Retro-Review: ‘Heartwork’ by Carcass

Carcass made a sharp, piercing statement in 1993 with Heartwork.

The early 1990s was the time when death metal was coming to its own and several bands were breaking away from what was then a very, very large pack. Carcass is one of the bands from that period who managed to create a sound that was theirs and theirs only.

Sure, Carcass had already carved its own audience out of the larger body of death metal with its prior albums. They incorporated speed, melody and lyrics based on medical terminology in their early days. Heartwork continued that, but not only did it refine the sound, but it saw Carcass broaden its appeal.

Hearwork was one of the handful of albums released in the partnership between Earache Records and Columbia Records, which saw to test the death metal waters. It resulted in some great albums in 1993 — The Ethereal Mirror by Cathedral and Wolverine Blues by Entombed — and showed what could be done with sound when you gave these bands a better budget to record their albums.

The partnership, of course, didn’t lead to a death metal boom, but it did have an impact. In my opinion, at least, death metal album production values went up quite a few notches after these albums were released. While the genre might’ve waned, heavy music in general just seemed like it started to sound better.