Cartilage |Operating Altar |Everlasting Spew Records

Cartilage is a San Francisco deathgrind band with two full-length albums behind them, drawing from the gore-soaked traditions of Carcass, Exhumed and Impetigo. With “Operating Altar”, their third full-length, the band expands its usual medical horror into a concept centered on a deranged surgeon and his decades of atrocities at St. Petersen’s University Hospital. Mark Wallace’s guttural vocals and Teresa Flory’s shrieks give the material its gruesome soundtrack, while Michael Flory’s guitar work pushes the music through rapid-fire riffing and relentless blast beats. The lyrical concept gives the album a coherent subject, with surgical imagery, bodily destruction and macabre storytelling shaping its nine tracks.

Recorded and mixed by Scott Evans, with mastering by Leon del Muerte, “Operating Altar” runs through thirty-five minutes of deathgrind with an added dose of classic heavy metal influence. “Metal, Bone, And Sinew” establishes the album’s musical direction through frantic percussion and cutting guitar work, while “S.C.D. (Sudden Cardiac Death)” maintains the high-speed assault with little room for a breather. “The Sanguine Fiend” and “Anatomical Incantations” bring further bursts of savage riffing, while the title track and “Stitch By Stitch” reinforce the album’s gruesome hospital concept.

The production gives the guitars and drums the presence needed for the music’s rapid changes, with the vocals adding another layer of bodily horror. The songwriting occasionally leans heavily on speed as its main source of impact, and the nine-track sequence can become sonically repetitive across its shorter songs. Still, the concept gives “Operating Altar” a stronger sense of cohesion than a collection of unrelated gore metal tracks, with Cartilage extending their established formula into a theatrical medical horror setting.

|7.8