San Francisco gore metal crew CARTILAGE will release their third full-length album, Operating Altar, on September 11 via Everlasting Spew Records — the follow-up to 2025's Tales From The Entrails EP and the band's first concept album.
Operating Altar follows a mad surgeon's decades of misdeeds at St. Petersen's University Hospital, delivered through vocalist Mark Wallace and guitarist/vocalist Teresa Flory's grunts and shrieks alongside CARTILAGE's blast beats and riffing. The album was recorded and mixed by Scott Evans (NEUROSIS, EXHUMED, AUTOPSY), mastered by Leon del Muerte, and features cover art by David Romero (Cinemamind).
"With this album, we sought to compose one large piece instead of simply a collection of songs," says guitarist Michael Flory. "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."
The album's lead single, "The Operating Altar," premiered at No Clean Singing — stream it here.
Operating Altar arrives on CD, cassette, and digital on September 11, with a vinyl pressing to follow this winter. Preorders are available now through the Everlasting Spew Records webshop and Bandcamp.
Track listing:
- Metal, Bone And Sinew
- S.C.D. (Sudden Cardiac Death)
- The Autopsy: A Surgical Sonata
- The Sanguine Fiend
- A Lymphatic Labyrinth Of Roiling Rot
- Among The Offal
- Anatomical Incantations
- The Operating Altar
- Stitch By Stitch
CARTILAGE will support the album with a West Coast run alongside GOETIA, DEGRAVED, and UNIDAD TRAUMA in September.
Tour dates: 9/15 – San Diego, CA @ Tower Bar 9/16 – Tijuana, MX @ Republica De Hops 9/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Slipper Clutch 9/18 – Fresno, CA @ TBA 9/19 – San Francisco, CA @ Mabuhay Gardens 9/20 – Eureka, CA @ Savage Henry's 9/22 – Olympia, WA @ The Crypt 9/23 – Spokane, WA @ Big Dipper 9/24 – Seattle, WA @ Central Saloon (no GOETIA) 9/25 – Portland, OR @ High Water Mark (no GOETIA)