Carcass....

Gah! I've been a busy guy lately, being all social, ignoring my quest. But I'm back at it. I find myself being drawn into the dark mysteries of Death Metal lately. I'm not quite sure how I missed the boat for most of my life, but I'm glad I clued in now. Finding (relatively) cheap copies of Carcass' first two albums at Silver platters was kind of a big deal. Their first album "Reek Of Putrefaction" has a real primitive recording sound to it. Pots and pans symbols, cardboard drums, blown out bass, it's lo-fi-ness is part of the appeal (to me). I have always heard the name bandied about, but I had just assumed they were just another Cannibal Corpse styled band with nothing to offer me. This is a million times better. "Reek Of Putrefaction" is one of those albums that is clearly metal, but also occupies Grindcore territory as well, before all the genres got codified and less static. Each song on here is a blast of washed out drums, squealing guitars and guttural vocals. It might seem like a novelty today, but I am told back when this was released, it was nothing less than a total breath of fresh air. Alongside Napalm Death, Sweden's Entombed, and Florida's Death, something new was happening. Music was being taken to a lot of new extremes. Carcass never really sounded like this again, having gotten better at playing music (and being already talented), but having gotten better, playing this style must have gotten boring for them. Shame, as I love the sound quality on this one. This is the Earache reissue and thus contains their "Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment" demo as well, bonus! "Reek" also contains one of the most awful looking album covers in existence; look at it. Ugh. But also one of the most memorable as well.

"Symphonies Of Sickness" is quite a big step up in sound quality, and none of the power is lost from gaining a better studio sound either. Most sophomore albums really sink under the expectations people have for them, but "SOS" really holds up. So far, it's my favorite of the Carcass discography. There is grind in this one, more of the beginnings of the "Death Metal" sound. Proper guitar solos, big, heavy production, the bass is not as discernible though, maybe it's this particular remastering job on the reissued version, but I hear mostly guitars and drums. Ken Owens' voice is more death metal sounding too, not as insane as it was on "Reek". The synthy guitar parts I could do without, but otherwise a perfect album really!

I've grabbed a few more Carcass albums since getting these two, but I have a lot of catching up to, vacation is over, back to work!

2 albums equals 51 songs which makes the count at 17483....