Carcass
Carcass is a highly influential metal band from England, formed in 1985 and disbanded in 1995. Originally formed by guitarist Bill Steer together with drummer Ken Owen in 1985 as a D-beat band under the name Disattack; after releasing their demo A Bomb Drops... in 1986, Paul (bassist) and Andrew Pek (vocalist) left the band and were replaced by vocalist Sanjiv and bassist Jeff Walker, formerly guitarist and vocalist of the Electro Hippies. About that same time Bill Steer joined Napalm Death (replacing Justin Broadrick) and recorded the second side of what became ND's first album, Scum (1987), which Walker designed the cover art of. Eventually, Disattack changed its name to Carcass.
Carcass began as a Grindcore band, they moved onto more Death Metal-influenced grind (known as "deathgrind") on Symphonies of Sickness before moving onto straight-up death metal on Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious and Melodic Death Metal on Heartwork and Swansong. They are considered one of the most influential extreme metal bands of all time, being a strong influence on grindcore and death metal bands and possibly even creating melodeath altogether. In 2007, they reunited, though they have no known plans to record future material.
Current lineup:
- Jeff Walker - vocals, bass guitar (1987–1995; 2007–present)
- Bill Steer - lead guitar, backing vocals (1985–1995; 2007–present)
- Michael Amott - lead guitar (1990–1993; 2007–present)
- Daniel Erlandsson - drums (2007–present)
Former members:
- Ken Owen - drums, backing vocals (1985–1995)
- Carlo Regadas - guitars (1995)
- Sanjiv - vocals (1985–1987)
- Reek of Putrefaction (1988)
- Symphonies of Sickness (1989)
- Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious (1991)
- Heartwork (1993)
- Swansong (1996)
- Contemptible Cover - the first two albums, featuring collages of autopsy photos.
- Death Metal - The bulk of their material.
- Epic Rocking - The Necroticism album has their longest tracks like "Inpropagation", "Symposium of Sickness", "Carneous Cacoffiny", and "Forensic Clinicism/The Sanguine Article".
- Gorn - Their lyrics, of course.
- Averted with the last two albums, which focused more on social matters.
- Grindcore - Their first two albums.
- I'm A Humanitarian - "Exhume to Consume" is about digging up corpses to do...well, guess.
- Lighter and Softer - Heartwork and Swansong, which toned down the aggression considerably and traded in the gore-filled lyrics for socio-political and personal subject matter.
- Melodic Death Metal - Their last two albums.
- Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness - 10/11 for their grindcore, 10 for their death metal, 9 for Heartwork, and 8 (occasionally 7) for Swansong.
- Sampling: used on Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness - Their early lyrics actually use accurate medical terminology; you'd have to use a medical dictionary to understand a lot of it.
- Spiritual Successor - Arch Enemy (featuring former Carcass guitarist Michael Amott).
- This Trope Is Bleep: "R**k the Vote" from Swansong.