This is the early incarnation of the Swedish death metal sound, and probably has crossover appeal to many grind fans. It's simple, straight ahead and complete aggression, though by today's standards it isn't very fast at all. There are only a couple of short blastbeat sections on the album, the rest is either midpaced and chuggy or a fast, frenetic thrashing tempo.
This may have been the first release with the trademark Sunlight Studios sound, though I'm probably wrong about this...the guitars are very downtuned and rumbling, and if you turn this up loud enough the onslaught will cause your bones to rattle. It's not as clean as some other Sunlight productions either, there is just the right amount of raw abrasiveness to the sound that adds to the power of this underrated release. Lead guitar either plays noisy squealing solos (not quite of Entombed's calibre, but still pretty cool n Swedish Death (TM)), or picks out simple Twilight Zoneish melodies over the triumphant roaring power chords of the rythm. Drumming is straightforward and might have done with a little spicing up, but it's not a major gripe, not everyone can play oldschool Swedish death like Nicke Andersen or Hank Amarillo (hah hah). I really don't think any fan of Dismember, Entombed, etc, can bare to be without this in their collection. it's simple, evil, and fucking aggressive death metal the way it was meant to be! How can you go wrong?
Recorded at Studio Sunlight in February 1990.
Music by Carnage.
Lyrics by Carnage.
Music by Fred Estby.
Music by Michael Amott.
Tracks 3, 6, 8 and 9 were originally Dismember songs, see Dismember's demos. Dismember later covered Torn Apart on the Pieces EP.
Johnny Dordevic was credited for bass but did not actually record on the album, just like he didn't actually sing on Entombed's Clandestine despite being credited.
The original 1990 CD pressing NECRO 003/004 CD was a split CD with Hallucinating Anxiety from Cadaver. There is also a 1990 pressing with just Carnage's tracks on Relativity/Earache Records 88561-1105-2. This is considered to also be an original edition.
Reissued by Earache Records in 2000 with extensive liner notes and the bonus tracks:
11. Crime Against Humanity (01:51) *
12. Aftermath (01:23) *
13. The Day Man Lost (01:22) *
14. Crime Against Humanity (01:50) **
15. Aftermath (01:25) **
16. The Day Man Lost (01:24) **
17. Torn Apart (04:46) ***
18. Infestation of Evil (04:55) ***
* Taken from the "The Day Man Lost" demo.
** Rough mix from the "The Day Man Lost" demo.
*** Taken from the "Infestation of Evil" demo.
