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Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious

Carcass - Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious Audio CD

A fair review of the Carcass "Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Carcass reviews here, or go back to the Carcass tabs.

Band: Carcass
Title: Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious
Rating:

Release Date: 1995-03-07
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Inpropagation 2: Corporal Jigsore Quandary 3: Symposium of Sickness 4: Pedigree Butchery 5: Incarnated Solvent Abuse 6: Carneous Cacoffiny 7: Lavaging Expectorate of Lysergide Composition 8: Forensic Clinicism/The Sanguine Article 9: Tools of the Trade [*] 10: Pyosified [*] 11: Hepatic Tissue Fermentation II [*]

Oh my God? What are these? You can hear people puking...They're dog meat!
Steer wielding a guitar compares with Parmigianino wielding a pencil. William G.
A masterpiece.

Carneous Cacoffiny
Whether he was being facetious or remarkably astute, he was correct. Michael Schenker once said that when Punks finally learned to play their instruments, the music would be called Metal. Carcass, with roots firmly planted in the fledgling mid-80s Grindcore scene, created `Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious', an album widely hailed as one of the all time greats in Death Metal.

Because the band approached the music from a different background to traditional Death Metal bands, Carcass were not constrained by it's invisible but impenetrable boundaries, and "Necroticism. . . " is not strictly a pure Death Metal album, but contains a large Grindcore component. The progress in the years since the release of the bloody pulp of `Symphonies Of Sickness' and the indecipherable white noise of `Reek Of Putrefaction' was remarkable. The Punks had indeed learned to play their instruments.

Carcass' 1987 debut album `Reek Of Putrefaction' was a balls-out one-riff-per-song blast, with only one song passing the three minute mark, while many were considerably shorter, as was the old Grindcore tradition. Fast forward to 1992 and the band's songwriting and composition skills had developed to the point where songs were now six or seven minutes. Riff after riff was strung together, like a DNA double helix. Carcass adapted many songwriting conventions, like introductions, and rudimentary choruses, but part of the charm of this album is the delight they took in throwing in an unexpected blast passage or discordant solo.

Ken Owen's drumming in particular had matured from frenzied flailing, where he seemed to hit as many drums as possible as rapidly as he could, to a powerful, fluid and accurate sound, part Death, part Grind.

Part of the problem (or part of the charm, depending on how you look at it) with Carcass' first two albums was the indistinct guitar sound. It was loud and blurred, and so poorly defined it is near on impossible to hear what Bill Steer was playing, but was probably true to the band's live sound at the time. However, producer Colin Richardson reassembled Carcass' wall of noise on this album, brick by brick, so the riffs and solos shared and traded by Steer and new boy Michael Amott are crisp and clear, yet heavy and menacing. The opening passage of "Lavaging Expectorate Of Lysergide Composition" bounces along like an Iron Maiden riff on steroids.

Many bands missed the point of Carcass' lyrics and copied the gore theme while trying to be as offensive as possible. Jeff Walker's lyrics have a hidden depth to them. Yes, there are horrific gory passages, which are designed to shock. Behind the medical dictionary verbosity though, lays a witty, satirical sense of humour. Each song has a story to tell. Opener "Inpropagation" is a tale of using human remains as fertiliser. "Incarnated Solvent Abuse" is a recipe for creating glue from rendered down corpses, while "Lavaging Expectorate Of Lysergide Composition" explains how to get high from chemicals created by decaying bodies. Perhaps most repugnant is "Pedigree Butchery", in which human babies are processed as dog food, with wonderful lines like "Rheological, twisted nursery chymes/The fluxing of the defleshed/Paedophilosophical, carnage knowledge/As the illegitimate to the domesticated is fed". The lyrics are still completely indecipherable without a lyric sheet, while Walker took on a bulk of the vocal duties, rather than the three way sharing of the previous albums.

The overall sound of this album was far removed from Carcass' early albums, and quite a distance from most Death Metal bands of the time, except perhaps Bolt Thrower. Before `Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious', Carcass had been a bit of a cult band in Death Metal circles, too chaotic to gain wide acceptance, but their perverse lyrical bent was much appreciated. After this album's release however, all things gory and Grindy in the underground were loudly professing their love for Carcass. So imposing is this album that few bands have ever tried to imitate it's sound, and none have ever succeeded, not even Carcass.

Carcass delivers
Thought not as good as heartwork, the two can hardly be compaired. This is a great carcass album. This is much heavier and more brutal than heartwork. The songs are very good and extremly catchy. The only flaw in this album is the weak production.

SINGING ABOUT THE UNHEALTHY.
With this release they got more melodic and technical than their previous efforts. This band was one of the best in grind period. The production is really good and the songs are also quite heavy. You got to love those intro samples on each song. The guitar work is really refined and catchy. No one could deny that these guys are talented even if you do not like what they are singing about. You should own this in your cd collection if you dont already have it.

"The picture of ill health, you're a bit cut up..."
I've been a metal fan for 20 years, and this CD has had more spins than any of the other hundreds of discs in my collection. Its hard to describe this album as anything less than incredible. No contest. I believe this to be Carcass' finest hour. . . the perfect compromise of the awesome brutality of 'Reek of Putrefaction' and 'Symphonies of Sickness' and the ingenious song structure of their other masterpiece: 'Heartwork'. In my opinion, this is THE death/grind album. Nobody does it like Carcass did. The guitar work is amazing, and the dual solos and vocals are just plain awesome. From the grinding opener "Impropagation" to the beautiful ending of "Forensic Clinicism/The Sanguine Article" (which is the original last track on the CD) this album never ceases to amaze me. I don't own any other CD that I've listened to so frequently and enjoy so completely as Necroticism. Its been over 10 years, and this one is still going strong. Buy this. :).

You can see a complete list of all Carcass discography, or go back to the Carcass tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.