Liverpool's (home to perennial football stars) Carcass was unique in the grindcore scene for using accurate medical terminology, having roots in a famous underground fanzine, Napalm Death (Steer was at first in both bands prior to Symphonies...) and, oh, grinding like there's no tomorrow.

The band's first two albums are the classics of the genre having influenced many a band and having the honour of being censored repeatedly. Necroticism sees the addition of Swedish/British guitarist Michael Amott as a second guitarist and becoming a little more accessible. A little thrashier and less grinding, Heartwork's release seemed to herald the arrival of a major metal band. The album also featured an HR Geiger work on the cover as opposed to the flesh of the past. At this point the band tours with Bodycount, juxtaposed against previous tours with the likes of Death, Entombed and Napalm Death, and affirms its future intentions.

Alas, internal squabbling, dislike for extreme metal and a fiasco of signing and suffering through a major delay and getting dropped by a major label (Columbia) even before releasing an album meant Swansong was self-referencing. By the time of release of Swansong (again back on Earache) the band had already called it a day. The band was part of the Gods Of Grind tour package of Earache and threw Steer out of the band shortly before disbanding.

Earache Records issued a long-delayed Carcass compilation called Choice Cuts in 2004. Originally slated for release in 1999, the compilation was shelved by the label following the news of drummer Ken Owen's critical illness. The disc was issued in June. In the meanwhile, the band was covered by Arch Enemy.

Former singer Jeff Walker entered Foel Studio in Wales in the autumn of 2004 in order to record some vocals for the new Napalm Death album. He also played in Brujeria in 2006. In an interview with Closeup magazine in late summer of 2007, Mike Amott discussed the possibility of a Carcass reunion. Apparently, the band minus drummer Ken Owen, had even rehearsed. Plans were shelved pending the completion of Arch Enemy’s touring cycle in support of its album Rise Of The Tyrant.

CARCASS - WAKE UP AND SMELL THE - EARACHE
Quite why Earache decided to release this Carcass sampler/epitaph is not clear. The label would probably cite the usual final tribute or final legacy phrase. Me, cynic me, would bet on contract fulfilment or one last stab at earning money from Carcass as a more likely explanation. Whatever the case, the disc is not useless as it contains five songs from the band's ill-fated final album Swan Song. Yet, the question is, why not just send out that album? Again, whatever the answer those five tracks clearly demonstrate that Carcass' demise was a good thing. A very good thing. No matter what the sleeve notes do and go on and on turning from an avant-garde, pioneering and extremist grindcore act to a Megadeth clone is not my idea of progression. The band realising this themselves, tries to nip the criticism in the bud by penning a tune called I Told You So (Corporate Rock Does Really Suck). Yet the truth remains that the newer tunes do really suck. Regardless, the seventeen tracks on the CD span the entire Carcass career from the early grindcore to the recent, and, of course, no real Carcass fan is going to miss this. Another topic for thought would be the corporate world’s vicious and deliberate attempt at stifling metal. By signing successful bands such as Entombed, Carcass and Sepultura and in one case delaying the band for three years, in another refusing to release the album altogether or in yet other cases duly dropping the band after one album and citing lack of sales they insinuate that this style is not viable. When in fact the bands out-sell their previous releases without the labels investing anything in these acts to begin with! This vicious plot will obviously fail at the end, but still it is a pain to see major labels market puke like Korn as metal. - Ali "The Metallian"