The newest incarnation of Carcass might not be the classic line up but it rocks even with the new kids on the block in Ben Ash of Pig Iron, Desolation, and Liquefied Skeleton on guitar and Daniel Wilding of Trigger the Bloodshed on drums. This Finds Steer and Walker as the only original members.
There is the intro 1985 before the brief in your face snarl of "Thrasher's Abattoir", the solo to which is almost as long as the rest of the song.
"Cadaver Pouch Conveyor System" has the high caliber guitar playing we have come to expect from post- Heart Work era. This is however with a meaner,faster anger fueled steam powered chug than Heartwork. This comes at the risk of losing a little of the melody the Heartwork era riff-age held and sounds more like the bands they influenced.
The melody waits to surface in the slower "A Congealed Clot of Blood' here the guitar heroics also commence , but the immediate stand out to me that goes above and beyond is " the Master Butcher's Apron" the tight punches in the first first that proceed the groove really have some nasty teeth to them. The guitar harmonies on "Noncompliance..." are pretty dead on til we get to the blast beats that seem almost to fast for what these guys normally do. The riff here is almost overly staccato, but the vocal layers make up for it as they remind me of "Discanting..."
"Granulating Dark Satanic Mills" has a meaty riff to it, but should we expect any less from these guys ? The rock n roll tendencies of " Keep on Rotting ..." are gone in place is very sharp riffing with less anthem oriented vocals layers which isn't to say they are devoid of hook, just not as over the top. "Unfit for Human Consumption" tries to take us back to the Heart Work days, and this album will be brutal enough to cause most metal heads to over look the fact that even though this is heavier than Heartwork, the song writing isn't as strong. These riffs do hold up against younger bands, but are they really just a chug or two away from the last Amon Amarth?
The title track open ion a blur of toms , the guitars take a little more of a thrash feel to this than what is typically thought of as death metal and far too refined for grind core. In some ways it reminds me of Judas Priest riffs. They are relying on a lot speed to rush some of this past you. Most of this is really straight forward, so I am not sure this album really takes repeat listens to digest. The guitar solo often wind on allowing for multiple transitions to take place beneath them.
"Captive Bolt Pistol" finds the band in very familiar territory, almost too familiar so I'm not sure what My expectations were for this one , as I had forgotten this was coming out until I cam across it . They have a very hard catalog for them to add on to even when they brought in more rock element, which i think work better than when they try to really dial on the speed here. " Mount of Execution" starts things off in a much more different fashion, with clean guitar and very almost blues based riff that sounds like its from a WhiteSnake album. the riff that comes in and crushes at the two minute mark is pretty mouth watering and this might be the album strongest song despite their John Sykes moment at the onset.
Because this who this is the album is going to get a lot of praise, so they don't need me to co-sign something for them that I would have a hard time doing when I weight it against the older albums. I feel pretty good though about rounding it up and giving them a 7.5, so it's not going to make it to any top ten end of year lists, but it is a solid album that worth a listen, Carcas just has their legacy up against them to keep me from being wowed by this.
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