Carcass Necroticism Descanting the Insalubrious

Carcass 'Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious' (Earache, 1991)

Carcass were the first of the Grindcrusher bands I got to see live. Yes, Pringle, Mikey and I chose to go to see 'Lethal Weapon 2' and get a six pack of flat coke instead of going to the Calton Studios. I know. My mum offered to pay us in, we phoned the venue, we knew we could get tickets, but we went to the cinema instead. To be honest we were actually scared. We'd heard the Calton Studios was full of nutters, although I doubted that having spent so many childhood weekends watching cartoons there, and we didn't go. In case you can't tell, it still bothers me!

Unsurprisingly it was within the seething confines of the Venue where I witnessed 1990's 'Bloody Blighty Tour'. Prior to Carcass' pummelling set we witnessed Entombed, of which I will tell more when, or if, we ever get to 'E', which was a truly life changing event. After seeing the teenage lords of Swedish filth Carcass had a lot to live up to, which they did.

The first thing to strike us about Carcass was they had two guitarists. How could this be? Who was this imposter with identical hair to our hero, Bill Steer? Before the internet and the endless bombardment of information we are all now subject to, the only way to keep up with a band's progress was to read magazines/fanzines, join mailing lists, listen to rumours and see bands live. We'd heard nothing about this addition to the Carcass ranks and the second guitarist was a real shock. However, he entertained us all evening by constantly getting his long Timotei style hair caught in the rafter which hung directly above the stage and getting it entangled in the headstocks of his fellow musician's instruments.

The second thing that struck us was the brilliant slide show which projected hideous autopsy photographs on the band throughout their set which looked quite simply awesome to my impressionable 16 year old mind.

Carcass were so on top of their game that night and played with a vibrancy and passion that I never witnessed them possessing ever again. Over the years they would abandon the over the top reliance on gore, become increasingly melodic, both evidenced on 'Necroticism ....', and they almost outgrew death metal.

Unfortunately for them, by 1992 not many people were interested in the originators of gore grind writing six minute epics and making their disdain for the scene that got them to where they were more than apparent. What is now accepted as acerbic wit didn't sit well when you were being sneered at and basically slagged off at gigs. Still, they got the last laugh as they are raking it in headlining festivals for nostalgia seekers, i.e. me, 21 years after they last released anything resembling decent.

'Necroticism ....' came out in October 1991 and, such was my hunger for the band after the previous year's performance, was purchased immediately as a christmas present. I surreptitiously taped it and presented it back to my mum who would keep it until the day of festive cheer. I must have known where she had hidden it though because I took the limited postcard set with me to their December gig to get them signed. By this time we knew who the second guitarist was, Michael Amott from Swedish originators Carnage, who kindly signed the reverse of his card 'Michael ROT', and of course the god himself, Bill Steer, signed his card with 'Great Pic!'. Unfortunately, I didn't get Ken Owen's or Jeff Walker's signature's that night, but that didn't deter me.

For some reason I took umbrage to the poor sound during that gig and, much to Pringle's never ending hilarity, I wrote to Carcass' management demanding to know what had happened and who was responsible. In fairness they treated my idiotic questioning with good humour stating that they had no idea what had been the problem with the sound on that particular night and sent me a fully signed photograph of the band.

After that I was sent all news updates, band promo shots etc. so I was pretty chuffed, although it's pretty embarrassing now I think back on it. Having said that I just saw Bill Steer playing with Gentleman's Pistols last weekend and when I congratulated him on an excellent set I was pretty excited so I'm still a Carcass/early Napalm Death nerd.

This album still sounds amazing. It's not my favourite record, the songs are too long and there's too much of what would soon become the Gothenburg death metal sound, but it's still an exemplary mix of brutality, melodic, soulful lead work, brilliantly clever lyrics and a truly defined vision.

Despite my affection for Bolt Thrower, Carcass are easily the most important British death metal band and you could argue that they are in the top five most influential death metal bands of all time. With their first two albums they created gore grind and from this album on they created the melodic virtuoso death metal that still keeps bands like In Flames and Amott's Arch Enemy on the road. I don't thank them for the latter, but they will always have a special place in my heart.

Peace