Carcass first appeared more than thirty years ago, becoming a Death Metal mainstay immediately, and they are not done yet.

Carcass created its place in music history by pioneering extreme metal on their earliest albums in the late 1980s. A few years later, they were on the forefront of a new movement in metal, melodic death metal. In both of these cases, the band provided a vision that was expanded on by multitudes of other acts and that persist today. They took a break for a long stretch after Swansong in 1996, not releasing another full-length album until Surgical Steel (2013).

Despicable is an EP released in advance of next year’s full-length album, and it holds songs that will not be on that longer album. The band is Jeff Walker, Bill Steer, Daniel Wilding, and Tom Draper, and the music continues on the path the band has solidly established in its second incarnation.

There are four songs on the new EP, beginning with “The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue,” which has delightful thrashiness to it, culminating in a swirling storm of enraged hornets performed on guitar toward the end. “The Long and Winding Bier Road” has a slower and heavier taste, telling a story in clever hooks. The gas is punched again on “Under the Scalpel Blade,” adding in a sordid Penny Dreadful storyline to warm your veins. “Slaughtered in Soho” is the sign-off, with an airy riff and a tender growl – and a wailing lead break. If these four fine songs are any sign of what the 2021 album will be like, we are definitely in for a wild ride. Recommended.

Out now from Nuclear Blast, you can get Despicable in all sorts of formats from Bandcamp or through the store portal link below.

Links.

Carcass Bandcamp, https://carcass.bandcamp.com/album/despicable

Carcass Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/OfficialCarcass

Carcass YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/Carcass

Nuclear Blast Records Store Portal, https://media.nuclearblast.de/shoplanding/2020/Carcass/despicable.html