Carcass
Photo: Nuclear Blast Records

The reunion metalheads never expected would happen is going down this fall, as influential metallers Carcass will be returning to North American for the first time in more than 15 years, starting September 5. That's when they'll be kicking off a 15-date reunion trek in Worcester, Massachusetts, with Necrophagist and Dying Fetus coming along for what could be a bumpy ride.

For longtime fans of the band, a Carcass reunion has always been something of a pipe dream — one fueled by innumerable rumors that only left them feeling cheated. But according to frontman Jeff Walker, the timing couldn't have been more right — or urgent — for Carcass' resurrection.

"If we don't do this now, Carcass will be erased from the history of rock, to a certain extent," he reflected. "There's so much access to information out there, [but] it seems to me that the new generation of kids just really don't know sh--. They don't really know who Black Sabbath is, never mind Carcass. There's definitely a generation of kids out there who are not aware of Carcass, because we haven't been around for 15 years. A year is a long time in metal these days."

While the band's members have been kicking around the idea of reuniting for years, Walker said he was reluctant, at first, to hop onboard. He credits guitarist Michael Amott, who went on to form Arch Enemy following Carcass' demise in 1995, as the driving force behind the reunion.

"I guess, over the last few years, we've kind of drifted into each other's circles again — myself, [guitarist] Bill [Steer], and Mike. And Mike's kind of — I don't want to over-exaggerate this — but, he's always been the keenest to do this, because since he formed Arch Enemy and has been out on the road again, he's kind of realized what kind of phenomenon Carcass is," Walker said. "Mike's always been kind of hassling me and Bill on the side about doing something, and so I guess the stars aligned at some point, because for years, I said I'd never do it. If [drummer] Ken [Owen, who suffered a brain hemorrhage in 1999] couldn't play, I thought it would be a bit like Led Zeppelin playing without [John] Bonham. How can you kind of find a way around that?"

But Carcass — like Led Zep — did find a way around it. They enlisted Arch Enemy kitman Daniel Erlandsson, and asked Owen if he had any objections, which he didn't. Then all of them agreed they'd give Owen a portion of whatever profits they made from a reunion.

"That made it morally justifiable for me," Walker said. "It seems, to me, nostalgia is the new rock and roll. Not to sound arrogant, but I'm well aware of the importance of this band, even if no one else is. There's a generation of people who were into Carcass who've grown up now, that never saw the band. And now they have some disposable income. They've created the demand for this reunion."

But don't expect this reunion to extend beyond this year. Walker said that, as it stands, the plan is there is no plan. Carcass aren't secretly writing a record, and after this tour, Walker's not sure what will happen.

"Never say never, but I can't see it happening — I can't see it working," he said. "For something like that to happen, everybody's head has to be on the same continent. It's different from when you're a kid. Now, you've got three guys in the band who've had their own bands and have either been frontmen or the main songwriters, so I think there would be a lot of arguing. Maybe we'd have to get that therapist in that was working with Metallica. With all the money we've made this summer, we could pay for a one-hour session with that guy.

"It would be sad, I think," Walker continued. "These bands that start playing again, some of them get carried away, and they write an album, and they start saying, 'It's the best thing we ever done.' And then it just isn't. We don't want to be one of those bands. We don't want to be doing this next year. I could maybe see us playing again in some of the countries that we're not touching this year, but let's see if we kill each other when we're in North America on a tour bus. We're getting on great, but we want to keep that chemistry and not get burned out. We don't want to be doing it just for the money, because it can turn into a chore — that's what happened the first time. It seemed like work, and it wasn't fun anymore, so I figured, 'F--- this, I'll go get a job.' If you're doing something just for the money, I think having a job is a bit more honest than playing in a band just for the money."

In Walker's opinion, Carcass couldn't be returning at a more apropos time, because he thinks the current metal scene is bordering on laughable. "I think it's depressing," he said. "It's like everything just merges into one nowadays. Everything's sounding the same. The problem with the modern metal scene is, people are too busy copying bands wholesale and not actually taking an influence and doing something new with it. I don't think it's laziness; I think it just comes down to imagination and intelligence."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Last Saturday in Dallas, Ben Falgoust become the only other vocalist in Ozzfest history — after Ozzy Osbourne himself — to perform two sets with two different bands. At this year's one-day-only Ozzfest, the frontman first performed a set with Goatwhore, and two hours later, joined Soilent Green onstage for their set. Of course, Ozzy had done it back in 1997, when he performed with his solo band and Black Sabbath. But Falgoust said it was no big deal. "Ozzy did it, and even Zakk Wylde's done it, playing with Black Label and Ozzy," he said. "Other people have done it, but, as far as vocally, it's just me and Ozzy. It's good company to be in; he's the dude that basically created this niche. I think it would be pretty grueling to do it for a full tour." Soilent Green will be on the road through August 17 in Orlando, Florida, with Kingdom of Sorrow and Scum of the Earth. Then they head out in October with Testament. In the meantime, Goatwhore have been writing new material, with plans to hit the studio in early '09. The band is eyeing a May 2009 release date for its next LP. ...

Rumor alert: In Flames, All That Remains, 36 Crazyfists and Gojira will reportedly team up for a run of North American dates this winter. When this tour is finally confirmed, we'll be bringing you all the dates, so hold tight. ...

Five Finger Death Punch, In This Moment, Bury Your Dead and Another Black Day will be teaming up this October for a lengthy North American tour. It kicks off October 3 in St. Louis and and runs through November 22 in Fresno, California. ...

While Velvet Revolver continue their search for a new frontman, bassist Duff McKagan has been busy with his other band, Loaded, who have a five-song EP, titled Wasted Heart, on the way. It drops September 22 through Century Media, with a full-length to follow in early 2009. ...

Underoath, the Devil Wears Prada, P.O.S. and Saosin will also be hitting the road this fall, beginning October 15 in Buena Vista, Florida. That tour's booked through November 11 in Portland, Oregon. ...

Job for a Cowboy, Hate Eternal, All Shall Perish, Animosity and Annotations of an Autopsy will be touring together starting November 13 in Pomona, California. That tour wraps December 16 in Tucson, Arizona. ...

Vision of Disorder will release their DVD "Dead in NY" on November 11. The offering will feature live footage shot two years ago on Long Island. The band will be playing a reunion gig on August 16 at the Crazy Donkey in Farmingdale, New York. Be there. ...

New Jersey's own God Forbid are hard at work on their forthcoming studio set, which should land in stores early next year. Oddly enough, the disc will feature a cover of English alternative act Muse's "Stockholm Syndrome." Apparently, guitarist Doc Coyle is a big fan.

• Carcass
• Soilent Green
• Vision of Disorder

Arch Enemy's Angela Gossow and Michael Amott
Photo: Century Media

Last fall, Michael Amott, guitarist for Swedish melodic death-metallers Arch Enemy, confirmed in an interview with Metal File that Carcass, the legendary British grindcore band he played in during the early '90s, would be re-forming for a spate of live gigs. But while the band has booked a ton of festival appearances overseas, Carcass have yet to announce a single U.S. date.

The File spoke to Arch Enemy frontwoman Angela Gossow (and Ammott's fiancee) last week, just before the band played the final date on the sold-out Tyranny and Bloodshred Tour, with support acts Dark Tranquillity, Divine Heresy and Firewind. Gossow told us that while nothing has been made official, "there is something in the works for the States."

According to Gossow, Carcass have been approached about a possible U.S. headlining run, but the right offer hasn't come to the table yet. "There's obviously huge interest in a Carcass tour," she said. "I'm sure you guys will get it, but nothing has been confirmed or anything."

Gossow and Amott have been engaged "forever," but she says they haven't "found the time to get married yet." If the tour does come to fruition, Gossow said her fiance's life is going to get more hectic than it already is. The guitarist will be pulling double duty with both Arch Enemy and Carcass, because, at the moment, both bands have impossibly full plates.

Arch Enemy, who continue to tour in support of last year's Rise of the Tyrant, have already started working on material for the follow-up, Gossow said. And just six months ago, they hit the studio to re-record some of the band's earliest material.

"We started re-recording the old stuff because, for most people, Arch Enemy started to exist with [2001's] Wages of Sin, because the band got big after I joined," she explained. "Obviously, the band released three albums before that (1996's Black Earth, 1998's Stigmata and 1999's Burning Bridges), and we've been trying on and off to play old songs live. Most of the time, we just get this stare from the crowd, and people think it's a new song or a demo. A lot of young kids haven't heard these tracks, so we just figured we'd re-record them, give them new exposure, and it's going to give us the chance to play them live.

"These songs are 10 years old at this point, and it's going to sound killer," she continued. "Razor-sharp sound — and we'll up the production. The songs will have a little bit of a twist to them; they're going to sound new, even though they're old."

Arch Enemy plan to issue the re-recorded cuts in early 2009, after the release of their forthcoming live DVD, which was shot in Japan in March at a sold-out gig before an audience of 2,500. The footage was captured with 10 cameras, and the DVD will feature tons of backstage footage and interviews, Gossow said.

"We had the Fuji [Pacific] crew doing this, because the boss of Fuji is a huge fan," she said, with a laugh. "Basically, they did it for free, and brought in a crane. You'd never know this guy would like our band, but there are a lot of metal fans out there, and you would never know it, because they look so official, and they're wearing suits. But we're like a metal factory, at the moment. It's so great, because we actually have the motivation and we're just really hungry right now."

The rest of the week's metal news:

The growing beef between Disturbed and the Dillinger Escape Plan got even more interesting this week. It all started when DEP guitarist Ben Weinman claimed in an interview that he'd watched Disturbed practice all their onstage moves during a sound check. Guitarist Dan Donegan fired back, claiming DEP had no idea what it takes to put on as massive a show as Disturbed put on, dismissing the remarks as jealousy. Dillinger fired back on June 2 in a post on their MySpace page, saying Donegan has "little-peen complex" and slamming the band for "sucking." Disturbed frontman David Draiman later said in a radio interview that he respects Dillinger, but that he doesn't "understand what the hell they think they saw with us. ...This is what the big boys do who play stadium shows — they want to worry about how the lights look that they spend so much money on." ...

DragonForce have dubbed their forthcoming LP, which hits stores August 26, Ultra Beatdown. The disc will feature eight tracks, including "The Fire Still Burns," "Heartbreak Armageddon" and "The Warrior Inside." ...

What has drummer David Silveria been up to since taking a "hiatus" from Korn? Starting a new band, that's what. A MySpace page for Satellite Syndrome popped up earlier this week — and has since been pulled down — which stated the band should be releasing its debut album early next year. The group is currently in the studio, recording material for that effort. ...

French progressive-extreme metallers Gojira will issue The Way of All Flesh on October 14. The LP is in the process of being tracked in Los Angeles with producer and ex-Machine Head guitarist Logan Mader. ...

Eerik Purdon has parted ways with Omnium Gatherum. It isn't the first time the bassist has split, and the band still isn't sure why he bolted. "We ain't got a clue really what the hell happened here," the band said in a statement. Omnium are currently on the hunt for a replacement. The band's forthcoming album, The Redshift, will feature 11 tracks, including "Chameleon Skin," "Shapes and Shades," and "Song for December." ...

Walls of Jericho have set The American Dream as the title of their new album, which lands in stores this summer. In other album news, Motörhead will release their next record, Motörize, before the end of the year. ...

Arsis have parted ways with drummer Darren Cesca, and they've already replaced him with Alex Tomlin. Cesca's departure, the band claimed, was due to "differences in personalities and an overall difference in direction."

• Arch Enemy
• Carcass
• Disturbed
• Gojira

Kirk Windstein and Jamey Jasta of Kingdom of Sorrow
Photo: Relapse Records

During late, drunken nights, musicians from different bands often talk about working together on a side project someday. Hatebreed singer Jamey Jasta and Crowbar frontman and Down guitarist Kirk Windstein are no exception. The two became good friends over the years, partying and hanging out on Ozzfest in 2002 and at European festivals in 2003, all the while talking about how cool it would be to get in the studio with one another. Then, during a U.K. tour for Hatebreed's The Rise of Brutality, Jasta and Windstein started taking the idea more seriously. They even bragged about it to the press, which meant by the time they got back to the U.S., news of their collaboration was all over the Internet.

"We kind of had to do it at that point," Jasta told Metal File. "So we decided, 'Dude, let's make this something really cool that's not like what we do in our other bands.' "

At first, that was easier said than done. Windstein flew to Connecticut, and during a studio session filled with heavy, heavy drinking, Jasta, Windstein and a couple of other musician friends recorded a batch of tunes initially intended to be their debut record. Then, after sobering up, they listened back to the tracks and decided that, while there were some good ideas and heavy riffs, the songs sounded too much like a hybrid of Hatebreed and Crowbar. So, they scrapped them, cobbled together some new songs and re-entered the studio with drummer Derek Kerswill and producer Zeuss, who redirected them when things got too familiar.

"Derek was great because he really brought this drum-heavy groovin', rockin' sound to it that really helped us rearrange the ideas and make the songs more cohesive," Jasta said. "The second time around, we spent a lot more time and methodically labored over them, and they really took on a life of their own."

While Kingdom of Sorrow (which came out February 19) features the hellacious howls of Hatebreed, the down-tuned sludge-riffs of Down and the insistent pound of Crowbar, the album also features elements foreign to all three bands. "It's a little of everything," Jasta said. "We have some straight choruses and singing parts, and then we have really slow, sludgy, doomy riffs and some fast, real hardcore songs like 'Lead the Ghost Astray' and 'Begging for the Truth.' "

As refreshing as the project is musically, Kingdom of Sorrow are even more of a reinvention lyrically for Jasta. In Hatebreed, he often writes about self-empowerment, betrayal and rage, never letting down his guard or getting too vulnerable; with Kingdom, he focuses more on loss, personal pain and, yes, sorrow.

"A lot of the songs are about coping with grief and moving on," he said. "I thought about losing different friends and family members that had committed suicide, and I really tapped into these feelings that I had always put a wall in front of. As a musician, you have to try to go to new places — otherwise you stagnate. It felt right. I didn't feel like anyone would say either of us were cheesing out. It's real, and as long as it's real, people will respect it."

One song he's especially proud of is "Screaming Into the Sky," which veers from clean guitar arpeggios and weary, melodic vocals to trudging rhythms, barbed, sludgy riffs and contemptuous screams. In addition to being a welcome diversion for Jasta, it provided an opportunity to finally put some closure on a painful situation.

"It's about losing someone and not having that chance to make amends," Jasta said. "I wrote it mostly about my Uncle Bobby, my mother's brother, who committed suicide many years ago. It's still a painful thing for a lot of people in my family. And I just thought, 'How can we learn from this? How can we move on, as a people, from suicide, and not place blame and not just see all the negativity in it?' It's a hard thing for people to try to see something positive in a very hurtful, negative, tragic situation, but if you can get one bit of positivity from it, you're in a better place mentally and you'll live a better life."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Between the Buried and Me, Giant and Lye by Mistake will be teaming up for a brief of run of shows starting March 30 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. That trek runs through April 11 in Charlotte, North Carolina. ... After releasing what was arguably one of the best records of 2005, From Mars to Sirius, French progressive metallers Gojira have announced that they'll soon begin recording their yet untitled new album. The band is eyeing a fall release for the effort. ...

All Shall Perish have revealed they'll be entering the studio in April to begin tracking their forthcoming LP; the album will be released on Nuclear Blast Records. According to a statement from the guys, they've been writing material for the last three months and have "probably created enough music and riffs to fill up two CDs." The band continued: "These new tracks are super-intense, crazy, melodic at times and are all played with extreme passion from our hearts." ... Legendary New York hardcore outfit H20 have finished tracking their upcoming, yet untitled record, which was produced by Chad Gilbert, formerly of Shai Hulud and currently the frontman for New Found Glory. The disc will feature a number of guest appearances, including those by Civ, Sick of It All's Lou Koller and Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba. Look for it in stores May 27. ...

Ozzfest '07 vets Daath have a new frontman in Sean Z; he replaces Sean Faber, who left the band following its Ozzfest run. Now Daath plan to hit the studio — this weekend, in fact — to record The Concealers, their sophomore effort for Roadrunner Records, with producer Jason Suecof (Trivium, Chimaira). ... Terror have wrapped the recording of their next LP, which should be in stores before year's end. According to bassist Jonathan Buske, "It's without a doubt the best and hardest Terror record to date." ... In other studio news, Cult of Luna are at it again, having entered Tonteknik Studios in Umea, Sweden, where they'll track their fifth full-length. According to the guys, they've assembled eight songs so far, and the yet untitled release should be available this June. ...

How's this for a lineup? Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquillity, Divine Heresy and Firewind, all on the same stage — well, it's happening in May. Starting in Philadelphia on May 9, the tour will coast across North America, at least through May 30 in West Hollywood, California. More dates will be revealed shortly. ... Starting April 24, one of the most hilariously named tours will get under way in Cleveland, Georgia. The Bring Your Own Beard Tour, featuring Becoming the Archetype, Inhale Exhale, Once Nothing and A Plea for Purging, runs through May 12 in Jacksonville, Florida. ... In honor of Carcass' forthcoming reunion gigs, Earache is reissuing the legendary metal band's back catalog May 27; each album will include a DVD containing 30 minutes of a total of two and a half hours of interviews dubbed "The Pathologist's Report." The first album to see re-release will be 1991's Necroticism — Descanting the Insalubrious. ...

Death-metal menaces Cryptopsy are putting the finishing touches on their sixth full-length studio release, which they've named The Unspoken King. Expect the disc to boast the tracks "Anoint the Dead," "Worship Your Demons" and "Bemoan the Martyr." ... Black-metal collective Sulphur continue to write material for their next album. According to the band's label, Osmose Productions, the band is "preparing to record pre-production [demos] of all [the] new songs. You can expect a pretty different album this time, more of those crazy synths and samples, much heavier, intense guitars and a more powerful production." Look for the disc to surface late this summer. ... New York metalcore band Merauder have been writing new stuff for their upcoming set. According to kitman Walter "Monsta" Ryan, the record won't be called Gangsta, as has been rumored. "It's just one track off the CD and may change," he wrote in an update. "When we are all finished with the music and the artwork, we will release it to you as soon as it's ready. We're working hard to make it real heavy for you."

• Kingdom of Sorrow
• Carcass
• Gojira

Destiny's Child and Godflesh
Photo: Columbia/Koch

Some things in life just shouldn't be mixed — smoked salmon and, say, cotton candy, for example. Plaid shirts with paisley shorts. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Queen's English. The music of death-metal mavens Carcass and the hip-hop flava of Missy Elliott. All are combinations that make little sense.

But when you're Chad Boltz, mixing and matching some of today's biggest pop stars with some of the earliest architects of grindcore and industrial metal makes perfect sense — you've just got to have the ear for it.

Boltz, a mash-ups aficionado who lives in Denver, said it dawned on him one afternoon while he was working at one of the Mile High City's independent record stores. He was listening to a Boom Selection compilation CD of mashes and figured if artists like Jay-Z and Linkin Park could be fused together, perhaps some of storied metal label Earache Records' catalog could be intertwined with pop acts like Destiny's Child and Sean Paul.

"I thought it would be kind of cool to remake some of the old-school Earache stuff that I listen to, like the old grindcore stuff, with pop, because they're just so different," explained Boltz, a guitarist who once played in defunct grind band Monistat 7, which released the album Now Available Without a Prescription in 1994. "I listen to a wide range of music, so I don't mind pop so much. I figured putting the vocals to metal songs might sound interesting."

His experimentation led to seven monstrosities that he posted online. Links to his Web site, xxx.reek.tv/x.htm, popped up on heavy-metal message boards, and in no time the elite were calling for his head. His site was ill-equipped to handle the increase in traffic, and Boltz's domain was crippled for more than month.

While he said there's no reliable method to measure just how many people downloaded the free tracks, Boltz said the songs continue to make the Internet rounds. While he's proud of all of the mash-ups — including Outkast's "Bombs Over Baghdad" crossed with Entombed's "Sinners Bleed," Shakira's "Whenever, Wherever" spliced with Napalm Death's "Suffer the Children," and 50 Cent's "In Da Club" paired with Terrorizer's "After World Obliteration" — his favorite is Destiny's Child's "Survivor" merged with Godflesh's "Dead Head."

"The industrial tracks are easier to swallow than the grindcore ones, because the tempo changes aren't as frequent," he surmised. "It turned out really well, but it's much harder than people think. I tried forever to do stuff with Bolt Thrower, but the tempos change too much. It's the same with most metal songs, actually."

Of course, not all of Boltz's experimentation yielded listenable results. One mash-up he thought for sure would come out superb was Beyoncé's "Naughty Girl" meets Korn's "Shoots and Ladders."

"It ended up sounding like two songs being played at the same time," said Boltz, who's putting the finishing touches on his latest musical Frankenstein's monster: Kelis' "Milkshake" bonded with Ministry's "Thieves."

Surprisingly, none of the labels for the pop star victims of Boltz's creations have contacted him about the mash-ups. But he did get an e-mail from Earache founder Digby Pearson. "He just said he doesn't understand why I did it," he said. "He told me it was a good idea that didn't work out, and that metal never needed to be fused with this music. But if any of the big labels [for some of the pop acts] have a problem with it, that's fine. I'm not making any money off of this. I just want people to download them — that's the spirit of mash-ups, really. But if they want them down, oh well."

• 50 Cent
• Terrorizer
• Missy Elliott
• Carcass
• OutKast