English death/grind legends Carcass have cancelled their Australian tour due to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.

Soundworks Touring issued the following statement: "Due to the very unfortunate circumstances surrounding the Download Festival cancellation and now the newly enforced government regulations, Soundworks Touring regrets to inform the public that all appearances on the scheduled Carcass Australian tour have been cancelled.

"This has been an incredibly difficult decision to make, but one we now have no choice in.

"Ticket purchasers will receive a refund via point of purchase. We urge everyone to please be patient during the refund process. We sincerely apologise for all disappointment and inconvenience caused by these decisions made.

"We are 100% committed to rescheduling a headlining Carcass tour to a later time frame when world health concerns settle."

Cancelled dates:

March
20 - Melbourne, Download Festival
21 - Sydney, Download Festival
24 - Hobart, Altar
25 - Brisbane, The Triffid
26 - Adelaide, Lion Arts Factory
28 - Perth, Slayfest

Carcass are gearing up to release a new album via Nuclear Blast on August 7. According to guitarist Bill Steer, the album will be called Torn Arteries. He revealed the title during an interview with Australia's Heavy, which was taken from a demo tape recorded by founding drummer Ken Owen when he was a teenager.

Steer: "He had a fictitious band called Torn Arteries and he recorded everything himself in his bedroom; guitar, and he'd actually bang on boxes and kind of scream into the mic. And the whole thing was so distorted, it kind of sounded super heavy, even though essentially you were listening to a guy with a Spanish guitar and a couple of boxes. I think Jeff (Walker / frontman) appreciates the connection to the past and the fact that it was another Ken Owen classic. So that was his choice, really, and it stuck."

Owen suffered a brain hemorrhage in 1999 and has not performed with the band in over 20 years, but according to Steer is still part of the band.

Steer: "Even though Ken isn't playing in the band as such right now, he's kind of involved in everything we do, stylistically, because when he was so unique. When he was playing drums, his approach was just totally different. Also, the riffs he came up with, they were just really far out there. They were loads of fun to learn. I still think, as a guitar player, some of the stuff was very unorthodox and it was quite a challenge. That kind of influence still runs through what we do today."

Carcass performed on the closing night of Decibel Magazine’s Metal & Beer Fest: Los Angeles on December 14, 2019. In preparation, the band released a new single called “Under The Scalpel Blade”. The track is the band’s first new song in six years and was originally released as part of Decibel’s Flexi Series, accompanied with the magazine’s January 2019 issue. “Under The Scalpel Blade” was recorded during sessions for their upcoming seventh studio album that’s due out this year. Purchase the issue with flexi here.

"It’s always difficult trying to decide what new song to expose people to, especially given an absence of nearly seven years???? With that in mind here’s a slow throw away number we cobbled together, and NO the title was NOT plagiarized from the DISORDER album of the same title before you ask!" – Jeff Walker

Stream "Under The Scalpel Blade" here and/or below:

(Photo - Gene Smirnov)