if the album is largely very same-y.

Best tracks: Cadaver Pouch Conveyor System, The Master Butcher’s Apron, Unfit For Human Consumption Worst tracks: A Congealed Clot of Blood, Mount of Execution

2.5/5

7. Swansong

The ugly duck of Carcass’ initial 5 album run, and for good reason, it pales in comparison in every way, both in the direction of sound of the album and the overall quality of songs. The title is “Swansong” which makes abundantly clear that the band were running out of steam, and had in fact already broken up when this released, giving this a feel of contractual obligation over artistic ambition.

And yet… for its rather lowly reputation and status, its not all bad? Its both tamer and poppier yet still, really being rock influenced heavy metal with death metal vocals, not a winning combination in theory nor in practice - but what it lacks in heaviness and grisliness, there’s still catchy riffs and hooks here and there, and the instrumentation is performed with a sense of arrogance and cockiness, which initially gives the album a bit of fun but can become extremely grating, and the album’s one-dimensional monotony (and length!) doesn’t help things. Generically “listenable” hard rock/heavy metal can work if the songs are good, and there’s just not enough here.

Best tracks: Keep On Rotting in the Free World, Tomorrow Belongs to Nobody, Black Star (kinda?) Worst tracks: Room 101, Polarized, Generation Hexed

2/5

8. BONUS: Barbed Wire Soul by Blackstar

This was recorded after Carcass broke up, and with 3/4 of the members who performed on Swansong (Jeff on Vocals/Bass, Ken on Drums, Carlo on Guitar) it seemed like a good opportunity/excuse to check out this project that would otherwise go unlistened.

and… wow! I thought Swansong was poppy Metal, this takes it one step further and is really melodic and poppy, almost trying “too” hard. Seriously, there’s plenty of soaring, groovy and melodic riffs and solos, even the trademark raspy growls are toned down - its really only the drums that keep that heavy metal sounding presence.

Considering Swansong was not for me primarily due to its overt melodicism and poppiness, its unsurprising that upping said poppiness doesn’t sell me on it, and there are some very odd curveballs/experiments thrown that simply do not work (the Sax on Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus, the Horns on Waste of Space) in an attempt to ‘spice’ up the rather plain hard rock influenced metal on offer. Perhaps interesting as a curiosity, but not much else.

Best tracks: Game Over Worst tracks: Smile, Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus, Give Up The Ghost, Waste of Space, Better the Devil

1.5/5