photos by Kei Mowry
“…a concept album chronicling medical nightmares, malpractice and a surgeon whose Hippocratic oath appears to have been misplaced somewhere near the bone saw.” – Decibel Magazine
Operating Altar, the carrion-corroded third album from San Francisco deathgrind crew CARTILAGE, is now playing exclusively at Decibel Magazine ahead of its release this Friday on Everlasting Spew Records.
Despite being the first foray into concept albums for CARTILAGE, Operating Altar sacrifices nothing in the way of blitzkrieg blast beats and riptide riffs. Lead vocalist Mark Wallace and guitarist/vocalist Ria 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 completed with cover art by David Romero (Cinemamind).
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.
“We’re elated to finally unleash the sonic spectacle of insidious surgeries known as Operating Altar, featuring nine malicious tracks that combine to tell a tale of unfathomable terror,” the band tells Decibel. “Listen if you dare!”
Decibel Magazine writes alongside their premiere of the record, “San Francisco deathgrinders CARTILAGE have never exactly been known for practicing restraint, but on third full-length Operating Altar, the Bay Area gore merchants have found a way to make their particular pathology even more elaborate. Rather than assembling another collection of individual incisions, the band conceived the record as one sprawling deathgrind operation—a concept album chronicling medical nightmares, malpractice and a surgeon whose Hippocratic oath appears to have been misplaced somewhere near the bone saw.”
Allow yourself to be gutted by CARTILAGE’s Operating Altar early at Decibel Magazine RIGHT HERE.
Operating Altar will be released on CD, cassette, and digital formats this Friday, September 11th. Preorder it at the Everlasting Spew Records webshop HERE and Bandcamp HERE, and watch the “S.C.D. (Sudden Cardiac Death) video HERE. A vinyl pressing will follow this Winter.
CARTILAGE will waste no time putting Operating Altar through its paces on the road. This Tuesday, they will join forces with Washington D.C.’s Goetia alongside Degraved and Unidad Trauma for their most extensive jaunt yet, spreading their disease across the Western United States and into Mexico.
CARTILAGE Tour Dates w/ Goetia:
9/15/2026 Tower Bar – San Diego, CA
9/16/2026 Republica De Hops – Tijuana, MX
9/17/2026 Slipper Clutch – Los Angeles, CA
9/18/2026 Summer Fox Brewery – Fresno, CA
9/19/2026 Mabuhay Gardens – San Francisco, CA
9/20/2026 Savage Henry’s – Eureka, CA
9/22/2026 The Crypt – Olympia, WA
9/23/2026 Big Dipper – Spokane, WA
9/24/2026 Central Saloon – Seattle, WA (no Goetia)
9/25/2026 High Water Mark – Portland, OR (no Goetia)
https://cartilagegore.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/CartilageSF
https://www.instagram.com/cartilage_gore
https://linktr.ee/esrww
https://everlastingspew.com
https://www.instagram.com/everlastingspew
https://everlastingspew.bandcamp.com
https://open.spotify.com/user/thespew
https://www.youtube.com/everlastingspewrecords
https://www.facebook.com/everlastingspew
The post CARTILAGE: Decibel Magazine Streams Operating Altar, The Gorestrewn Third LP By Bay Area Deathgrind Crew; Album Out Friday On Everlasting Spew Records + Tour With Goetia To Begin first appeared on Earsplit Compound.