 |
Carcass’ Heartwork turns 15 today. It and Entombed’s Wolverine Blues, which came out the same month, were the main soundtracks to my college freshman year. (Earache’s licensing deal with Columbia, which exposed Carcass, Cathedral, Entombed, Fudge Tunnel, Godflesh, and Napalm Death to much wider audiences, was directly responsible for introducing me to death metal. Before the Internet, record store distribution mattered.) I’ve listened to Heartwork only several times since. Hearing it now, I think I know why. It’s cold and massive (except for Ken Owen’s curiously wobbly drumming). The abstract lyrics ditch the ridiculous medical dictionary-isms that earlier defined the band. Heartwork isn’t very “lovable.”
Yet it remains the Carcass record with which I’m most familiar, if not most affectionate. (That would be Necroticism (Descanting the Insalubrious).) This is due to its catchiness. It’s a continuous onslaught of memorable hooks. Returning to this record after years away, I found I still knew it by heart almost entirely. And “Buried Dreams” is one of the mightiest beginnings any record has ever had. It’s safe to say that without Heartwork, many bands wouldn’t exist today. Arsis’ A Celebration of Guilt picks up where Heartwork left off. The Black Dahlia Murder would be nothing without Heartwork. Arch Enemy is sort of a watered-down version of this record; there’s a lot of Jeff Walker in Angela Gossow’s voice. And, of course, Carnal Forge, in name if not sound.
Earache recently completed its second round of reissuing Carcass’ catalogue. This time, though, there’s a legitimate excuse – Carcass’ reunion tour. Has anyone picked up these latest reissues? Are they worth it? How is the remastered sound? (This record doesn’t need remastering.) How are the the bonus materials – the Heartwork demos and the documentary DVD?
Never was a fan. Hm, is the drumming wobbly? I’ve heard equal number of people either complaining about or praising Ken Owen for his drumming and I can’t really tell for myself because I never could care to listen to Heartwork 3 times through.
From listening to Buried Dreams some of his simple rolls don’t seem to line up while others are more difficult and spot on.
For me Heartwork is mostly interesting because it was made by a band that started out playing messy, badly recorded rock and roll at grind speeds. Heartwork is pretty much the antithesis of their earliest style.
I was floored by this record in ‘93 and still am today, 15 years later. I still stand by my assertion that it’s the greatest metal record of all time – to these ears, it’s perfection from beginning to end.
That said, there’s nothing about this reissue that screams “essential.” I’ve heard the DVD is unmemorable, the demos are about what you’d expect, and the sound didn’t need improvement in the first place. I’ll probably still pick it up, though.
Earache is doing the same thing with “Swan Song”, if you can believe that…
So, Cosmo, we’re probably about the same age (I’m 32). My first Carcass record was Necroticism – which if I remember correctly I bought when I was either a junior or senior in high school. It’s probably my favorite record of all time in any genre. I also started my freshman year in 1993, and I remember picking up Heartwork and thinking, “Shit, what happened? Fucking sell outs.” Sure enough, the same thing happened to Cathedral – my other favorite band at the time. Fortunately, I think Disembowelment came out about the same time, so I had something to worship. I wish I had known black metal existed back then, but like you said, in the days before the internet…Anyway, as to Heartwork – I don’t think I’ve listened to it all the way through since 1993. I probably should now that I’m older and somewhat more reasonable.
I totally love this album. Like you, when it first came out it was a major player in my listening cycles, but I’ve listened to it regularly ever since and would easily rank this as their best album. No question.
But the Black Dahlia Murder is an absolutely terrible, boring band that could only hope to capture even a fraction of the brilliance of this album (and has never even come close); and Arch Enemy’s songwriting has rarely come close to matching the sheer perfection of this album, especially in more recent years. There’s just no comparison!
I’m surprised you haven’t held this one as highly over the years as you did back in the day…
I picked this up recently having never heard it before. Coming from someone who has heard a lot of more recent death metal but NOT this, I guess I have a slightly different perspective. I liked Heartwork, but have only listened through a couple of times. To be honest, the drumming was the major issue for me – compared to modern drummers (or drum technology), it feels a bit uncontrolled. Still, the influence is clear to see all around.
The demo’s are meh – very similar to the final album – and I haven’t even watched the DVD! Must check that out…
I have never been a Carcass fan – didn’t listen to ‘em much back in the old days (I’m gonna be 37 in two months), and when I test-drove the reissues, they still did nothing for me. The best album out of that whole Earache/Columbia deal, for me, was Fudge Tunnel’s Creep Diets, which I still listen to. Alex Newport is a fucking unsung hero of heavy music.
I was about 4 years old when this came out, a new big sister, and the smallest kid in my preschool (only kid my age who couldn’t climb to the top of the jungle gym!). So my memories of this coming out are… well, pretty dim. I don’t have the historical perspective but this album never did much to grab me. If I want Carcass, I usually put in Symphonies or Reek. Might give this another listen with what you wrote in mind.
helm – I had the same thought while writing this entry. In terms of stylistic change, Heartwork is almost like a Black Album, though Necroticism provided some forewarning.
floodwatch – “Swan Song” is one of the worst albums ever made, but, no, I’m not surprised Earache is milking the last drop out of that, too.
combs – Definitely give Heartwork a full listen, if only to marvel at the overflowing abundance of great riffs. Interesting fact is that it was written before the Columbia deal, so the band wasn’t consciously “selling out” – that’s just the way they were heading.
aversionline – My tastes have definitely changed since then, so my estimation of Heartwork has followed suit. When I was younger, I was interested in note choices (and Heartwork is full of great ones). Now I’m more interested in how notes are played.
dan – Thanks for the info. I wonder if Heartwork would have sounded better/worse if it had click-tracked, Andy Sneap-ed drums like today’s records. I’m not a fan of such drums, but they would suit Heartwork.
pdf – Completely agreed on Alex Newport. One of the best shows of my life was seeing Clutch and Fudge Tunnel open for Sepultura, Chaos A.D. tour.
onerode – I, too, couldn’t ascend the lofty reaches of the jungle gym. Don’t forget to give Necroticism some love.
It’s interesting that there’s so much love for Heartwork and so much hate for Swansong– I wasn’t there at the time, but those two have always seemed to me to lie in a pretty straight line. I can understand thinking it was the wrong direction to go in, but Swansong is surely just another step down the road that they were already embarking on with Heartwork?
I guess the closest analogy I can see is In Flames — I thought Clayman and even R2R were fairly strong, but the albums after that have gone completely overboard in the pop direction. Still, it’s a gradual progression, in which I like them less and less, rather than a sudden jump from love to hate.
Nice job spotting the Carcass heritage in Arch Enemy. The connection to BDM (whose debut is one of my favorite albums ever) is not one that I would have made, but I guess I can see it in the riffwriting.
I bought this directly after it was released and was a huge fan of the album back in the day. Always trying to turn friends on to Carcass..something that was never possible with their previous albums because so many of my chums at that time simply couldn't access the headspace to accept something heavier than Metallica or Megadeth which were fastly becoming the generic golden boys of metal that they are today.
No doubt the production punches and the riffs hook you in and perhaps that was why I was so enamored at the time. It was the first of it's kind for me with extreme death metal meets classy precision and catchy "mainstream" songwriting. Keep in mind that this was way before this vocal style and stunningly heavy metal riff technicality wasn't being whored out by every Johnny come lately Myspace media darling..not even worth my time to name names.
Not such a HUGE fan these days but it still gets spun every once in a while.
Leigh Walton = I also bought Swansong at a Sam Goody right after that album was released and I distinctly remember being in my girlfriend's car (now fiance) listening to it on the way home from Chicago and just as distinctly remember getting more and more pissed as each song was shat out of the car speakers. My poor gf had no idea what the fuck my problem was since it all sounded the same to her but I knew…I was duped. Carcass officially sold out and were proud of it. They were taking a huge dump on the legacy of Carcass as their swansong and I had just paid $15 for the pleasure of experiencing it.
Oddly enough, I eventually ended up with the Wake Up & Smell The Carcass CD when that was released and the tracks that were deleted from the Swansong album are actually better than anything on that album.
pdf = Fuck yes! It's about time someone gave props to Fudge Tunnel. When is the last time you spun The Complicated Futility Of Ignorance? Such a classic. Rudge With A G has seen me bash a few things around over the years. Anyone not familiar with the first Theory Of Ruin album w/ Alex is missing out. One of my favorite albums of the past decade. Wish someone would drop this on vinyl.
Cosmo = I love this damn blog! Thanks for the passion and the time spent to share it.
This Fudge Tunnel album I'm listening to is going to force me into a bit of nostalgia tonight so here are 2 albums you may want to consider covering (or hearing) one day:
Sacred Reich – Independent
Because it's their heaviest and best sounding in my opinion and I listened to it all the damn time when I was a young stoner. "Heal" never lived up.
Overkill – I Hear Black
Their moodiest and probably deepest record. All the mulleted metal assholes that used to go to the Thirsty Whale out here to see them always called me a poser for liking it. If Overkill continued to write more albums like this who knows what kind of fanbase they would have today? Probably a much cooler one…
akr – I’m surprised to find another fan of Sacred Reich’s Independent, as there doesn’t seem to be many out there. Heartened by your mention, I’ll try to work it in here sometime.
Re: I Hear Black, I’m not a huge fan, but maybe that’s because it came after the mammoth Horrorscope. Gant/Cannevino are on it, so perhaps I should reexamine it in depth.
Do you consider this a concept album in any way? Curious.
Interesting question. I suppose it could be seen as a portrayal of the world as man’s demise through mechanized means (which would make the Giger artwork relevant). But I don’t see any narrative or “arc” through the album.
What do you think?
I love both Heartwork and Swansong. They make perfect sense together. I’ve never understood the hate for Swansong, it is a perfect satire of more mainstream metal, retaining all the sick humor and heaviness of their earlier work.