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Rating: What could be better than a collection at the end of a band's artistic career?
The "the best of..." is also quite annoying, as it's often just a mere commercial operation to attract some more fans and to give old aficionados something more to buy and comment on, even if they already know all the songs by heart. Before this "Wake up and smell the...carcass," Jeff Walker and company had released two furious grindcore albums but already hinted at, with "Symphonies of Sickness," a future evolution of songwriting, and then two absolute masterpieces of technical death metal like "Necroticism..." and "Heartwork," albums that even today do not lose an ounce of their power and value. Then the darkness; Carcass worked on the new album and moved to Sony, which tried to impose its own music business rules on them, and all these hassles led to continual delays in the album's publication, excessive stress among the band's members, and its inevitable breakup, before "Swansong" was still released thanks to the savior Earache.
The album I review here is not just a simple collection with a couple of unreleased tracks, but a gem, a gift for all Carcass fans, as the first five tracks are unreleased songs from the "Swansong" sessions not included in the original CD, thus making it a mini-album that completes their discography, as they are very recent songs. Here we have "Edge of Darkness," which wouldn't have been out of place as an opener or single on "Swansong," the fast-paced "Emotional Flatline," "Ever Increasing Circles," the more relaxed "Blood Spattered Banner," and the rocking "I Told You So (Corporate Rock Really Does Suck)."
I'm not going to comment on each piece individually, as they are simply on the same level as the others on "Swansong" and ideally are its continuation, the style is that super distorted rock/blues mentioned above and sung by Jeff Walker with his increasingly vitriolic voice. The production and sounds are the best in their discography, thanks to Colin Richardson who over the years has always followed them and managed to bring out the best in them, the solos are beautiful, articulated, clean, and show us an inspired Bill Steer who is not at all in a creative crisis despite the mishaps that led to their breakup.
The other tracks include four pieces played live on a radio show in 1994, two tracks from the "Heartwork" EP (including the legendary "Rot 'n' Roll"), and then more tracks taken from the "Tools of the Trade" EP and the "Pathological" and "Grindcrusher" compilations, including some songs from the first two albums rerecorded a few years later with much better sounds and execution; you'll be amazed by the instrumental "Genital Grinder II," the bone-crushing "Pyosisified (Still Rotten to the Gore)," or the super technical "Hepatic Tissue Fermentation II," of which we are also presented with the original 1989 version.
"Exhume to Consume" closes this CD, which definitively seals the career of Carcass and consecrates them among the best grind/death bands of the '90s. Their career, more so than many others, has shown how a band can progress technically even while starting from the near cacophony of their beginnings; listening to "Reek of Putrefaction" and subsequently "Swansong," it seems like you're not hearing the same group.
Carcass started from the most brutal and underground grindcore, went through the technical and melodic death metal, and then reached the brutal rock of their last album, always maintaining their identity and knowing how to challenge themselves album after album. This "Wake up and smell the... carcass" (which shows us on the cover J.F. Kennedy's head with the brain shattered on the mortuary table) retraces their career but not through a collection of already heard tracks, rather offering us five new unreleased tracks and a series of live and b-sides pieces that can only make us regret that Carcass is no longer around, even if their last live performances give a glimpse of hope.....
So as you breed... they will bleed!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Edge of Darkness (06:10)
A rising, bleak dawn
A permanent sunset
On the human condition
A boot perpetually treads
Illumination snuffed
Fowards on time will march
Holding as a mirror
Condemning to repeat the past
Endtime
The realms of a setting sun
Twilight
A new age has begun
Decline
Decension to a new dark age
Blank time
An old world not quite so brave
Right on the edge,
Of a new dark age,
Back on the edge,
We stand...on the edge of darkness
A fading dusk
Empty, blanketing shade
A dying sun
Only blackness radiates
An aeon ends
A millenium overturned
Time lies in embers
As barren horizons burn
End time
The realms of a setting sun
Twilight
A new age has begun
Decline
Decension to a new dark age
Blank time
An old world not quite so brave
Right on the edge,
Of a new dark age,
Back on the edge,
We stand...on the edge of darkness
Endtime
The realms of a setting sun
Twilight
A new age has begun
Decline
Decension to a new dark age
Blank time
An old world not quite so brave
Right on the edge,
Of a new dark age,
Back on the edge...
Right on the edge,
Of a new dark age,
Back on the edge...
03 Ever Increasing Circles (04:07)
Round and round we go,
Like a merry-go-round out of control
The same old tune, same old song
Again, again, and again
Round and round we go,
When will it stop, nobody knows
The same old chords, the same old words
It all sounds familiar, all starts to sound the same
Turn on, tune in, drop out,
Out of tune, dropped in, turned off
Who calls the tune?
Round and round we go,
Ever get the feeling you've heard this before?
Same old melody, rejuvenated,
Recycled again and again
Round and round, we go,
Never able to stem the flow
Same old notes, going round in cycles
Over and over again, and over again...
Turn on, tune in, drop out,
Out of tune, dropped in, turned off
Who calls the tune?
Who plays the fool?
As the circles ever increase
Round and round we go,
Like a merry-go-round out of control
The same old tune, the same old song,
Again, again, and again
Round and round we go,
Ever get the feeling you've heard this before?
Same old melody, rejuvenated,
Recycled again and again, again and again...
Turn on, tune in, drop out,
Out of tune, dropped in, turned off
Turn on, tune in, drop out,
Out of tune, dropped in, turned off
Who calls the tune?
Who plays the fool?
Who calls the tune?
As the circles ever increase
04 Blood Spattered Banner (04:43)
Your blood flies in the wind,
It's old and worn and has no glory
Hand on heart allegiance pledged
Patriot, hatred instilled
Ignorant, white trash stand proud
With bigotry endowed
These colours don't run
These colours well worn
These colours don't run
But put to the torch they'll sure as hell...
Burn like your passion,
The passion of the damned
Can you still hear Dixie?
Ignorance is your strength
A raped stolen land stands so proud
Can you still hear Dixie scream out loud?
These colours don't run
These colours are well worn
These colours don't run
But put to the torch they'll sure as hell...
Burn...
Burn...
Burn...
Burn...
Your blood flies in the wind
Aged, ragged it's a sorry story,
Blood-spattered banner unfurled
A nation, hatred instilled,
With slavery stained,
Your dream of shame
These colours don't run
These colours are well worn
These colours don't run
But put to the torch they'll sure as hell....
These colours don't run
These colours are well worn
Your colours don't run
But put to the torch - I'll tread on you !!!
These colours don't run
These colours are well worn
These colours don't run
But put to the torch they'll sure as hell...
Burn...
Burn...
Burn...
Burn...
Want to see your flag up in flames
Burn...
Burn...
Burn...
Burn...
I'll tread on you.
05 I Told You So (Corporate Rock Really Does Suck) (03:52)
Please tell me how to think
Please tell me what to say
Please tell me what to do
Please tell me how I should behave
Please tell me what to sing
Please tell me what to play
Please tell me how to act
Please tell me the rules of your game
Please tell me who I should be
Please tell me what to do
Please tell me how to please
I really want to be like you
Really done it now, sold out
But to who, what, when, where and how,
Yeah, really done it now, sold out,
I've taken my cut
And corporate rock really sucks
Don't try and tell me how to think
Don't tell me what to say
Don't tell me what to do
Don't try and tell me how to behave
Don't tell me how to sing
Don't tell me how I should play
Don't tell me how to act
I don't want to play to your game
Don't tell me who I should be
Don't tell me what to do
Its myself I'm trying to please,
Don't anyone, least of all, you.
Really done it now, sold out
But to who, what, when, where and how
Yeah, really done it now, sold out
I've taken my cut
[lead]
Yeah, really done it now, sold out
But to who, what, when, where and how,
Yeah, really done it now, sold out
I've taken my cut
Yeah, really done it now, sold out,
But to who, what, when, where and how,
Yeah, really done it now, sold out
I've taken my cut
And corporate rock really does suck
06 Buried Dreams (04:07)
Welcome, it's a world of hate
Your life of buried dreams
Smothered, by the soils of fate
Welcome, to a world of pain
Bitterness your only wealth
The sands of time kicked in your face
-Rubbed in your face
When aspirations are squashed
When life's chances are lost
When all hope is gone
When expectations are quashed
When self esteem is lost
When ambition is mourned
...All you need is hate
When aspirations are squashed
When life's chances are lost
When all hope is gone
When expectations are quashed
When self esteem is lost
When ambition is mourned
...All you need is hate
In futility, for self preservation
We all need someone
-Someone to hate
(1st lead - Steer)
(2nd lead - Amott)
Welcome to a world of hate
When aspirations are squashed
When life's chances are lost
When all hope is gone
When expectations are quashed
When self esteem is lost
When ambition is mourned
...All you need is hate
07 No Love Lost (04:52)
Sensual awakening,
Numbing feeling's dead,
Conception's romanticised,
Synthetized broken heart's to bled,
Without emotion, your heartstring's played,
Strummed and severed to the tune of a tragic serenade,
(A tragic chorus,)
Without emotion, your hearstrings break,
Snapped and severed to the tune of a tragic, sad-cliche.
No love lost,
When all is said and done,
There's no love lost.
The low cost of loving,
Amorous travesty,
Human frailties and weakness are easy prey,
How your poor heart will bleed.
09 Edge of Darkness (05:50)
A rising, bleak dawn
A permanent sunset
On the human condition
A boot perpetually treads
Illumination snuffed
Fowards on time will march
Holding as a mirror
Condemning to repeat the past
Endtime
The realms of a setting sun
Twilight
A new age has begun
Decline
Decension to a new dark age
Blank time
An old world not quite so brave
Right on the edge,
Of a new dark age,
Back on the edge,
We stand...on the edge of darkness
A fading dusk
Empty, blanketing shade
A dying sun
Only blackness radiates
An aeon ends
A millenium overturned
Time lies in embers
As barren horizons burn
End time
The realms of a setting sun
Twilight
A new age has begun
Decline
Decension to a new dark age
Blank time
An old world not quite so brave
Right on the edge,
Of a new dark age,
Back on the edge,
We stand...on the edge of darkness
Endtime
The realms of a setting sun
Twilight
A new age has begun
Decline
Decension to a new dark age
Blank time
An old world not quite so brave
Right on the edge,
Of a new dark age,
Back on the edge...
Right on the edge,
Of a new dark age,
Back on the edge...
10 This Is Your Life (04:10)
The spirit distilled, the soul is bought.
The D.N.A. split, the virus is caught.
The germination of reproduction,
Complex patterns of genetic devolution.
The die is cast.
Birth, copulation, and death.
Is this your life?
Birth, copulation, and death.
Is this the meaning of life?
Is this the genesis of devolution?
The die is cast.
Birth, copulation, and death.
Is this your life?
Birth, copulation, and death.
Is this the meaning of life?
Birth, copulation, and death.
Is this your life?
Birth, copulation, and death.
Is this the meaning...
Birth, copulation, and death.
Is this your life?
Birth, copulation, and death.
12 Tools of the Trade (03:07)
Steel skin clips,
Forceps, grooved awl, retractors, needles
Gouges and saws,
Intestinal clamps, blunt dissectors,
Scalpels, pins, toothed directors.
Tools of the trade, forceps and blades
Skillfully lathed, for us to maim.
Bone levers, spikes, malleable scoops,
Plates and chisels, screws and spoons,
Drills, respatories, files and durettes,
Guillotines, gags and compression forceps.
Tools of the trade, ripping the rib-cage,
To remissly lustrate, so pleased to maim.
Retractors, mallets, rugines and benders,
Chisels, rods, sharps and catheters,
Trephines, undines, irons and styrups,
Depressors, tongues, sterile catgut.
Tools of the trade, stainless steel blades,
Painstakingly lathed, we're so pleased to maim.
16 Hepatic Tissue Fermentation (06:13)
Orally force fed, until cirmosis is induced,
Fatal renal failure, bleeds like a sluice,
Spewing blood as the gallbladder extrudes,
Alcoholic poisoning, bloated lobules burst,
Toxins flood the stomach, in diffluence submerged.
Coughting waste as the wrecked colon tears.
The blood now critically proof, neural cells fatally quenched,
Drowning in spilt retention, hepatic tissue ferments.
Poisoned retention, with intoxication,
Inflamed nephrons burst, your condition's getting worse,
Chronically diffused, your liver you will lose.
Bodily distillation, as emerged flesh reacts,
With alcoholic contents, in your urinally tract.
Dripping fluid as the decrepit appendix weeps.
Matter turns to fluid, intoxicating ablution,
Bilary dehydration, innards to solution.
Bleeding urine as the inflamed bladder rips.
The blood now critically proof, neural cells fatally quenched,
Drowning in spilt retention, hepatic tissue ferments.
Contamination, foul circulation.
Alcohol force fed, goes straight to your head,
Brain tissue damaged, fused with alcohol sewage.
In a stupor you die, your brain lobes you fry.
17 Exhume to Consume (04:18)
Grimly I dig up the turfs
To remove the corrupted stiffs
Trying to contain my excitement
As I desecrate graveolent crypts...
Fingers claw at coffin lids
Eager festal exhumation
Hugging your wry, festered remains
With post-humous joy and elation...
Body snatched, freshly interred
Whatever takes my fancy
To satisfy my gratuitous pica
My culinary necromancy...
Scrutinised then brutalised
My forensic inquisition is fulfiled
My recipe is now your epitaph
Be it fried, boiled or grilled...
I devour the pediculous corpse
Whetting my palate as I exhume
The festering stench of rotting flesh
Makes me drool as I consume...
Caskets I grate
My larder's a grave
I'm sickly obsessed (with the badly decomposed)
Rotten remains I eat
Purulent meat
What a funeral feast (putrid reek)
Weeping tissue is stripped
Pus dribbles from my lips
Pulverising this pustular chaff
Butchering up morgue's makes me laugh...
Ulcerated flesh I munch
Rotting corpses are my lunch
On bones I love to crunch (on the badly decomposed)
Shrivelled innards I lick
The corpse's head I kick
Crumbling shreds I pick (eat the stiffs)
Rancid flesh, slaughter the dead
Caskets exhumed...
Corpses disinterred, graves disturbed
To consume...
Bereaved relatives are not amused
As on their dear departed I feverishly consume...
Slavering worms, decomposure burns
Corrosion born, as bacteria gnaw
Desecrate...
Precipitate....(from the muddy grave)
Macerate...
Eviscerate...
Caskets I grate
My larder's a grave
I'm sickly obsessed (with the badly decomposed)
Rotten remains I eat
Purulent meat
What a funeral feast (putrid reek)
Saponified fats, nibbled by rats
freshly exhumed...
Deep down six feet is where I like to eat
Human flesh to consume...
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