CARCASS - NECROTICISM - DESCANTING THE INSALUBRIOUS (1991)

This classic Death Metal gem on a Full Dynamic Range vinyl reissue from 2017 on Earache. Bought this last year don't know if every copy has switched A and B-labels of this LP? Because mine have that.

Back in the early 90’s whenever Headbanger’s Ball would show the videos for the songs Incarnated Solvent Abuse and Corporal Jigsore Quandary I really liked them. So much that I recorded both those 2 songs on a VHS-tape along with other Death and Thrash Metal bands at the time. But whenever I listened to the Necroticism album at one of my local record stores, on numerous occasions also, it never convinced me to buy it.

Carcass weren’t like the other Death Metal bands I enjoyed at the time Dismember, Morbid Angel, Entombed, Unleashed etc. Actually it wasn’t probably until late 90’s/early 2000 that I picked up Necroticism on CD and finally understood what everyone else already knew years ago.

Carcass added a second guitarist next to Bill Steer during the 2nd part of the 1990 tour for their previous album Symphonies Of Sickness (1989). That guy was Michael Amott from the amazing Swedish Death Metal band Carnage. He was involved in the music writing of both Incarnated Solvent Abuse and Corporal Jigsore Quandary the later one a collaboration with Bill Steer and drummer Ken Owen.

However their main music writer for the album was Bill Steer, even if drummer Ken Owen also wrote contributed music to 3 songs and vocalist/bassist Jeff Walker wrote all the lyrics. They recorded the album with producer Colin Richardson (Bolt Thrower, Gorefest, Fear Factory etc).

The first album by Carcass I bought was Heartwork (1993) although how brilliant that one is and I’ve listened to it literary to death. I find myself leaning more and more nowadays towards Necroticism whenever I need my Carcass fix.

Witnessed them live about 3 weeks ago at a festival and they were great. For my taste there were a bit to many songs from Surgical Steel (2013). There’s so many songs from Necroticism I wanted them to play like: Carneous Cacoffiny; Symposium of Sickness; Inpropagation etc. but I was still pleased with their performance.

Anyway Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious is a timeless classic Death Metal album that everyone should own!

VENOM x 4

”Welcome To Hell” (1981); “Black Metal” (1982); ”At War With Satan” (1984) and “Possessed” (1985). This extremely important and amazing band that paved the way for the entire Black Metal scene.

Instead of me going through each album I’ve written down my favorite Venom songs. That also serves as a guide to anyone who might be unfamiliar with these British beasts. Even if I seriously doubt anyone not to like Venom. I could list MANY more then 21 songs, but didn’t want to overdo it. 21 is a good start:
- Countess Bathory
- Warhead
- Live Like An Angel (Die Like A Devil)
- Buried Alive
- Die Hard
- Seven Gates of Hell
- Bloodlust
- Manitou
- Witching Hour
- Black Metal
- Welcome To Hell
- In Nominas Satan
- Bursting Out
- Possessed
- In League With Satan
- Hellchild
- At War With Satan
- Heaven’s On Fire
- Don’t Burn The Witch
- Rip Ride
- Angel Dust

The song Possessed was the very first Venom and Black Metal song I ever heard. It’s played in the documentary/TV-show “Dancing With The Devil” (1991) that I saw in the summer of 1992 when I was 12 years old. My older sister had recorded it on VHS from Swedish TV3. Possessed had lyrics that sounded both evil and cool to the young me:

“Look at me Satan's child
Born of evil thus defiled
Brought to life through Satanic birth
Raised in Hell to live on Earth”

Even if it was just a short clip of the song it still left an impact on me. But I wasn’t ready for Venom yet I still was listening to Thrash Metal and dipping my ears in the Death Metal scene. The early Venom are simply brilliant. A band me and my friends would always play every time we drank beer and booze before going to the only “Metal bar” in our hometown in the 90’s.

My first Heavy Metal experience

“Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son” (1988) by Iron Maiden was released on this day 30 years ago. 2018 also marks the 30th anniversary of me listening to Metal and this was the first album I ever got. Here on a UK first print LP and my first personal Heavy Metal cassette I ever owned.

My story isn’t unique when I was 8 years in 1988 I made a new friend at school. Me and him were “usual kids” and played the 8-bit Nintendo, watched Schwarzenegger and horror movies. We also used to rummage through his 2 older brothers rooms for Heavy Metal records which we weren’t supposed to do (think it was because of the Rambo and stiletto knifes there something we also was very fascinated by) but the little bastards we were did this anyway. Remember listening to bands like Judas Priest, W.A.S.P., Dio and others but the one band we liked by far the most was Iron Maiden. Some of the songs we used to listening to was Phantom Of The Opera; The Number Of The Beast; Run To The Hills; 2 Minuets To Midnight etc. Just looking at all of the Iron Maiden artwork amazed me. That year in 1988 my mother let me pick any cassette-tape I wanted one day when we where in the city. Took the one I thought had the coolest and most badass cover artwork and it was a great choice and played that tape nonstop.

Even still to this day whenever I hear the intro to Moonchild I get goosebumps. “Piece of Mind”; “The Number of the Beast” or “Powerslave” probably have more iconic songs and "Iron Maiden" and “Killers” with Paul Di'Anno are simply brilliant albums also. But if I only could listen to one Iron Maiden for the rest of my life I would choose “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son” without a doubt it has a very special place in my cold Metal heart. I know this album was considered to be a bit controversial because the band use keyboards and it didn’t sell as well in North America because “it’s to European sounding”. But who the hell cares when an album is so brilliant as this one!

My 2 favorite...

...albums are number 1. "The IVth Crusade" (1992) and 2nd favorite is "...For Victory" (1994) both on silver Full Dynamic Range vinyls limited to 500 copies each that Earache reissued last year.

Many argue which one is their best some say that it's "Realm Of Chaos" (1989) the bands second full length studio album or its follow-up "War Master" (1991). Seldom some would mention the debut "In Battle There Is No Law!" (1988) when the band had a more kind of Grindcore sound (a genre I never got into although I like some early Carcass songs).


Either way no one is wrong the albums between 1989 to 1994 are pure Death Metal at its finest even if I wouldn't have any of them in my top-10 Death Metal albums. In a top-20? Hell fucking YES!!

Coventry, England is where Bolt Thrower started their career in 1986. Before their debut in they released 5 demos and one EP "The Peel Session" (1988). One year after their debut they signed with Earache and released their first album on that classic Death Metal record company.

Back in the early 90’s when I first started getting into the Death Metal scene this was a band I would always hear about but never bought any of their CD’s until many years later. Remember seeing the video for the song Cenotaph from the “War Master" album that my older sister had recorded to VHS from European Headbanger’s Ball. Also myself recording the excellent the title track from “The IVth Crusade”. It’s really strange I didn’t buy any of their records because Bolt Thrower are such an amazing Death Metal band. But then again I was more into the North American & Swedish scene back then except for Carcass.

The band toured extensively during 1993-94 for "The IVth Crusade" after its release in October of 1992 in 1993 the band did something like 51 gigs. An European tour with Vader and Grave called 'World Crusade Tour' in 1993 also an Australian tour with Armoured Angel and in 1994 an North American tour with fellow British Death Metal act Benediction.


"...For Victory" was released in November of 1994 and they only toured in Europe for that record if I'm correct. The 'No guts, No Glory' tour in 1995 with Cemetary and Brutality the average setlist would have 8 songs from the new one, 4 songs of “The IVth Crusade” and 2 songs from the “War Master" album. Second 1996 tour in Europe was called 'Fuck Price Politics' for this one they had Sentenced, Power of Expression and Varukers with them.

It would take the band 4 years release their album "Mercenary" in November of 1998. A long time one can think in the 90's when many Death Metal bands had their most productive time even if Bolt Thrower had made 5 records in a 6 year period. I think that the Death Metal genre had already peaked and since 1995 there haven't been any records by any band that can top the classics like "Altars Of Madness", "Left Hand Path", "Deicide", "Covenant", Leprosy", "Like An Everflowing Stream" and so on. The band released 2 more albums after the "Mercenary" record which was the last to be released on Earache Records they signed with Metal Blade Records and their last record became "Those Once Loyal" in 2005.

As you probably know they split up in 2016 exactly one year on the date that their drummer Martin Kearns (1977-2015) passed away. Of the longtime members Gavin Ward (guitar), Barry Thompson (guitar), Jo Bench (bass) only vocalist Karl Willetts is still active in the music industry as far as I know. He’s currently vocalist in the Death Metal band Memoriam with the former Bolt Thrower drummer Andrew Whale (1986-94) that started in 2016 and have released two albums. If you haven’t heard Bolt Thrower any of the 4 first albums on Earache is a great start.

Dedicated to Martin Kearns (1977-2015)