Biography
England's Carcass helped shape extreme metal as early architects of grindcore and melodic death metal. Their 1987 demo Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment and the 22-song debut album Reek of Putrefaction released the following year introduced a ferocious, physically punishing and technically intricate approach paired with grisly, violent and frequently grotesque lyrics sourced from industrial manuals, medical textbooks, societal aberrations and politics. When Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious appeared in 1991, the music had shifted toward a raw, chaotic template that would later define technical death metal. A further step arrived with the pivotal 1993 release Heartwork, widely recognized among the earliest examples of melodic death metal. Sonic and visual changes, however, brought internal friction that ultimately dissolved the group after Swansong in 1996. They returned to the stage for live dates in 2007. Full-time activity resumed in 2012, leading to the 2013 album Surgical Steel issued by Nuclear Blast. Its comparatively approachable character, enormous riffs and thrash metal hooks attracted a broad new audience to the trio. Worldwide touring continued steadily for six years afterward, followed by the 2020 four-track EP Despicable and the complete album Torn Arteries in 2021.
Bill Steer and drummer Ken Owen launched the project in Liverpool in 1985; Steer later contributed to Napalm Death. Jeff Walker joined on vocals and bass by 1987, securing a contract with Earache Records soon afterward. The resulting pair of albums, Reek of Putrefaction (1988) and Symphonies of Sickness (1989), are frequently cited as grindcore landmarks. Entering the new decade, Michael Amott added second guitar to expand the lineup to a quartet. This configuration produced Necroticism: Descanting the Salubrious (1991) and the four-song EP Tools of the Trade (1992), both enduring favorites in the metal underground. Walker moved away from purely growled vocals toward a more conventional metal delivery while Iron Maiden-style guitar lines entered the arrangements, culminating in the Sony major-label debut Heartwork (1994). Although Heartwork remains Carcass’s most widely recognized record, listener opinions divide sharply between those who viewed its more accessible sound—comparable to thrash metal—and milder cover art as a concession, and those who regard it as one of the decade’s standout metal statements.
Amott departed shortly after its release; Carlo Regadas took his place for the final album of that era, the aptly named Swansong (1996). In its wake, Owen suffered a severe brain hemorrhage that left him comatose for nearly a year. After regaining consciousness he relied on a wheelchair for months before relearning to walk. Remarkably, he retrained himself on drums, although the technical demands of Carcass proved beyond his recovered abilities; he has made occasional guest appearances with the band since. The 1996 rarities collection Wake Up and Smell the Carcass also appeared that year. Walker and Regadas subsequently collaborated as Blackstar, while Amott founded both Spiritual Beggars and Arch Enemy. Steer formed the stoner-blues power trio Firebird and returned briefly to Napalm Death.
The band reassembled in 2007 strictly for concerts, with Walker, Steer and Amott recruiting Arch Enemy’s Daniel Erlandsson on drums, though no studio plans were discussed. Amott and Erlandsson exited in 2012 to concentrate on Arch Enemy, prompting Steer and Walker to enlist drummer Dan Wilding and announce new material. Surgical Steel, released by Nuclear Blast in September 2013, reached number 41 on the Billboard Top 200 and expanded their following considerably. Guitarist Ben Ash joined to restore a four-piece lineup for extensive road work, including a headline slot at Leeds’s Damnation Festival, the Defenders of the Faith Tour with Amon Amarth and Hell across Europe and the U.K. in late 2013, a January 2014 appearance at 70000 Tons of Metal, and a headline set at August’s Agglutination Festival. November brought the Surgical Remission/Surplus Steel EP of unreleased session tracks plus Japan- and digital-only cuts, along with a Decibel flexidisc. By then acknowledged as metal trailblazers, they performed at Download Festival at Castle Donington and co-headlined Deathcrusher 2015 with Napalm Death, Obituary, Voivod and Herod, in addition to supporting Slayer on the Repentless tour.
Ash announced his exit in early 2018. The group recruited Los Angeles-based guitarist Tom Draper, formerly of Angel Witch, whose debut performances occurred at Deathfest Netherlands in March and Decibel’s Death and Beer Festival in Philadelphia. During summer and fall 2019 Carcass opened selected dates on Slayer’s farewell world tour. Returning to the studio after six years, they issued the digital single “Under the Scalpel Blade.” Plans for a new full-length—originally titled Torn Arteries after a teenage demo by Ken Owen—were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead the four-song EP Despicable appeared at the end of October 2020. The completed Torn Arteries, Draper’s first album with the band, finally surfaced in September 2021.
Bill Steer and drummer Ken Owen launched the project in Liverpool in 1985; Steer later contributed to Napalm Death. Jeff Walker joined on vocals and bass by 1987, securing a contract with Earache Records soon afterward. The resulting pair of albums, Reek of Putrefaction (1988) and Symphonies of Sickness (1989), are frequently cited as grindcore landmarks. Entering the new decade, Michael Amott added second guitar to expand the lineup to a quartet. This configuration produced Necroticism: Descanting the Salubrious (1991) and the four-song EP Tools of the Trade (1992), both enduring favorites in the metal underground. Walker moved away from purely growled vocals toward a more conventional metal delivery while Iron Maiden-style guitar lines entered the arrangements, culminating in the Sony major-label debut Heartwork (1994). Although Heartwork remains Carcass’s most widely recognized record, listener opinions divide sharply between those who viewed its more accessible sound—comparable to thrash metal—and milder cover art as a concession, and those who regard it as one of the decade’s standout metal statements.
Amott departed shortly after its release; Carlo Regadas took his place for the final album of that era, the aptly named Swansong (1996). In its wake, Owen suffered a severe brain hemorrhage that left him comatose for nearly a year. After regaining consciousness he relied on a wheelchair for months before relearning to walk. Remarkably, he retrained himself on drums, although the technical demands of Carcass proved beyond his recovered abilities; he has made occasional guest appearances with the band since. The 1996 rarities collection Wake Up and Smell the Carcass also appeared that year. Walker and Regadas subsequently collaborated as Blackstar, while Amott founded both Spiritual Beggars and Arch Enemy. Steer formed the stoner-blues power trio Firebird and returned briefly to Napalm Death.
The band reassembled in 2007 strictly for concerts, with Walker, Steer and Amott recruiting Arch Enemy’s Daniel Erlandsson on drums, though no studio plans were discussed. Amott and Erlandsson exited in 2012 to concentrate on Arch Enemy, prompting Steer and Walker to enlist drummer Dan Wilding and announce new material. Surgical Steel, released by Nuclear Blast in September 2013, reached number 41 on the Billboard Top 200 and expanded their following considerably. Guitarist Ben Ash joined to restore a four-piece lineup for extensive road work, including a headline slot at Leeds’s Damnation Festival, the Defenders of the Faith Tour with Amon Amarth and Hell across Europe and the U.K. in late 2013, a January 2014 appearance at 70000 Tons of Metal, and a headline set at August’s Agglutination Festival. November brought the Surgical Remission/Surplus Steel EP of unreleased session tracks plus Japan- and digital-only cuts, along with a Decibel flexidisc. By then acknowledged as metal trailblazers, they performed at Download Festival at Castle Donington and co-headlined Deathcrusher 2015 with Napalm Death, Obituary, Voivod and Herod, in addition to supporting Slayer on the Repentless tour.
Ash announced his exit in early 2018. The group recruited Los Angeles-based guitarist Tom Draper, formerly of Angel Witch, whose debut performances occurred at Deathfest Netherlands in March and Decibel’s Death and Beer Festival in Philadelphia. During summer and fall 2019 Carcass opened selected dates on Slayer’s farewell world tour. Returning to the studio after six years, they issued the digital single “Under the Scalpel Blade.” Plans for a new full-length—originally titled Torn Arteries after a teenage demo by Ken Owen—were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead the four-song EP Despicable appeared at the end of October 2020. The completed Torn Arteries, Draper’s first album with the band, finally surfaced in September 2021.