Carcass

Carcass made the leap from a garden-variety death metal band with Heartwork in 1993, breaking from the gore-obsessed lyrics and Cookie Monster vocals that had marked their previous work (and that of pretty much every other death metal band of the time). Incorporating clear, Maiden-worthy guitar leads and unobtrusive but distinct melodies, Carcass changed the way death metal was perceived. As heavy and challenging as any of their earlier albums, if not more so, Heartwork's influence is seminal in the melodic death metal movement that followed. "Embodiment" says it all.

What's a headbanger to do? That grunge/alternative metal/whatever stuff doesn't really,
well, rock. That Helmet-style surgical precision is too icy. Your friends laugh at your
spandex-'n-studs dinosaurmetal CDs. You know all the lyrics on your Slayer albums, you
play them all the time ... but you still have yearnings. Death-metal bands understand this.
Before, they worshiped atonality to the point of religious fervor while playing as... More >