Cartilage - Operating Altar cassette *PRE-ORDER*

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PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A PRE-ORDER PRODUCT ESTIMATED TO SHIP ON OR AROUND SEPTEMBER 4, 2026. IF THIS PRODUCT IS IN YOUR ORDER, YOUR ENTIRE ORDER WILL NOT SHIP UNTIL IT IS AVAILABLE. 1. Metal, Bone, and Sinew 2. S.C.D. (Sudden Cardiac Death) 3. The Autopsy: A Surgical Sonata 4. The Sanguine Fiend 5. A Lymphatic Labyrinth of Roiling Rot 6. Among the Offal 7. Anatomical Incantations 8. The Operating Altar 9. Stitch by Stitch Overview: At St. Petersen’s University Hospital, nightmares become coursework and "Operating Altar" is the soundtrack to those horrors! Cartilage channel Matthew Krolmark’s descent into medical madness with a single, sprawling Deathgrind opus: faster than a panicked heartbeat, sharper than Dr. Warwick Locke’s questionable scalpel, and dripping with enough gore to violate several ethical boards. A grand‑guignolesque blood ritual disguised as an album, ready to carve its way through the living, the dead, and anyone foolish enough to listen without anesthesia! “With this album, we sought to compose one large piece instead of simply a collection of songs. We’ve combined more influences from the likes of both brutal death metal and classic heavy metal, yet we pushed ourselves to faster tempos that we’ve never done before. Operating Altar is uniquely formulated to leave your ears bleeding with pleasure, our Maggot O-Pus if you will!” (Mike Flory) Story summary: Matthew Krolmark has suffered his most vivid nightmare yet, one that would soon become all too real with the start of his final year of study at St. Petersen’s University Hospital. His mother Arabelle, a resident physician, insists he shadow the newly hired and acclaimed surgeon Dr. Warwick Locke. After witnessing strange deaths and horrific incidents of medical malpractice at the surgeon’s hand, Matthew uncovers the hospital’s dark history of torture and inhumane experimentation. A dark history that he is convinced is repeating itself. Bio: Formed in 2014, San Francisco’s CARTILAGE deliver a gory, unhinged strain of Deathgrind potent enough to horrify veterans like Carcass and Impetigo. After honing their craft through their early years, the crew entered Greg Wilkinson’s Earhammer Studios to forge their debut full‑length Dialect of the Dead (2017). Its release pushed Mark Wallace, Teresa Flory, Michael Flory, and Adam Houmam across the U.S. and Europe, spreading their grotesque gospel on stage. In 2020, bassist Kienan Hamilton joined, adding his crushing low‑end to the self‑released Gore‑Met EP and the Matt Harvey–produced The Deader the Better (2022). With extensive shows on both coasts and a U.S. tour with Gruesome, the five‑piece has become a tightly wound, blood‑soaked machine. The dead may rest, but Cartilage’s grind never stops and after four bloody years and a quick taste-test in 2025’s Tales from the Entrails EP, San Francisco’s Cartilage has returned with their third full-length slab of sinewy gore metal Operating Altar. Despite being the band’s first foray into the world of concept albums, Operating Altar sacrifices nothing in the way of blitzkrieg blast beats and riptide riffs. Lead vocalist Mark Wallace and guitarist/vocalist Teresa Flory spew their signature pustulant grunts and shrieks with newly theatrical aplomb, sharing the tales of a mad surgeon hell-bent on continuing decades of misdeeds at his venue of choice: St. Petersen’s University Hospital. Recorded and mixed by Scott Evans (Neurosis, Exhumed, Autopsy) and mastered by Leon del Muerte, Operating Altar is the logical next step for the Bay Area’s blood-brokers, their horizons expanding without losing the red-eyed fury that has become their signature. Operating Altar is the sound of a cauterizing wound. All at once scorching, hardening and sealing their sound into a new and grander whole! Show more