Cartilage have released Operating Altar, their third album, through Everlasting Spew Records. Decibel Magazine streamed it in full before the release.
The San Francisco band wrote the nine tracks as one story rather than nine separate songs. It follows Matthew Krolmark, a medical student in his final year at St. Petersen's University Hospital, who shadows a celebrated surgeon and witnesses a series of deaths and cases of malpractice, then finds a history of torture and experiments behind them.
"We're elated to finally unleash the sonic spectacle of insidious surgeries known as Operating Altar," the band said, calling the nine tracks a tale of unfathomable terror.
Musically they keep the blast beats and the two-voice attack of their earlier records, with vocalist Mark Wallace and guitarist and vocalist Ria Flory moving between growls and shrieks, and add elements of brutal death metal and classic heavy metal. Spoken passages connect the chapters of the story.