Carcass is recognized as pioneers in the grindcore genre. Their early work was also associated with tags like "splatter death metal" and "hardgore," owing to their macabre lyrics and gruesome album covers. Moreover, their 1993 album Heartwork contributed to their status as pioneers of melodic death metal.
The band frequently explores animal rights issues in their lyrics, and some members follow vegetarian or vegan lifestyles.
Studio albums
Reek of Putrefaction (1988)
Symphonies of Sickness (1989)
Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious (1991)
Heartwork (1993)
Swansong (1996)
Surgical Steel (2013)
Torn Arteries (2021)
Arbeit Macht Frei
Carcass Lyrics
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So diligent and serrated they mesh
Toothed cogs churn
So trenchant, against soft flesh
Worked to the bone
Up to the hilt, depredated
Raw materialism
To stoke the furnaces
Life slowly slips away
Consumed, inhumed
In this mechanized corruption line
By mincing machinery industrialized - pulped and pulverized
Enslaved to the grind
Blood, sweat, toil, tears
Arbeit macht frei/fleisch
Grave to the grind
Inimitable gears twist
To churn a living grave
Stainless cogs shredding
Scathing pistons bludgeon and flail
Stripping to the bone
Retund mandrels levigate
Just raw material
Your pound of flesh for the suzerain
Toiling, rotting
Life slowly dissipates
Consumed, inhumed
In a corruption line, mechanized
By mincing machinery, industrialized - crunched and brutalised
A grave to the blind
The lyrics to Carcass's song "Arbeit Macht Fleisch" depict the dehumanizing effects of industrialization and capitalism. The song uses vivid imagery of machines and gears working together ruthlessly, churning flesh and turning raw material into products. The phrase "Arbeit Macht Frei/Fleisch" is repeated twice, which translates to "work sets you free/flesh," a twisted take on the Nazi slogan that was displayed at concentration camps. The lyrics convey the idea that being enslaved to the grind of labor takes away one's freedom and dignity, reducing them to nothing more than flesh to be processed and consumed by the capitalist machine.
The lyrics also evoke a sense of despair and hopelessness, as the workers are trapped in a never-ending cycle of toil and decay. The references to "life slowly slipping away" and being "inhumed" in the mechanized corruption line suggest a bleak, dystopian reality where human life is no longer valued. The song is a powerful commentary on the dehumanizing effects of industrialization and the dangers of unchecked capitalism.
Line by Line Meaning
Prognathous gears grind
The rough and unrefined gears grind
So diligent and serrated they mesh
They mesh together precisely, with efficient teeth
Toothed cogs churn
Sharp cogs spin
So trenchant, against soft flesh
Sharp and cutting, against soft and vulnerable flesh
Worked to the bone
Worked tirelessly, to the point of exhaustion
Up to the hilt, depredated
Completely overworked, exploited and depleted
Raw materialism
The materialistic view that everything, even humans, are nothing more than raw materials
To stoke the furnaces
Humans are used as fuel to keep the industrial machines going
Toiling, rotting
Working and decaying
Life slowly slips away
Slowly dying
Consumed, inhumed
Consumed and buried within the industrial process
In this mechanized corruption line
Within this corrupt and mechanized assembly line
By mincing machinery industrialized - pulped and pulverized
Machinery that minces and grinds humans into pulp
Enslaved to the grind
Trapped in the endless cycle of industrial labor
Blood, sweat, toil, tears
The hardships and agony of working in the industrial system
Arbeit macht frei/fleisch
The Nazi slogan 'work sets you free' twisted to mean 'work turns you into meat'
Grave to the grind
The industrial system is a death sentence
Inimitable gears twist
Irreplaceable gears turn and twist
To churn a living grave
To create a place where humans are alive, but only as captives and fuel for the machines
Stainless cogs shredding
Sharp and clean-cutting gears tearing humans apart
Scathing pistons bludgeon and flail
Vicious pistons beat and strike the helpless workers
Stripping to the bone
Taken down to nothing, wasting away
Retund mandrels levigate
Dull and pointless machines grind and polish
Just raw material
A human being reduced to nothing but a raw material, to be consumed by the machines
Your pound of flesh for the suzerain
The workers are forced to give everything, even their own skin and bones, to the powerful controllers of the industrial system
A grave to the blind
The workers are too blindly trapped in the system to realize they are digging their own graves
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: JEFFREY WALKER, WILLIAM GOEFFREY STEER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind