Genre: Goregrind
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☠: Selected by Buccaneer
© 1989-1990 Combat/Earache RecordsAllMusic Review by Ned Raggett
If Reek of Putrefaction was one series of brusque, quick, and brute explosions after another, Symphonies of Sickness, as its title indicated, is something of a complex step up. None of the power is lost at all, but thanks to a combination of crisper recording and a desire on the part of the band to stretch things out a bit more -- three- to five-minute-long songs and so forth -- Carcass here play with their enjoyably ugly sound just enough. Thus, hearing a brief stab of synth strings and an actual sense of space in the opening title track might not be too much, but it's still quite a lot in context. But once the vocal growls and a quick, solid riff heralds another hyperspeed section of musical and vocal delivery, Carcass as they were initially known and loved reappear in full effect. Nothing too much changes beyond the slightest of touches throughout Symphonies, but one notable difference is that the lyrics actually sometimes come through, if only just. One of the best bits comes in the middle of "Empathological Necroticism" -- in the middle of detailing another hard day at the office with crushed limbs and general evisceration, the working stiff hero of the piece admits, "Life is hard as a mortuary technician." Given that the guy's problems have to deal with such things as pulped cerebellums mucking up his slab and the problems of rigor mortis, it's hard to disagree with the sentiment. An all-time Carcass highlight comes with the perfectly disgusting second number, "Exhume to Consume," which gives an all-new insight into the joys of grave-robbing and, shall we say, feasting on preserved meat. Then again, ignore the lyric sheet and just go nuts with some of the deepest male vocals ever recorded and overall feedback doom crunch.
tags: carcass, symphonies of sickness, 1989, flac,
Nice to see the Carcass albums going up... back in the day Earache was like an unstoppable killing machine... this album was pure gold! Never left the walkman lol
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't know, personally. Buck is the only one out of the 3 of us that likes the extreme genres. The 3 of us enjoy Heavy Metal but that's as close as it gets. Lass loves Glam, Alternative and Nu-Metal, where as Buck and myself do not. Buck loves all of the extreme metal sub-genres where as Lass and I do not. Buck and I love Doom Metal where as Lass does not, except for the first Witchcraft album.
DeleteOutside of Metal, Hardcore, Heavy Hardcore, Crossover Thrash, Grindcore and all of it's fusions and sub-genres..... That's all Buck, man. This website has something something for everyone. It's 3 different people with 3 different palettes of music that sometimes meet in the middle.