Carcass - Reek Of Putrefaction/Symphonies Of Sickness
2003 - Earache Records (re-issues)
By Philip Whitehouse
At last, Earache has seen fit to re-release arguably the two most influential goregrind albums of all time, replete with their original, collage-style artwork (consisting of photographs of corpses, giblets and other such grand guignol delights). Considering just about every other goregrind band in existence at the moment is basing their creative output on what this group of extremists did almost a decade and a half ago, their timing couldn't have been more appropriate.
So, for anyone unlucky enough to have missed out on the band first time round (or, perhaps, for those who have only heard Heartwork and are wondering what the hell the Carcass comparisons in that General Surgery review are there for), here's what we have - track after track of shoestring budget recorded anthems of uncompromising, bowel-loosening brutality backed up with lyrics regurgitated straight from the pages of Gray's Anatomy blended with vile, blackened humour.
The band's debut, RoP, was recorded on 16-track facilities (Pro-Tools? What are they?), and however lo-fi that may sound, it actually adds to the brutality on offer - 22 tracks of rumbling, hyper-speed, insanely sickening grind blurs past with nary a pause for breath, with unintelligibly gurgled, growled and screamed vocals competing with the bass, drums and detuned guitars for the ultimate in low-frequency grind. The follow-up, Symphonies Of Sickness, actually showed some signs of increasing maturity - longer, more complex songs, coupled with even more complex and imaginatively disgusting lyrics and a greater sense of dynamics.
Although in this age of Gothenberg melodic metal and high-profile producers (like Colin Richardson, who produced Symphonies Of Sickness and since Carcass' split has gone on to do sterling work on mixing Machine Head's recent live album), the low production values and unmitigated intensity of these releases may put newbies off, I would strongly urge anyone with even a passing interest in grindcore without these records to add them to their collection, immediately.
9/10
2003 - Earache Records (re-issues)
By Philip Whitehouse
At last, Earache has seen fit to re-release arguably the two most influential goregrind albums of all time, replete with their original, collage-style artwork (consisting of photographs of corpses, giblets and other such grand guignol delights). Considering just about every other goregrind band in existence at the moment is basing their creative output on what this group of extremists did almost a decade and a half ago, their timing couldn't have been more appropriate.
So, for anyone unlucky enough to have missed out on the band first time round (or, perhaps, for those who have only heard Heartwork and are wondering what the hell the Carcass comparisons in that General Surgery review are there for), here's what we have - track after track of shoestring budget recorded anthems of uncompromising, bowel-loosening brutality backed up with lyrics regurgitated straight from the pages of Gray's Anatomy blended with vile, blackened humour.
The band's debut, RoP, was recorded on 16-track facilities (Pro-Tools? What are they?), and however lo-fi that may sound, it actually adds to the brutality on offer - 22 tracks of rumbling, hyper-speed, insanely sickening grind blurs past with nary a pause for breath, with unintelligibly gurgled, growled and screamed vocals competing with the bass, drums and detuned guitars for the ultimate in low-frequency grind. The follow-up, Symphonies Of Sickness, actually showed some signs of increasing maturity - longer, more complex songs, coupled with even more complex and imaginatively disgusting lyrics and a greater sense of dynamics.
Although in this age of Gothenberg melodic metal and high-profile producers (like Colin Richardson, who produced Symphonies Of Sickness and since Carcass' split has gone on to do sterling work on mixing Machine Head's recent live album), the low production values and unmitigated intensity of these releases may put newbies off, I would strongly urge anyone with even a passing interest in grindcore without these records to add them to their collection, immediately.
9/10
