Heartwork

The band began composing songs for Heartwork while on tour for Necroticism. Jeff Walker recalled, "I suppose what we were really doing was going for shorter songs. We were beginning to write songs that were less wandering… Not that we weren’t capable of being complex or technical — something like ‘Arbeit Macht Fleisch’ proved that to be the case."{{Cite web |last=Wiederhorn |first=Jon |title=Carcass' 'Heartwork': 10 Things You Didn't Know About 1993 Death-Metal Classic |url=https://www.revolvermag.com/music/carcass-heartwork-10-things-you-didnt-know-about-1993-death-metal-classic/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Revolver |language=en-US}}

Heartwork has been noted for its strong sense of melody. According to Johnny Loftus of AllMusic, the music on the album "grafts melody onto the existing muscle of Carcass' punishing antimusic." The album's sound has been described as "relentless." The album's guitar riffs have been described as "intricate." The album contains influences from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.{{Citation |title=Heartwork - Carcass {{!}} Album {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/heartwork-mw0000622563 |access-date=2025-01-02 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Purcell |first1=Natalie J. |title=Death Metal Music: The Passion and Politics of a Subculture |publisher=McFarland |page=67}} The album's sound has been described as "Megadeth being flushed down a toilet."{{Cite web |last=Pratt |first=Greg |date=2018-11-15 |title=Hall of Fame Countdown: Carcass' "Heartwork" |url=https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2018/11/15/hall-of-fame-countdown-carcass-heartwork/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Decibel Magazine |language=en-US}} Invisible Oranges described the album's sound as "cold and massive." The album has described as "catchy" and as "a continuous onslaught of memorable hooks."{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Invisible Oranges |title=Carcass - Heartwork |url=https://www.invisibleoranges.com/carcass-heartwork/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Invisible Oranges - The Metal Blog |language=en-US}} While the lyrical content on earlier Carcass releases has been described as "ridiculous medical dictionary-isms," the lyrics on Heartwork have been described as "abstract."{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Invisible Oranges |title=Carcass - Heartwork |url=https://www.invisibleoranges.com/carcass-heartwork/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Invisible Oranges - The Metal Blog |language=en-US}} Ken Owen's drumming has been called "curiously wobbly."

Heartwork sold at least 81,000 units.{{cite web |url=https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2013/05/02/carcass-heartwork/ |title=Carcass 'Heartwork' |last=Dick |first=Chris |work=Decibel |date=2 May 2013 |publisher=Red Flag Media |location=Philadelphia |accessdate=19 November 2017}} It spawned one single under the same name that featured the title track and non-album tracks "This is Your Life" and "Rot 'n' Roll".

The album was re-released in 2008 as part of an ongoing series of Carcass reissues to tie in with their reunion. The main album is presented as one side of a Dualdisc, while the DVD side features the fourth part of an extended interview/documentary titled The Pathologist's Report Part IV: Epidemic. Also included in the reissue is a bonus disc including the entire album in demo form, something recorded by the band before recording the actual album in an effort to be better prepared. The demo features the same 10 songs in a slightly different order. Later editions have the DVD on a separate disc, bringing the total to 3 discs. The album is presented in a 12-panel digipak with full lyrics and artwork.

{{Album reviews

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web|last=Loftus|first=Johnny|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/heartwork-mw0000622563|title=Heartwork – Carcass|publisher=AllMusic|accessdate=30 March 2014}}

| rev2 = Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal

| rev2score = 8/10{{cite book |last1=Popoff |first1=Martin |author-link1=Martin Popoff |title=The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties |publisher=Collector's Guide Publishing |year=2007 |location=Burlington, Ontario, Canada |isbn=978-1-894959-62-9 |page=72}}

| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev3Score = C+{{cite magazine|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,300741,00.html|title=Heartwork: Music Review:Entertainment Weekly|author=Sinclair, Tom|accessdate=23 August 2009|date=14 January 1994|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|archive-date=3 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091003152304/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,300741,00.html|url-status=dead}}

| rev4 = Los Angeles Times

| rev4score = {{Rating|2|4}}{{Cite web |last=Turman |first=Katherine |date=1994-04-24 |title=** Carcass, "Heartwork," Earache/Columbia |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-24-ca-49637-story.html |access-date=2023-12-29 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}

| rev5 = Metal Rules

| rev5score = 5/5{{Cite web |last=The Punishment Due |date=July 2002 |title=Carcass - Heartwork |url=https://www.metal-rules.com/2002/07/01/carcass-heartwork/ |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=Metal Rules |language=en-US}}

| rev6 = Q

| rev6score = {{Rating|4|5}}Q Magazine. January 1994. p.90.

| rev7 = Rock Hard

| rev7score = 9.0/10{{cite web|last=Kühnemund|first=Götz|title=Rock Hard review|url=http://www.rockhard.de/megazine/reviewarchiv/review-anzeigen/11689-heartwork.html|accessdate=25 March 2016}}

| rev8 = Rolling Stone

| rev8score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{Cite magazine |last=Darzin |first=Daina |date=May 5, 1994 |title=Metal Thunder |magazine=Rolling Stone |issue=681 |page=52}}

}}{{Quotebox

| quote = Although the origins of melodic death metal are largely credited to the Gothenburg scene, some great attempts at introducing melody have been successfully made before, and Carcass' "Heartwork" is the most significant example. As a result, Carcass is often cited as one of the early adherents of the Gothenburg credo, despite hailing from Liverpool, UK.

| source = Vlad Nichols of Ultimate Guitar (June 21, 2020) [https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/top_9_seminal_melodic_death_metal_albums-107762]

| align = left

| width = 21%

}}

Heartwork is considered by some to be the best British extreme metal album of the 1990s, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest death metal albums of all time. In an October 2007 interview, Evile frontman Matt Drake described Heartwork as "just one of the best albums ever." Metal Hammer said the album was "arguably the point where melodic death metal became a cohesive idea," calling it the genre's "defining statement."{{Cite web |last=updated |first=Metal Hammer last |date=2020-03-26 |title=The 100 best metal albums of the 90s |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-100-best-metal-albums-of-the-90s |access-date=2025-01-18 |website=louder |language=en}}{{cite web|title='Armoured Assault' – Evile frontman Matt Drake hails gargantuan Thrash masterpiece Enter the Grave|author=Morgan, Anthony|publisher=Lucem Fero|date=October 2007|url=http://www.lucemfero.com/evile102007.php|accessdate=3 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412030132/http://www.lucemfero.com/evile102007.php|archive-date=12 April 2008|url-status=dead}}

Hank Schteamer of Pitchfork described Heartwork as Carcass's "mid-period masterpiece," and praised the album as being "perhaps the greatest example to date of an extreme-metal band nodding to the polish and swagger of above-ground rock while retaining their core ferocity."{{cite web|last=Schteamer|first=Hank|date=11 September 2013|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18360-carcass-surgical-steel/|title=Carcass: Surgical Steel|work=Pitchfork|accessdate=30 March 2014}} Johnny Loftus called the album the band's "breakthrough release" on AllMusic, and suggested that while "some purists might decry its melodic breaks for soloing or nods toward conventional structure[,] Heartwork is that rare album that so carefully dissects and reconstructs its original form that its additional body parts seem like they were there all along."

Decibel called Heartwork "a thing of pure metal glory" and a landmark in death metal, crediting the band's innovations for taking the genre to "new places."{{Cite web |last=Pratt |first=Greg |date=2018-11-15 |title=Hall of Fame Countdown: Carcass' "Heartwork" |url=https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2018/11/15/hall-of-fame-countdown-carcass-heartwork/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Decibel Magazine |language=en-US}}

In 2003, Heartwork was named one of "The Best 25 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time" in Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal, by Ian Christe.

In May 2013, Heartwork was inducted into the Decibel Magazine Hall of Fame, becoming the 100th overall inductee and second Carcass album to be featured in the Decibel Hall of Fame, right after Necroticism.{{cite web|last1=Dick|first1=Chris|title=Carcass – "Heartwork"|url=https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2013/05/02/carcass-heartwork/|website=Decibel|date=2 May 2013|accessdate=2018-05-11}}

In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked Heartwork as 51st on their list of 'The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.'{{Cite web|url=http://www.theprp.com/2017/06/21/news/rolling-stone-share-choices-100-greatest-metal-albums-time/|title = Rolling Stone Share Their Choices for 'The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time'|date = 21 June 2017}}

The band Carnal Forge named themselves after the song of the same name from this album.{{cite web |last=York |first=William |title=The More You Suffer – Carnal Forge |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-more-you-suffer-r636453/review |accessdate=18 December 2011 |publisher=AllMusic}} Additionally, the album's influence has been observed in the works of Arsis, The Black Dahlia Murder, Arch Enemy and Angela Gossow."

The album's first track "Buried Dreams" has been called "one of the mightiest [opening tracks] any record has ever had."{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Invisible Oranges |title=Carcass - Heartwork |url=https://www.invisibleoranges.com/carcass-heartwork/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Invisible Oranges - The Metal Blog |language=en-US}}

Late Death frontman Chuck Schuldiner said Bill Steer's guitar work on the album "had that magic rarely heard anymore."{{Cite web |last=Quietus |first=The |date=2017-06-20 |title=Perennial Quest: Chuck Schuldiner's Genius & Death's Scream Bloody Gore |url=https://thequietus.com/opinion-and-essays/anniversary/chuck-schuldiner-death-scream-bloody-gore-review-anniversary/ |access-date=2025-03-22 |website=The Quietus |language=en-GB}}

{{tracklist

| all_lyrics = Jeff Walker

| total_length = 41:55

| title1 = Buried Dreams

| music1 = Bill Steer

| length1 = 3:58

| title2 = Carnal Forge

| music2 = {{hlist|Steer|Michael Amott}}

| length2 = 3:54

| title3 = No Love Lost

| music3 = Steer

| length3 = 3:22

| title4 = Heartwork

| music4 = {{hlist|Steer|Amott}}

| length4 = 4:33

| title5 = Embodiment

| music5 = {{hlist|Amott|Steer}}

| length5 = 5:36

| title6 = This Mortal Coil

| music6 = {{hlist|Steer|Amott}}

| length6 = 3:49

| title7 = Arbeit macht Fleisch

| music7 = Steer

| length7 = 4:21

| title8 = Blind Bleeding the Blind

| music8 = Steer

| length8 = 4:57

| title9 = Doctrinal Expletives

| music9 = {{hlist|Steer|Amott}}

| length9 = 3:39

| title10 = Death Certificate

| music10 = {{hlist|Amott|Steer}}

| length10 = 3:38

}}

• Jeff Walker – vocals, bass
• Michael Amott – guitar
• Bill Steer – guitar {{efn|Bill Steer played all rhythm guitars on this album}}
• Ken Owen – drums

{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

• Keith Andrews – engineering
• Dave Buchanan – assistant engineering
• Colin Richardson – production
• Andrea Wright – assistant engineering
• H. R. Giger – front album sculpture
• Jurg Kümmer – photo
• Andrew Tuohy – design

{{Reflist}}

{{Carcass}}

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Category:Carcass (band) albums

Category:1993 albums

Category:Columbia Records albums

Category:Earache Records albums

Category:Albums with cover art by H. R. Giger