Reunited CARCASS Confirmed For Italy's GODS OF METAL Festival

According to a posting on the Italian rock/metal webzine Groovebox.it, reunited British extreme metal pioneers CARCASS have been confirmed for the Gods of Metal festival, set to take place June 27-29, 2008 in Bologna, Italy. The festival billing is now shaping up as follows:

IRON MAIDEN (June 27 headliners)
JUDAS PRIEST (June 29 headliners)
CARCASS
MESHUGGAH
AT THE GATES
YNGWIE MALMSTEEN
ENSLAVED

More bands will be announced soon.

In an exclusive interview with BLABBERMOUTH.NET conducted this past October, CARCASS bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker stated about the group's upcoming touring plans, "The idea is we'll see what comes up and how it goes. We've got an opportunity to go to Israel, we can do South America, Southeast Asia… We just want to have some fun and go to some cool exotic places that we didn't get to do before. You know, this is just "organic" — it will provide its own momentum. As for the USA, that's a tough cookie — it would be nice to do something that actually excites us. You know, ultimately things like Wacken are more an 'event' and not just another show on the same old circuit. I'm also not sure how comfortable I'd be doing what I refer to as 'an EMPEROR.'"

Regarding the accusations by some detractors that the band was reuniting for no other reason than to "cash in," especially since it's been well-documented that Bill Steer is simply not into this kind of music anymore, Jeff said, "If I was "cashing in," then I would have been playing this summer and doing some long-haul slog, soul-destroying tour that the others wanted to sign up for. The reality is, there is money involved, but this isn't gonna set anyone up for life. What makes this 'credible' is that Ken [Owen, ailing CARCASS drummer] will get the same split as me Bill and Mike. After all, it's not his fault he's not in a position to do this. I personally don't do anything just for the money with the exception of my part-time job. The reality is we're doing it 'cos we think it will be fun. I'm sure Mike and Daniel have better things to do with their time, ha ha! Plus you know we get hassled constantly to do it — CARCASS means a lot to some people. As for Bill Steer not being into 'this music' anymore — we have a saying in England, 'the proof is in the pudding.' I've played the CARCASS stuff with him, he can more than still cut the mustard and as far as I'm concerned after everything he's contributed to 'this music,' he can do what the hell he likes. You know we've NEVER sat around listening to metal 24/7 — we have very big bullshit detectors, we've been into rock and stuff since we were kids. Sorry if it's heresy, but we don't like every single new-breed metal band on the planet! Mike was telling me the other day that he was boring his band on tour blasting old-school hardcore punk on the tour bus — does that question his integrity as a metal guitarist? Of course it doesn't!!!"

CARCASS's video for the song "Heartwork":

CARCASS live footage from Rome, Italy in 1992: