Swansong

This article is about the Carcass album. For the idiom, see Swan song. For other uses, see Swan song (disambiguation).

Swansong
Studio album by Carcass
Released	June 10, 1996
Recorded	Feb 1995–Apr 1995
Genre	Melodic death metal
Length	50:50
Label	Earache
Producer	Colin Richardson
Carcass chronology
Heartwork (1993) Swansong (1996) Wake up and Smell the... Carcass (1996)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
NME
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

Swansong is the final studio album by the British extreme metal band Carcass. It was released on June 10, 1996 in the UK by Earache Records. It is the only album to feature guitarist Carlo Regadas. This album was intended to be their major label debut, having been signed by Columbia Records following the success of Heartwork, but disputes with that record company caused them to return to Earache. The album was re-released on July 21, 2008, as a dualdisc featuring the fifth part of The Pathologist's Report, as well as a set of stickers in a digipak and a bonus track.

Background

Swansong reached No. 46 on Billboard's Heatseakers chart. In The Pathologist's Report, drummer Ken Owen states that he considers Swansong the ultimate Carcass album. The band's sense of humour is illustrated this with titles such as "Keep on Rotting in the Free World" and "Generation Hexed".

A limited edition of this album was released as a brain-shaped CD, with a bonus 2-track CD Somnus Pecunia Cibus. The reason for the bonus disc was to include "Go to Hell", which wouldn't fit on the brain shaped CD, due to the cutting required for the brain shape.

The disc art is the "Unfinished Pyramid et al." from the Great Seal of the United States, but it reads "carcass" instead of "annuit coeptis", "somnus pecunia cibus" instead of "novus ordo seclorum" and "MCMXCV" instead of "MDCCLXXVI".

Reissue

On July 21, 2008, a twelve-panel digipak version of the album was released, with full artwork and lyrics as well as a limited edition sticker sheet with classic Carcass motifs. The reissue also features the previously Japanese-only bonus track "Death Rider Da", as well as the fifth and final part of the extensive interview The Pathologist's Report on a dualdisc. Later editions contain the album on a CD and the documentary on a separate DVD, and do not include the sticker sheet.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Keep on Rotting in the Free World"	Walker	3:42
2.	"Tomorrow Belongs to Nobody"	Steer, Walker	4:17
3.	"Black Star"	Regadas, Walker	3:29
4.	"Cross My Heart"	Steer, Walker	3:34
5.	"Child's Play"	Steer, Walker	5:43
6.	"Room 101"	Steer, Walker	4:35
7.	"Polarized"	Regadas, Steer, Walker	4:02
8.	"Generation Hexed"	Steer, Walker	3:48
9.	"Firm Hand"	Regadas, Walker	5:22
10.	"R**k the Vote"	Walker	3:53
11.	"Don't Believe a Word"	Steer, Walker	3:57
12.	"Go to Hell"	Walker	3:22
13.	"Death Rider Da" (Japanese/2008 reissue bonus track)		1:18

The Pathologist's Report DVD
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Issues With the Release"
2.	"Extreme But Not As We Know It"
3.	"Moving to Columbia"
4.	"The Cover Artwork"
5.	"Mike Hickey and Carlo’s Involvement"
6.	"The End is Night"
7.	"The Aftermath"
8.	"Influencing the Next Generation"
9.	"Ken Talks About His Illness"
10.	"Outtakes"

Personnel

• Ken Owen – drums
• Carlo Regadas – guitar
• Bill Steer – guitar
• Jeffrey Walker – bass, vocals
• Colin Richardson – production, vocals on "Death Rider Da"
• Nick Brine – assistant engineer
• Jim Brumby – assistant engineer
• Gee – paintings
• Stephen Harris – engineer
• Barney Herbert – assistant engineer

External links

• Carcass at Earache Records