Carcass Rips Through Reggie's

By aaroncynic in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 24, 2013 9:15PM

Grindcore pioneers Carcass ripped through Reggie’s Rock Club Monday night on their second of only five tour dates in America. It’s been years since they’ve toured the states and Chicago was quite lucky to have them. Carcass is one of the most technically proficient metal bands recorded—a feat that can be incredibly difficult to reproduce live—but they managed to pull it off with barely a glitch. Even a recent lineup change (Ben Ash replaced guitarist Mike Amott in March) couldn’t slow them down.

“I’m 44, fat and jetlagged,” said singer/bassist Jeff Walker to the sold out sweaty crowd.. “If I can wake up, so can you.” Despite the majority of the crowd being a little older than what one would normally see out late on a Monday night, it only took a few songs from early efforts like Symphonies of Sickness for folks to stretch out their muscles and start moving.

Brand new tracks from the just released album “Surgical Steel,” Carcass’s first in 17 years, blended perfectly, and it almost seemed like they never disappeared. The songs from “Surgical Steel” are the next evolution of the band’s seminal 1993 release “Heartwork,” and will probably set another standard in metal just as it did in the 90’s. While countless metal bands come and go through the years, having classics like Carcass come back to life will be something to remember.