photos by Kei Mowry
Toilet Ov Hell has uncorked the grimy new auditory dispatch from San Francisco gore metal crew CARTILAGE, today premiering “The Sanguine Fiend.” The song is found on the band’s impending third full-length slab of sinewy gore metal, Operating Altar, nearing release on Everlasting Spew Records.
Despite being the first foray into the world of 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 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 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.
Vocalist Mark Wallace poetically proclaims, “Symposium slathering selfish surgeon’s symbols strewn sequentially in this sinister serial slasher hymn titled ‘The Sanguine Fiend.’”
With the song’s decadent debut, Toilet Ov Hell writes, “Studied in the ways of those who treaded the path before them such as Carcass and Exhumed, San Francisco’s Cartilage bring their own flavor to the gory gathering. Razor-sharp riffs, pummeling percussion, and a dual gurgle/shriek vocal attack are nothing novel, but on ‘The Sanguine Fiend’ we are treated to thrashy technicality and constant shifts in tempo.”
Take a dip in the Toilet Ov Hell with CARTILAGE’s “The Sanguine Fiend” RIGHT HERE.
Everlasting Spew will release Operating Altar on CD, cassette, and digital formats on September 11th. Find preorders at the label webshop HERE and Bandcamp where “The Operating Altar” is playing HERE. A vinyl pressing will follow this Winter.
CARTILAGE will waste no time putting Operating Altar through its paces on the road. Days after the album’s release, 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: Toilet Ov Hell Premieres “The Sanguine Fiend” From Bay Area Goremongers; Third LP, Operating Altar, Nears September 11th Release On Everlasting Spew Records Alongside Tour With Goetia first appeared on Earsplit Compound.