Воистину, количество звёзд, засветившихся на этом проекте удивляет. Впрочем, не настолько, как величина этих звёзд. Ник Холмс (Paradise Lost), Вилле Вало (H.I.M.), Билл Стир, а также куча перцев из Finntroll, Amorphis и прочих Cathedral-ов. И что вы думаете, эта «могучая кучка» волосатых металлических мужланов поёт старые добрые country (или правильнее cuntry) боевики. Так что поклонников музыкального мяса спешу предупредить: собственно металла и тяжести здесь не много, зато предостаточно здорового южного ковбойского задора, удачно замешанного на финском хмельном угаре (всё-таки финский студийный след отразился не только на качестве звучания, но и на музыке самой). Правды ради надо признать, что юмора в этом релизе много больше, чем, собственно, музыки, последняя здесь вообще вторична, релиз этот ценен необычностью подхода к реализации, поэтому ждать от него большего было бы неправильно, что, как вы понимаете, можно с одной стороны оценивать как его достоинство, а с другой стороны – как его недостаток. Поэтому всё будет зависеть от того, с какой стороны вы к нему подойдёте, и не ждите, пожалуйста, от меня осмысленной рецензии на этот безбашенный релиз, поверьте, его ценность не лежит в музыкальной плоскости. В качестве субъективного довеска к рецензии могу добавить лишь, что мне больше всего понравился закрывающий трек, на котором засветился Ник Холмс (Paradise Lost). Великолепный, добротный, тяжёлый почти готик-металлический (поздний период Paradise Lost) боевик – пожалуй, наиболее музыкальная и самая запоминающаяся вещь на альбоме.

Were you one of those people who, upon discovering that "Keep On Rotting In The New World" on Carcass' Swansong was not in fact a grindcore version of the famous rock hymn, felt a little disappointed? Well, it seems like Jeff Walker has finally decided to fill this gap in for us. We finally get our Neil Young cover, along with ten other country and blues standards butchered by the ex-Carcass vocalist and a bevy of guest musicians, including Ken Owen, Bill Steer, David and Vincent Cavanagh, Billy Gould, Nicke Anderson, Shane Embury and Nick Holmes, to name but a few.
As you can guess, this is quite a weird release. I was expecting Hank Williams III or Al Jourgensen (with his 666 Shooters) to release some sort of country-metal album first but Jeff Walker has beat them to it. It also seems like he has taken a pretty laid-back attitude and recorded what sounds like a collection of songs that a bunch of his metal friends captured during a night of rodeo, heavy drinking and square dancing. In other words, this is not any kind of ground-breaking country metal hybrid that could perhaps point other bands into a fresh new direction. Instead, what we get is some famous songs performed with a metal edge and multiple vocalists (although Waters' anti-melodic rasp dominates). The band is definitely more at home with the faster and more dynamic songs such as "I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" and the album closer, although the legendary ballad "Once A Day" also sounds decent in their rendition. This stuff is definitely fun to listen to but otherwise does not do much else for me.
In the end Welcome To Carcass Cuntry is more of a novelty album than a collection of meaningful songs. I suppose you can play it on some of those metalhead parties you go to, or perhaps to make your country-loving friends laugh.
By jupitreas (www.metalstorm.net)

Orchestration arranged by Natalie Flood and played by:
Sarah Broder & Anna Logan - flute
Steph Oatridge & Emma Williams - oboe
Jen Peglan - alto sax
Alex Baldwin & Sophie Parsons - trumpet
Hannah Pritchard, Erica Nockalls, Phillipa Lodge & Niahm Ferris - violin
Helen Beecroft, Ruth Wooley & Sally Greenwell - viola
Anna Picken & Julia Munn - cello

Produced by Jeff Walker
Mixed by Santeri Kallio & Jeff Walker
Recorded at CCPC Studios, Helsinki, between September 2004 to August 2005
Engineered by Niclas Etelävuori and Santeri Kallio
Mastered by Mika Jussila at Finnvox Studios, Helsinki
Orchestra recorded at the Birmingham Conservatoire December 2004
Engineered by Matthew O'Malley
Additional Recordings took place at:
Sewerside Studios, Heckmondwike - engineered by Les Smith
Sweetpea Studios, San Francisco - engineered by Billy Gould
Backstage Studios, Ripley - engineered by James Murphy
Stockholm, Sweden - engineered by Chips
Everything but The Bloody Kitchen Sink - Yorkshire, London & Punky Mansions
Cover art by by Larry Welz
Photograph by Tina Korhonen
Dedicated to the late John Peel ("Rocky Mountain High" is for "Evil" Chuck Shuldiner)

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4. May 2009

EAC extraction logfile from 5. June 2009, 20:26

Jeff Walker Und Die Fluffers / Welcome To Carcass Cuntry

Used drive : Optiarc DVD RW AD-5200A Adapter: 0 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo

TOC of the extracted CD

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10 | 30:55.45 | 5:31.08 | 139170 | 164002
11 | 36:26.53 | 5:03.17 | 164003 | 186744

Range status and errors

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Filename C:\Jeff Walker Und Die Fluffers - Welcome To Carcass Cuntry\Jeff Walker Und

Die Fluffers - Welcome To Carcass Cuntry.wav

Peak level 97.7 %
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 6ACA50FD
Copy CRC 6ACA50FD
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

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All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report