Malevolent Elegance: CARCASS - Despicable EP Review

The melo-death pioneers set the stage for their impending full-length with a gruesome 4-track beast of an EP.

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With a jurassic twist on the Rod of Asclepius to speak for it, CARCASS come forth with the Despicable EP, the band's first collection of music since 2013's Surgical Steel. Arriving on October 30th via Nuclear Blast Records, Despicable sets the stage for their 7th studio album, the likes of which has come to be highly anticipated by audiences worldwide, and rightfully so.

Fans have had the pleasure of diving into two previously released singles from the EP, The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue and The Long and Winding Bier Road, both of which showcase the signature chops of axeman Bill Steer and frontman Jeff Walker. Each hymn comes packed with Steer riffs to soak in, harkening back to the band's Heartwork (1993) days. Despite changes in their drumming and second guitar arena since then, CARCASS is still unmistakably CARCASS decades later, and the previously mentioned tracks could be seamlessly integrated into the masterwork that was Surgical Steel.

Under the Scalpel Blade, which arrived via Decibel Magazine's flexi disc series last year, makes a welcome addition to the EP, the likes of which rounds out at a solid 4 tracks. It's here that we witness the powerhouse that is Daniel Wilding on the drums, establishing himself as a force in death metal drumming. Slaughtered In Soho closes the show at a much slower pace than that of the previous offerings, yet still commanding with visceral force. The riffs remain juicy, Walker's growls remain gruesome, and quite frankly, the band is still at an elite level, rivaling that of their contemporary genre counterparts.

Though the globe anticipates next year's full-length, Despicable is the right amount of CARCASS to hold one off in the meantime. It's as they say, all killer no filler, blasting listeners away with malevolent groove one track after the next. If Despicable is any indication of the direction that CARCASS is headed 30+ years into their existence, rest assured that we'll be getting a year-end contender come 2021.

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Despicable arrives on October 23rd via Nuclear Blast Records. Get your copy HERE.