Carcass... You can't but fuckin' love 'em! Well, many seem to love their two first legendary grindcore albums. When the band got more technical and wrote catchier song, especially for classic 'Heartwork' (1993), many thought that Carcass had gone too far from their roots. Me, I personally think 'Heartwork' is just another magnificent Carcass record. Its 1996 successor 'Swansong', the band's swan song, saw the band choosing more rocking approach. I like that platter, too, but I can't say I truly love it, I just enjoy listening to it.

Maybe Carcass should have changed their name to Blackstar after 'Heartwork'. Why? Because Blackstar's debut, and the sole album sounds like a natural follow-up for 'Swansong'. If you still don't get it: Carcass broke up before 'Swansong' was released and three members went and formed Blackstar. Jeff Walker (bass, vocals), Carlo Regadas (lead guitar) and Ken Owen (drums) needed another guitarist. Ex-Cathedral axe-man Mark Griffiths was the man.

"Bastardised hard rock" is how the band themselves liked to put it. Meaning hard rock bastardized by metal, that is. The band had groove, that's for sure. Fucking catchy guitar-squealing riffing and soloing together with great drumming (of course trademark Ken Owen style, so varying and unique beats and even some double kick drumming) and rough 'n' dirty sore throat vocals. That's what Blackstar was all about. For someone's nasty surprise, there are also instruments such as saxophone, brass, tambourine and cowbell here. There are some humorous bits thrown in, too, and nothing about autopsies I'm afraid. This ain't Carcass or Cathedral, even though I can hear some similar stuff already heard on the last Carcass album. Most of the songs are good, with some very good ones ('Game Over', 'Smile' [just check out that lead guitar melody!!!], 'Sound of Silence' [nothing to do with Simon & Garfunkel song], 'New Song', 'Give up the Ghost' and slower extra groovy 'Instrumental' [well, not really, hehe]). The band covered Thin Lizzy, Motörhead, Husker Dü and The Cult, and I'm sure I hear some of them in Blackstar's music, but they sounded no-one else but Blackstar. The Colin Richardson production continues in the way of 'Swansong'. Loud, raw and real. No fucking studio tricks.

I never reviewed this small gem for any of the older versions of AM, so I felt I needed to write this thing. I stuffed 'Barbed Wire Soul' into my CD player one night, after years since I last time listened to it, and still I find the album groovy and above all, well written stuff. If you like Carcass's 'Swansong', then try to find this one ASAP. Just have some courage and adventurous mind. Now pass me that beer... Time to rot 'n' roll!!!

P.S. Blackstar was a short-lived band, splitting up in 1998. This album was released in North America under the name Blackstar Rising.

Rating: 8- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
03/05/2006 00:10