Trollheart

And so, Much Later...

Time does strange things to a man. When I set out to cover as many Heavy Metal reviews as I could in a month, in the original Metal Month, back in 2013, I did my best to explore not just the Metal I liked but to encompass as many subgenres as I could, especially those I either was not familiar with or did not like or listen to. Among those, then, was an album loved by you all but which I could never get into. Here is the original review of it by me three years ago.

Originally posted as part of Metal Month in The Playlist of Life, October 2 2013 (Technically though, not a reprint, as though the review was written and uploaded, for some reason it disappeared into the ether and was never found. To date, only Batty has seen this original review as I PM'd it to him at his request. Needless to say, it took some time for him to stop laughing...)

Heartwork --- Carcass --- 1993 (Earache)

Is there really a term "melodic death metal"? The two seem incompatible somehow, and yet, after listening to In Flames I would wonder. There's certainly a world --- a galaxy --- of difference between "Sounds from a playground fading" and "Heretic", for example. So can the sub-genre be split even further, subdivided into other sounds and influences? Well yes of course it can: death metal already encompasses elements of technical, progressive, doom, and of course goregrind, deathgrind and any other grind you care to mention, to say nothing of deathcore and even death'n'roll! So melodic death metal doesn't seem that much a stretch.

I'm taking a listen to this album for one reason only really: I love the cool sleeve designed by HR Giger. Now that may seem shallow and simplistic, but you know, I don't have the time (nor the inclination) to listen to every band's full discography, and unlike The Batlord and Unknown Soldier I don't know all of these bands intimately already, so I'm sort of puddle-hopping here, not quite throwing a dart at a board but certainly making guesses, sometimes educated sometimes not, at what might be the best example of a particular artiste's work, what's considered their seminal album, or on occasions, just the one that is likely to make my ears bleed the least.

This one comes recommended, so I'm willing to give it a go. It's all quite tasteful really for the opener, "Buried dreams", with decent chugging guitar work that stays on the road rather than careening madly over the edge and into the abyss, but then when the vocals come in, well, let's just say they're a little disappointing. Still, I'm sort of getting used, or immune perhaps, to death vocals so it doesn't turn me off when Jeff Walker spits and growls the lyric at me. I'm trying to listen to the music. And it's pretty good really. "Carnal forge" is a lot faster and confused, with the vocal totally indecipherable to me. But then a really nice guitar solo cuts through the confusion and the track takes on a different identity, before plunging back into the maelstrom it emerged briefly from.

"No love lost" could I suppose be said to characterise my own relationship with death metal, definitely not a genre I could ever see myself getting into. Again it's got good guitar parts and some fine shredding from Michael Arnott, but not too much else to recommend it, from my girly point of view. The vocals certainly don't help. The title track then seems to want to compete for the fastest, hardest opening of a track I've yet heard, and still it settles down to some really good fretwork before Walker comes in to snarl all over it again. Nice doubel guitar attack near the end but it doesn't last for more than a few seconds.

I guess I could see the "melodic" side of this if it wasn't for the roaring and screaming of Jeff Walker, because the two guitarists are really good, Jeff can play the bass and the drummer is certainly competent (sorry but that's all I can ever say about drummers: I couldn't tell you who's a great one and who's a bad one). Even so, it's again sort of sliding by without making too much of an impression on me, as "Embodiment" slips into "This mortal coil" and on into "Arbeit macht fleish" without any real difference making itself apparent to me. I believe, unless I miss my guess, that the title of that last one is German for "Freedom through labour" and is at the entrance to the notorious Nazi concentration camp, Dachau. Other than that, I have no interest in this track. Or most of the others that came before it.

Nor, in all likelihood, the ones to follow, of which there are three. "Blind bleeding the blind" (see what they did there?) at least has some interesting stop/start guitar and some pretty slick solos, and slows down from the breakneck speed of the last few songs, while "Doctrinal expletives" doesn't leave too much to the imagination, and the album closes on perhaps a rather appropriate track entitled "Death certificate", which certainly has a lot of power and ends the album with a final karate chop to the neck, though for me it's more being put out of my misery really.

TRACKLISTING

1. Buried dreams
2. Carnal forge
3. No love lost
4. Heartwork
5. Embodiment
6. This mortal coil
7. Arbeit macht fleisch
8. Blind bleeding the blind
9. Doctrinal expletives
10. Death certificate

It's a struggle to see how this kind of music can qualify as melodic under any criteria you care to mention, though it can't be denied the guitar work is at times quite superb. But unlike In Flames, there are few hooks here and less real melody, with every track just pounding along as fast as is humanly possible and Jeff Walker screeching and snarling over the whole thing. Never gonna get this, never.


Time moves on. I'm not going to pretend I've listened to Heartwork, or indeed, any other Carcass album, in the interim, but what I have done, mostly through the two subsequent Metal Months, is open myself out to some of the more extreme Metal subgenres, some of which I have come to appreciate, some to fear less, and some of which remain a mystery to me. So, with this relatively newfound tolerance for and acceptance of music I had not given the time of day to before, has my opinion albums or bands I have not been previously able to get into changed? This is what I intend to explore though this section, and the first and most important question, given the above review, is has my view of this album changed? Can I now see it for the masterpiece it is said to be, or am I still just basically shrugging my shoulders, frowning and saying “I don't get it”? Let's see.

Right, well as expected it's a crunching fretfest right out of the gate, with percussion kinda sounding like metal on metal, if you know what I mean, then the guitars get into a positive groove which for now I really like. Initially I feel more optimistic about this. The vocal is scratchy but (hold on till I pull up the lyric sheet – hmm. ”Welcome to a world of hate.” Didn't know you cared, guys! Rolling out the red carpet eh? The really red carpet. How'd you get it so red, boys? It almost looks like human – never mind.)
)
I can more or less make out what's being sung. Kind of like a much rougher Biff from Saxon. Maybe. Riffs are cool, really rocking along here. With two lead guitarists in Bill Steer and Michael Arnott I guess you'd expect that. Got to love the line ”The sands of time kicked in your face”! Great solo there, really sweet and this time around by holy fuck I can certainly call this melodic, and very much so. Think it was the vocals that put me off originally, before I matured and manned up a little.

So that's the first track done and I definitely appreciate this more than I did first time around. “Carnal forge” is more manic and breakneck, and wow they sure do use big words don't they? Meritricious, multifarious and internecine all in the one verse! And is “enmangling” a word? Another superb solo from Steer, which weirdly actually slows this song down for a short moment, then we're back galloping to the finish line with some more impressive shredding, this time from Arnott. Superb. “No love lost” kicks off in something more of a boogie vein, with a big guitar intro before Jeff Walker snarls and drools all over it in a particularly rabid display. I'm never fond of that style of vocal, probably never will be, but at least it no longer ruins the music for me, and this time I can appreciate the excellent guitar work and tight percussion holding this together. Probably my least favourite, however, so far, on the album.

Here they go again, making up words on the title track - “magniloquent”? - but that doesn't detract from how great this song is. Powerful, snarling guitars and battering percussion, then a really excellent intro that kind of wouldn't be out of place on a Maiden or Helloween album before it all kicks up to ten again and rocks like there's no tomorrow. Oddly enough, I can actually make out what Walker is singing here: guess he has different levels to how he sings and is not, as I once believed, just growling. Silly me. Good buildup on the guitar then it absolutely trundles away on hammering drums before Steer picks it up again, more shredding, solos and power right in your face. “Embodiment” grinds things a little, slower and darker, with Walker's vocal perfectly complementing the feel of the track. Looks like poor old Jesus is getting it from these guys too! Great work from Arnott here, and later by Steer, the two working really well together. Great lines here: ”In god we trussed” ”Our will be done/ Thy kingdom burn” and my favourite, ”Stations of the lost.” Stay away from any churches, boys, and keep an eye on the sky for lightning bolts!

Galloping start to “This mortal coil” with some truly amazing fretwork, and the pace has been kicked up after the rather comparatively plodding previous track. Great energy here as we experience another staple of Metal bands, the good old Apocalypse. “Abreicht mach fleisch” was, I believe, originally an error on my part as I believed the title referred to the infamous inscription over the gates of Auschwitz. I see now that the original inscription was “Arbeit macht frei” (work makes you free, or freedom through work) whereas the last word here is “fleisch”. What does that mean? Meh, does it matter? It seems to be a song looking at the mechanisation of our world and how we, as humans, get drawn into and become part of that mechanisation, or to quote Pink Floyd perhaps, “Welcome to the machine”. Hmm. It's a fast, powerful, driving song with a lot to say, and sort of sliding into something of a boogie in the midsection. I like the link of ”Grave to the grind” and ”A grave to the blind.”

Speaking of the blind, next track “Blind bleeding the blind” (geddit?) keeps the wordplay clever and also delivers something of a masterclass of shredding intermixed with quite sublime solos, a snarling vocal as Jeff Walker somewhat reverts to type, though I can still clearly make out what he's singing. Plenty of more wordplay in “Doctrinal expletives”, especially when Walker sings ”A play on words/ Or words on play.” The solos start early here, and the riffage is, well, fantastic. We end then on “Death certificate”, which starts off with the very vaguest nods to Doom metal but then kicks up into a a fast shred and goes for the throat, leaving you gagging and bleeding on the ground, just wanting more as your lifeblood ebbs away.

Result!

How about that then? What a complete change of heart from how I viewed this album a mere four years ago. I can now properly appreciate how good this is, not even ignoring the vocal really but giving it its proper place, and the music! I can finally hear the music and understand how really fucking great it is. I can understand now why people rate this album so high, and while this style would still not be my preference, I would not be averse to hearing more at some point.

For now, I'm just glad I finally get it. Better late than never, huh?

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