Symposia Of Sickness

So many reunions, so many disappointments. We won't name the culprits but it's undeniable the metal landscape is littered with once great bands who reunited in a blaze of glory and then disappointed with sloppy shows and new material that besmirched their legacy. With Carcass, nothing could be further from the truth. Since reforming in 2007 their shows have been masterclasses in perfection and the new LP, Surgical Steel, is an absolute behemoth. In fact it could be described as the long-lost bridge between Necroticism... and Heartwork. The Music wondered whether this was by design – a belated step that should have been taken back in the early 1990s.

“We can't really be that calculated – it's not that kind of group,” reveals Steer, nonchalantly adding that Carcass “just goes with what feels right… In hindsight though it does sit comfortably with the music we did in the band's middle period. It's hard to analyse why it happened that way although I was listening to a lot of the same types of music I did back then. Maybe that's also why the album doesn't sound very modern – except for the production, which is very contemporary”.

On the issue of influences Steer is at pains to note that Carcass has never been derivative. “Although we love bands like Obituary we were never part of the whole Morrisound thing, which to our minds got very boring very quickly when all the 'clone' bands came on the scene. A lot of them were very proficient players but their music didn't have the impact on me that say the first two Death records had. As a band we actually didn't listen to a lot of extreme metal – except when we were just starting out. We realised early that just listening to your contemporaries doesn't help you innovate – instead we all gravitated towards music that excited us and gave us inspiration. As far as metal was concerned that was the older stuff – Death, Possessed and classic metal bands. We didn't just sit around listening to Cannibal Corpse all day – which is what some people think. [laughs]”

Steer and his bandmates seem genuinely humbled by the ecstatic reception Surgical Steel and the band's reformation has had. In fact he sees their return to our shores as symbolic of their good fortune. “This will be our third visit to Australia. We played way back in 1993 and then as part of the reunion thing a couple of years ago. It's the kind of place people from the UK would love to get to but can't – so for us it's always an amazing experience.”

As for recording plans, Steer pleads, “We're booked up touring for so long that we really can't think past that right now. I think we have to wait until at least the end of winter. I will say though that among the three of us – Dan, Jeff and myself – we are very keen to write new material and push the whole thing forward. That said we're in no rush to do it at the moment.”