I don't think any metal-band has been as frustrated as Carcass the last year. The band got a once in a lifetime chance by signing with the Columbia label, but in the end, the record company refused to release their album...
I really don't understand what happened. They said they liked our music, but they wanted us to change the vocal-parts into something more accessible. That was one thing we didn't want to do, so we were stuck in the middle of nowhere. We had a great album on our hands, but the label didn't want to release it.
In the end, the band was free to leave Columbia and they took the album with them. They signed a contract with their old label, Earache, who released the opus, entitled Swansong, in early June. But before that happened, Carcass had decided to split...
When our guitarist Bill Steer decided to leave we sat down and discussed the situation. Jeff was tired of changing guitarist all the time, and he suggested that we split the band. We all agreed, because in a way we felt that it would never be the same band again after all that had happened.
So what happens next. Are all members on their way to new bands?
No, it's not that complicated, the three of us have formed a new band under the moniker Black Star. We already have 11 songs written and recorded, and Jeff is doing some promotion for the demo right now.
To complete the line-up of Black Star the three remaining Carcass members have recruited ex-Cathedral and Year Zero guitarist Griff. But, what will separate Black Star from Carcass?
There will hardly be any major changes. Black Star probably has a bit more traditional sound, with some more groove than Carcass.
Looking back on the albums you have done, you have changed over the years, the earlier albums were just like a pathologist's diary...
We have always been fascinated by the things that we have been doing. It has never been an image for the band, but just maybe we overdid some of the early gore-related stuff, ha, ha. Anyway, after three albums with that subject we felt that the music itself had developed the band into a more mature direction. Carcass may have split, but we have the memory of the band in the five albums they did. And later this summer there will be a video as well, covering the band's entire career.
It's a bit sad to say good-bye to Carcass now, now that they finally have become a very good band. Swansong is heavy, it's brutal, but it's also melodic, and has lots of songs of high quality. [5/6]
