CARCASS Frontman Says New Album Is 'A Return To Form'

The Rock Pit recently conducted an interview with bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker of reactivated British extreme metal pioneers CARCASS. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

The Rock Pit: I've been listening to the new song, "Captive Bolt Pistol", off the new album and I love the song, it's great and I'm glad you got this as the first single. Was it a conscious decision to make this particular song the first single off the album?

Jeff: Well, from my point of view, the label insisted on a track that gained interest, but Bill [Steer], the guitarist, and Dan [Wilding], the drummer, were in favor of that song. Me, personally, it's not my favorite on the album, I don't really think it represents the album. In fact, I would rather the album just came out and people listened to it in its entirety. It's pretty difficult to pick and choose; any single person is gonna prefer one song and the other guy is gonna pick another song. You can't please everyone at once, so I'd rather people just listen to the body of work.

The Rock Pit: So the rest of the album, how does it compare to the other albums?

Jeff: It's as strong as any given two or three, depending on which is your favorite album. The problem with our back catalogue is that all five albums, although they all sound like CARCASS, all sound bold and different and I think this album is no different than that. It sounds different, but it still has all the elements of CARCASS. I mean, it sounds like CARCASS; that's all I can say, really. It's extremely aggressive, especially compared to "Swansong", our last album. What does every band say? A return to form.

The Rock Pit: With the producer on the album, was it Colin Richardson or did I hear that he actually left and that Andy Sneap took over? What was the story there?

Jeff: Colin Richardson produced it and then Andy Sneap mixed it. Colin was meant to mix it, but he elected to bail out and he asked Andy Sneap to take over, which, from a production point of view, was an important decision. Colin did tell us that he was one of the few people he would trust, so Andy Sneap mixed it. It was kind of a dream team, to be honest.

The Rock Pit: I heard there was a couple of extra songs that were left out of the album. Is that true, and if so, are there any plans to release those at all?

Jeff: There was 15 tracks from the session. On the standard album, there is only 11 tracks. On the digipack, I think it is 12, so that leaves 3 tracks. They will surface at some point, but we didn't want to interupt the flow of the album. The other tracks are a bit more kind of almost bordering on the "Swansong" territory — more groovy rock stuff — and we wanted to keep the album aggressive, but they will surface at some point.

The Rock Pit: Obviously, you guys reformed a few years back but what made you decide to only put out an album now as opposed to earlier on?

Jeff: Because there was never an intention of making an album. We got back together because people wanted us to perform live and after a few years of doing that I guess we just got the fire again. We just felt we were in a position and capable of pulling off a cue. I think we've actually pulled off a great album after 17 years that artistically sounds valid and interesting and not do something as a cash-in or sound like a bunch of old farts, but actually sound like a bunch of kids again.

Read the entire interview at The Rock Pit.