Review by Daniel for Carcass - Reek of Putrefaction (1988)

When I first heard this album back in the late 80's I was really taken off guard. I hadn't heard anything like it before & it took me a few listens to become adjusted to the sheer ugliness & ferocity. Having said that I'm not too sure that I've ever really reached a stage where I'm totally comfortable with it. There are certainly some fun tracks here (see "Festerday" & my personal favourite "Fermenting Innards") but there are plenty of others that sound like a complete mess thanks to the extraordinarily poor production & some fairly sloppy performances. The lead guitar sound is almost unlistenably bad. I like the multiple vocal thing they had going on & the gore-drenched lyrical content is great fun but I'm just not sure the sound that comes out of those speakers is worth my time. I can understand people's attraction to it but it's never really hit the spot for me. The next few Carcass albums are where it's at in my opinion.