Carcass
Choice Cuts

THE REVIEW

No one should mistakenly believe that the album under review is the result of a rather unlikely reunion of the British combo, nor is it a collection of unreleased tracks/b-sides.

We are simply faced with a "greatest hits", a collection of tracks mostly selected by the ex (in every sense for now, then we'll see why) drummer Ken Owen, recipient of the proceeds from this commercial operation, which for once is not for mere profit but as a form of economic solidarity towards someone who has truly had a terrible (and long in terms of time) period, hanging between life and death due to a rare and fatal form of cerebral aneurysm.

"Choice Cuts" is structured to retrace, with the average cadence of two tracks at a time, all the discographic releases of the true masters of European-style grindcore/death metal, who, with a decade-long career (1987-1996) behind them, were able to evolve in a surprising way from the grind cacophony of their beginnings ("Reek of Putrefaction"-1988) to literally create the trend of melodic death metal, with the magnificent and still current "Heartwork" (1993), and then conclude their existential parabola with the controversial "Swansong," an unusual hybrid of death/hard rock very far from the attitude attributed to our lads from years of healthy underground.

I don't think it's necessary to further extol the virtues of a group that, despite being dead and buried for a decade, is still regarded today to such an extent that its name rightly resides not only in the pantheon of extreme metal but also in the hearts of those who find very few affinities with this extremist wing but nonetheless appreciate the musical skill repeatedly demonstrated by our British friends.

That said, let's move on to what the album in question offers.

Besides the well-known songs present, which we will enumerate later for the record, "Choice Cuts" features in the inner booklet a delightful interview with the aforementioned Owen (dated April 2004), in which we can find some really interesting revelations, such as debunking the legend that all the founding members of Carcass were doctors or medical students: the main material author of the lyrics of the first two albums, who is none other than the drummer himself, candidly confesses how, during the period of publication of "Reek of Putrefaction" and "Symphonies of Sickness," he was studying biology in high school and therefore had considerable material to describe mutilations and surgical operations of all kinds.

In another statement of significant historical relevance, our protagonist describes the descending path of the group: the traumatic transition to major Columbia, in the vain hope of breaking into the States, the disillusionment of seeing the efforts for the successor of "Heartwork" rejected, the continued pressures, and finally the block to the publication of "Swansong" imposed by the mentioned Columbia for 2 years. And thus the end.

But also positive memories like the unlikely gig with rapper Ice T sharing the stage or the due thanks to John Peel, whom our protagonist honors for being the first to bet on the band, broadcasting it on his famous radio show on the powerful BBC, already from the times of the first seminal full-length.

In this regard, this album includes two sessions recorded for the aforementioned John Peel Show, dated 2.1.89 and 16.12.90, in which some tracks from the first and second albums are presented live, with excellent results I would say.

In conclusion, "Choice Cuts" adds nothing to the legendary fame of Carcass but can serve as a didactic testimony for those who at the beginning of the '90s were either too young or simply listened to something else.

Tracklist:

1) Genital grinder;                         Peel Session 02.01.89

2) Maggot colony;                    1) Crepitanting Bowel Erosion;

3) Exhume to consume;            2) Slash Dementia;

4) Swarming vulgar mass of      3) Cadaveric incubator of endoparasites;

infected virulency;                   4) Reek of putrefaction;

5) Tools of the trade;

6) Corporal jigsore quandary;     Peel Session 16.12.90

7) Incanated solvent abuse;     1) Empathological Necroticism;

8) Buried dreams;                  2) Foeticide;

9) No love lost;                     3) Fermenting innards;

10) Heartwork;                     4) Exhume to consume;

11) Keep on rotting in the free world;

12) R**k the vote;

13) This is your life;