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Carcass > Surgical Remission / Surplus Steel > Reviews
Carcass - Surgical Remission / Surplus Steel

Graveyard of residu - 40%

morbert, December 10th, 2014
Written based on this version: 2014, 10" vinyl, Nuclear Blast (Limited edition)

Carcass made a more than amazing comeback in 2013 with the refreshing Surgical Steel album. An album which truly grasped the old origins of punk and thrash which, back in the eighties, were an important part of the early Carcass sound. Because without thrash (and consequently punk) grindcore would never have existed in the first place. With Surgical Steel Carcass brought back their punkish influences and attitude they left behind during their slicker days of Heartwork and Swansong. Surgical Steel was balancing between Necroticism and Heartwork but with a huge extra doses of punky thrash thrown in.

And that is were the songs that did not make the album fall short. Listening to these tunes it becomes clear pretty quickly why they did not fit on the album. What we have here are 4 songs (not including the obsolete '1985' reprise) which have a different feeling altogether. 4 songs which are reminiscent of the era between Heartwork and Swansong. What if the band had released an EP somewhere in 1994? Chances are big it would’ve sounded quite like this ‘Surgical Remission / Surplus Steel’ release.

The majority are not bad songs per sé but they are meandering slow tunes and picking up the pace on the second half of ‘Intensive Battery Brooding’ is not enough to give this EP a more energetic attitude. The quality of the material decreases which each song as well, the first two being the most ‘decent’ ones, third song 'Zochrot' being a dull death-n-roll tune and ‘Livestock Marketplace’ a quite horrible snoozer with a ‘melodic’ chorus which might appeal to Amon Amarth kids but does not suit the grandeur of Carcass and their history in any way. It's as if Nuclear Blast asked the band to write an 'epic' tune within the boundaries of the Carcass sound to appeal to the new generation of adolescent fans with recently (read: in the last 2-5 years) grown beards. ‘Livestock Marketplace’ is a godawful song.

No, it must be said, when it became known that Carcass were to release a new album, most people feared they couldn’t pull it off to release anything close, in terms of quality, to their first three albums. We feared the band would release an ‘old mans album’ of slow material filled with songs like on this little EP. Forget this EP, quickly, put back on Surgical Steel.

Let’s hope the next full length Carcass album continues the energetic pace of Surgical Steel and not this tame heap of middle of the road death metal. I'm blasting 'The Master Butcher's Apron' and 'Fermenting Innards' again to get this taste from my mouth

Take 'Em Off Life Support - 44%

televiper11, November 17th, 2014
Written based on this version: 2014, CD, Nuclear Blast (Digipak)

Biases upfront, I disliked Surgical Steel and feel that Carcass, though still killer live, have basically turned into a fair parody of their former selves: gone is the dirty, intense, angry Carcass of decade's previous and in their stead is a fairly safe, slick, bland rehash bled of its edge. So why even check out Surgical Remission / Surplus Steel ? Perhaps I still hold out some faint hope that Carcass saved up their nastiest tunes, keeping the high standard of their previous b-sides. Bloody unlikely though. What we get instead is just further bloat, utterly sterile and obnoxiously dumb Carcass-lite with the same glossy, awful production job.

"A Wraith In The Apparatus" is a chugging, mid-paced affair that is an odd-choice to start the EP because nothing really happens other than an nice Bill Steer solo. I've spun this song several times and nothing sticks. Definitely inferior to even the worst album cuts. "Intensive Battery Brooding" has a nice moody opening riff after which it just plods along for a long time before suddenly turning into a nice, crisp death-thrash attack. That last bit is nice but brief and the inertia leading up to it cancels the feeling altogether. Honestly, the band sounds bored with both these pieces, that flagging energy a carry-over from a lot of the full-length.

"Zochrot" is much better. Although again a mid-paced number, the main riff is slightly more complex and engaging. Another nice Steer solo fills it out a bit too. Nothing spectacular, still slightly generic, but engaging. "Livestock Marketplace" is the only true winner though. This track is fuckin' weird. Jeff Walker experiments with a couple different vocal styles, not just his usual caustic sneer, and lyrics that bring across more of that classic anger that has been mostly missing. The riffs are catchy and this is the lone cut I wish had made the album and could be an interesting avenue for the band to further explore. At the end of the day though, none of this (either EP or album) furthers the Carcass legacy at all. They placed a safe bet and won the house but I can't help but wonder if anyone will even care about this stuff in twenty years time like we do their classic albums.