The Ultimate Review of Heartwork

Among many other things I have recently been recommended to listen to, Heartwork by Carcass was the one that I felt the biggest pull towards. Despite the fact that Carcass is known as a grindcore band, I was assured that this album was melodic death metal, and one of the best melodeath albums at that. Many people have claimed it to be a classic, so that should be as good a reason as any to check it out.

Since the lead guitarist is Michael Amott, I was fairly certain that there'd be some interesting guitar sections on Heartwork. That part doesn't disappoint, and there are plenty of enjoyable moments. Sometimes it feels like they're a bit too far apart though, and I kind of wish there were more melodic hooks finding their way through the thick riffs that play across most of the album. There are also a lot of time where the leads lack any real feeling and it doesn't have any effect on me.

I also find the vocals to be poor. They're just not very nice to listen to, a weak snarl that doesn't fit in with the riffs pouring out of the guitars. They detract a great amount from everything else, because while they might fit with a band like Kalmah, for Carcass they simply don't work. At least the drumming never has any bad moments, everything that Ken Owen does is very solid and enjoyable. He never does anything that sounds out of place either, never just tries to show off. He stays within the bounds of the music and delivers a very good performance.

Other people have mentioned it, and I'm going to have to say that the further on this album goes the more samey it begins to sound. As a result everything drags on forever and by the end you're left thinking that you're listening to Grieving Age (ie. every song feels like it lasts forever). There are good things about the songs that come later on too, but they're more limited and it begins to feel really boring.

By the time that the album was actually done, I was breathing a sigh of relief. Good moments are hidden within this record, but after forty minutes that feel more along the lines of an hour and a half I'm really pretty stumped to name what's good and what's bad. Too many songs feature the same riffs and the vocals never have any kind of unique identification, and the good things get lost inside that.

It's quite obvious why this would be an influential piece of music at its time of release, but there are many far more interesting records than this if you're seeking something of interest. There are some good tracks like the title track, and actually the first half of the album is fairly enjoyable, but by the end the ideas and the songwriting are tired are I find myself looking for something more interesting to listen to.
Final Score: 42 / 100