CARCASS's JEFF WALKER: There's Been A Demise In Quality Of Death Metal Since Mid-'90s

Metal Wani editor in chief Owais "Vitek" Nabi recently conducted an interview with bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker of British extreme metal pioneers CARCASS. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On CARCASS guitarist Bill Steer's recent comment that he and drummer Daniel Wilding have begun working on material for the follow-up to 2013's "Surgical Steel" album:

Walker: "I can only say what Bill means by him and Dan have been working, he means they've had two rehearsals. 'Cause there's been no time [to work on new music], you know. We got back from Europe just in December [after] five weeks on the road. Bill was straight out with [his other band] GENTLEMANS PISTOLS, up until Christmas. So there's been no time to regroup. And the SLAYER [tour of North America has] come up now, so it kind of puts that on the backburner. But in all honesty, we wouldn't be in a rush anyway, because Bill's got a new album with GENTLEMANS PISTOLS anyway, that just got released, so he needs to put in his some work with that band to promote that record. And I'm also in another band [BRUJERIA], and I'm still waiting for [the new BRUJERIA] album to come out, so, really, I should be busy with that band now. And Dan's actually playing in a band with Kai Hansen from GAMMA RAY as well, so us three are quite busy. So the CARCASS thing will be done when we're good and ready. And there's no rush, because we've never rushed. And there's still a kind of demand for us to perform on the back of 'Surgical Steel'. I mean, it came out in 2013, but it only seems like yesterday to me.'

On whether he thinks the next CARCASS album could come out in 2016:

Walker: "It would never happen, because even if we started writing tomorrow, we need time to write. We're not gonna just sit in a room and cobble some songs together in two weeks. 'Surgical Steel' took, from concept, rehearsal to recording, well over a year to bring together. I really couldn't give you a timescale. It might be two years. It depends on us finding the time to do it. The SLAYER thing's gonna take us five weeks. And I'd rather be doing that anyway. At the moment, it's far more interesting. And, you know, we need to be inspired as well. We need some time to regroup and just chill out, and just to get some fire up our asses again."

On why he thinks the CARCASS and AT THE GATES comeback albums have been so well received:

Walker: "I think there's two factors at work here. One is nostalgia. And two, there's been a demise in quality of, whatever you wanna call it, death metal or extreme metal, for me personally, since the mid-'90s. So there's been kind of a vacuum created where bands have got bigger than we ever were, or AT THE GATES, but not necessarily better. So people have been tolerating a kind of substandard product. So when, for want of a better word, the masters of the craft come back, people are hungry for it. 'Cause there's been lots of bands that have ripped off CARCASS, but, arguably, have they been better than what we did? I don't know."

On CARCASS's songwriting approach:

Walker: "The technicality or the progressiveness or the multiple notes, we've done that as well; we do throw those kind of parts in. We just don't base our whole career on it. But heavy metal is about the riff. We're children of the late '60s, me and Bill. So, of course, we love classic heavy metal, so that's always gonna be the basis of what we're doing."

CARCASS's tour with SLAYER and TESTAMENT is scheduled to kick off on February 19 in Chicago, Illinois.

CARCASS released a special edition version of its latest album, "Surgical Steel", on CD and digitally on October 30, and on vinyl on November 20 via Nuclear Blast. The "Complete Edition" includes the whole album "Surgical Steel", along with the entire "Surgical Remission / Surplus Steel" EP. All the songs were recorded during the "Surgical Steel" sessions, which were helmed by producer Colin Richardson (NAPALM DEATH, BOLT THROWER, GOREFEST, CANNIBAL CORPSE, SINISTER, RODRIGO Y GABRIELA) and mixed/mastered by Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, ACCEPT, EXODUS, TESTAMENT).

"Surgical Steel" sold around 8,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 41 on The Billboard 200 chart.