Photo credit: Kei Mowry
San Francisco gore metal squad, Cartilage have just unleashed their latest single, “The Operating Altar,” via Everlasting Spew Records. Following on from their 2025 EP, Tales From The Entrails, the track gives first glance at the band’s third full-length, Operating Altar, out September 11th. Check it out below.
Pre-order Operating Altar here: https://everlastingspew.bandcamp.com/album/operating-altar
Guitarist Michael Flory says of Operating Altar, “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!”
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.
Everlasting Spew Records will release Operating Altar on CD, cassette, and digital formats on September 11th. A vinyl pressing will follow this Winter.
Operating Altar tracklisting:
01 Metal, Bone And Sinew
02 S.C.D. (Sudden Cardiac Death)
03 The Autopsy: A Surgical Sonata
04 The Sanguine Fiend
05 A Lymphatic Labyrinth Of Roiling Rot
06 Among The Offal
07 Anatomical Incantations
08 The Operating Altar
09 Stitch By Stitch
Cartilage will waste no time in putting Operating Altar through its paces on the road. In September 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. Flory adds, “We’ve known Goetia from our past tours on the East Coast, we’re ecstatic to host them here and spread our sickness throughout the West Coast.”
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 TBA – 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)
Expect additional audio previews, videos, tour dates, and more from Cartilage to post over the coming weeks.
Follow Cartilage:
https://cartilagegore.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/CartilageSF
https://www.instagram.com/cartilage_gore