BIG69 is BIG because: Carcass

Jan 10 • News • 2572 Views • 1 Comment on BIG69 is BIG because: Carcass

‘Metal heads’ who were introduced to the genre because of a Reverbnation playlist full of artists with advanced Photoshop art album covers and ambient space music backgrounds are oblivious to the very putrid and gore labelled outfits that fall under the ‘extreme’ niche. Although the country prepares itself for a night of brilliance from the British metallers who like to call themselves Carcass, it’s obvious to say that some are enthralled more by the fandom the band has than its music.

Watch Carcass play at BIG69

For a band with a history like Carcass, a decade long career followed by an even longer hiatus and a reunion without their original drummer seems to be among the many things that has heaped the band the way it is. Of course someone not a part of the band can only know so much. There was a time the band’s fans went about saying they were either too repetitive or they were too influenced by everything else. “Encorporating Bhangra in CARACASS simply wouldn’t work”, says the band. “That said we are clever in CARCASS we DO encorpoarate styles and influences that people don’t detect because our personal listening styles have changed and it STILL sounds like CARCASS.” Similarly there’s a lot of Carcass fans out there who’ve put them on the mantle as pioneers of two prominent style of playing metal; grindcore and melodic death. When one listens to a song off Heartwork, the obvious reaction is that it’s a cheap Hypocrisy or Children of Bodom rip off although it’s the opposite that’s true. “I can think of more ‘guilty’ parties who ran with our ‘style’ and ‘influence’”, is all they had to say when we named a few bands that play tribute to their Heartwork style. We never hear them complain of bands that are obviously playing that style of music, instead they credit the dissolution of pioneering bands as what clears way for those bands to finally come in and fill that vacuum. Maybe so, post their breakup in 1995, there was a breakout of modern day melodic death metal outfits like Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, Shadows Fall, Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork to name a few. The best part is that Carcass credits its music to be something that developed out of the scene that was happening in the late 80s, instead of taking credit for it all.

“If it (any band’s current sound experimentation) deviates too far from the original vision of the band then yes”. The band is very vocal when it comes to how far a band can go about experimenting with its music: there’s no way people would listen to a death metal band if it became a soft rock and roll oufit. Also, in a music industry like today’s where record labels and fans often corner bands into making decisions that could result in the total artistic breakdown of the band, we have Carcass, still doing things the way they did back in the 80s. The late H.R. Giger famous for his surreal art and close association to a certain style of metal (read Celtic Frost) did the art for their Heartwork album cover, and in such situations they tend to have a lot of influence on the way the music sounds in the end. “Sadly he wanted to do the video for “Heartwork” but Columbia Records wouldn’t give him the budget he wanted”, says the band. They also said that Giger didn’t influence them but their work with the music and theme of Heartwork got the late artist working on something as incredible as the art.

Extreme metal has always been anti authoritative in terms of the attitudes of the metal heads and also the music that bands played back then was simply put, ‘telling the system to put a sock in it’. The most challenged authority has always been the Papal church and it’s been a consistent theme with metal through its history but in recent days a new issue is coming forward with artists and free thinkers alike campaigning for the same: legalization of marijuana globally. Doing things out of the way has always been synonymous with metal music but now even mainstream bands are doing the same. “Stoner” means to get stoned (high) on Marijuana and I think it’s personal choice and as long as you don’t effect anyone else then what you do with your body is not my concern. Personally I find smoking Marijuana BORING.”