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CARTILAGE “The Operating Altar”
CARTILAGE “The Operating Altar”
By Dr. Abner Mality
CARCASS worship used to almost be a genre unto itself, with many bands trying their hand at music clearly inspired by the original British sickos. I think of IMPALED, COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINERS, HAEMORRHAGE, REGURGITATION and more. But in recent years, these bands have mostly faded away and CARCASS tributes are no longer so numerous.
That works in CARTILAGE’s favor. These San FRancisco ghouls, who have been around for a good many years, have the sub-genre much to themselves. With “The Operating Altar”, they are clearly playing tribute to the greatest CARCASS album of them all, “Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious”. So expect gory death thrash with some class and a reasonable injection of melody instead of the putrid gory grind of early CARCASS. “The Operating Altar” is a concept album telling the story of a medical student discovering a hospital’s history of horror and malpractice. This is something a Psycho-Surgeon such as myself can sink sharpened teeth into.
The melody is there and the songs are well structured but you’ll no doubt be pleased to know that things don’t get too “sweetened” ala “Swansongs” and even “Heartwork”. I would say IMPALED is the closest band in spirit to CARTILAGE. The tracks here are just as much influenced by thrash as pure melodic death metal, which gives a bite to “Metal, Bone and Sinew” and “The Sanguine Fiend”. But the “Necroticism”-era CARCASS vibe is undeniable and songs like the title track and “Among the Offal” could be out-takes from that enduring classic. Vocals range from deep fried crispy shrieks to a kind of gruff grumble reminding me of some of GHOUL’s mutterings. No clean vocals appear, fortunately!
To enter the blood-soaked aura of CARTILAGE’s morbid sickness, check yourself into St. Petersen’s University Hospital and await a visit from my associate, Dr. Warwick Locke…
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