Carcass – Heartwork (1993)

February 28, 2021

In anticipation of the release of the newer Carcass stuff I revisited some of my least favourite albums by the band. Yes, I am one of the grubby losers that thinks Symphonies… and Reek… are the pinnacle of Carcass’ sonic output, and yes I’m damn proud of that, even if the band aren’t.

Onwards onto Heartwork proper then, the record that sang the melodic death of my favourite bands (and sounds) of all time. Leaving my jaded 19 year old self 12 years into the past, I considered Heartwork on the merits of being an early melodeath album and on this merit alone, it excels, as you would expect.

The production style is clean but somewhat awkward, holding the weight and brutality of past records but also possessing a sound that relies heavily on leads, hooks, choruses and all sorts of other mad shit you’d never expect to hear dusting 80/90% of Carcass’ songs.

I’d do a track by track analysis, but honestly, this just isn’t for me. I’m glad I gave it a full play and my attention in its complete form at least once in my life, though.