Carcass - Swansong review
Band: | Carcass |
Album: | Swansong |
Style: | Melodic death metal |
Release date: | May 30, 1996 |
A review by: | Herzebeth |
Disc I [CD]
01. Keep On Rotting In The Free World
02. Tomorrow Belongs To Nobody
03. Black Star
04. Cross My Heart
05. Child's Play
06. Room 101
07. Polarized
08. Generation Hexed
09. Firmhand
10. R**k The Vote
11. Don't Believe A Word
12. Go To Hell
13. Deathrider Da [Japanese bonus]
Disc II [2008 re-release bonus DVD]
The Pathologist's Report - Part V
01. Issue With Release
02. Extreme But Not As We Know It
03. Moving To Columbia
04. The Cover Artwork
05. Mike Hickey & Carlo's Involvement
06. The End Is Nigh
07. The Aftermath
08. Influencing The Next Generation
09. Ken Talks About His Illness
10. Out-takes
The last album from one of the most controversial and praised bands in Metal history, a band built mainly on musical progression and versatility, this is the legacy of Carcass. Misconceived as their "bad" album, "Swansong" shows the softer but most technical side of the band, an underrated album if you ask me, mainly because people desperately sought in Carcass utter brutality and a sickening concept (after all they created that scheme); in the end, Swansong is a very good "Melodic Death" album which actually retains the catchiest riffs Carcass created and the most digestible and technical music they produced in their history.
"Swansong" starts (and ends) with melodious guitars, a cleaner sound and artsy lyrical content (probably the main reason why people dismissed this album in the old days); to be honest I can't find any major flaw inside this piece, on the contrary, the creativity and the resourcefulness of it impresses me and it makes me hear it again and again. As I already said, this is the most complex and most technical album this band ever released; the instrumentation is multi-faceted, the paces are incredibly irregular and the execution is ridiculously intense, not to mention the unbelievably convoluted songwriting that this album depicts.
Yes! It is a "softer" side of this band; songs like "Child's Play" or "Generation Hexed" (and actually the majority of the tunes) will ruin the impression that the fanatics of "Reek Of Putrefaction" and "Symphonies of Sickness" had, but if you're an avid fan of music, and specially if you know the meaning of "musical appreciation" there won't be any problem at all, there are many astounding features for you to like inside "Swansong", from the impressive musicianship to the astonishing songwriting to the catchy riffing and the head-banging groove, this album will make you stay to the very end of it whether you like it or not.
I really like both stages of this band, I think I prefer their Goregrind era to tell you the truth, but as an objective reviewer I can only recommend you to get this album and give it a try, after all it's Carcass you can't go wrong with a band like this one, ever.
Best Tracks: "Black Star", "Keep On Rotting In The Free World", "R**k The Vote"
Rating breakdown
Performance: | 9 |
Songwriting: | 9 |
Originality: | 8 |
Production: | 8 |
Written by Herzebeth | 22.01.2007
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