Most bands claim to progress with each album, though seldom can really be said to have challenged themselves with new innovations every time they step inside a studio. However, few people who picked up on a band called Carcass, and their splatter-fest Earache debut 'Reek of Putrefaction' (1988), could fail to see the true progression represented by today's incarnation. Each new Carcass record has marked a gradual and natural evolution from primitive beginnings. The band's second effort, 'Symphonies of Sickness' (1989) gave way to the more palatable 'Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious' (1991), before the dam burst with 'Heartwork' (1993) and a subsequent worldwide deal with Columbia Records buried the myth that Carcass were just another noisy 'death metal' band.

Bassist Jeff Walker explains that the evolution process "is more like people growing out of a naive state, and just coming straight to the point. The songs on 'Swansong' are less a mix of too many riffs, and more about a simpler structure, the verse chorus verse chorus thing." 'Swansong' is the latest, and quite possibly the last Carcass offering, recorded over a year ago, though no less powerful for the delay. It has brought the band to the accessible sound they hinted at on the massive 'Heartwork.' Walker's rasping vocals retain the intensity that hallmarked the earlier albums, but the overall sound is more mature - fluid solos blend with powerful metal riffs to produce an album of real class. References to medical atrocities are long forgotten. "Some of the lyrics deal with frustrations and experiences we've had since the last record was out and the whole deal with Columbia. It's more like I'm getting it out of my system, because the album has been ready for so long, but factors outside of the band have been holding it back." With the success of 'Heartwork' (it reached Number 54 in the UK National Album chart), Carcass signed worldwide to Columbia Records in April 1994, only to part ways after the recording of 'Swansong' and return to Earache. Says Walker; "We were never naive enough to think we were going to become the next Metallica, although we always got on well with Columbia. It's almost like the second Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle, we got the money and they didn't get the album!"