Review by Ben for Carcass - Symphonies of Sickness (1989)

Carcass' third and fourth albums, Necroticism and Heartwork are two of the very finest albums the world has ever seen. It's quite difficult to review the rest of their discography due to the excellence of those two pieces of work. But it's so important to look back at their humble beginnings, especially when one considers how damn original they were at the time. They clearly progressed and evolved with each release, going from brutal, sludgy grindcore (Reek of Putrefaction) and ended up with some sort of cleanly produced, death n roll (Swansong).

Symphonies of Sickness sits in between that crappy sounding yet somehow entertaining debut and the completely peerless death metal of Necroticism. It's still underproduced, but somehow the sound works completely. The imagery, the lyrics, the whole tongue in cheek experience, just wouldn't work as well if this wasn't raw and impenetrable. And nothing else had sounded this sick and twisted back in 1989. Along with Autopsy, Carcass created a whole new genre of metal, and one that is still going strong today. The band have recently reformed (well, Jeff Walker, Bill Steer and Michael Amott have recruited Daniel Erlandsson to make a new Carcass) and it will be interesting to see what they come up with next.

All three band members take on vocal duties on nearly every track. It's amazing how different Bill Steer and Jeff Walker's vocal styles were and yet how perfectly brutal each of them sounds. Steer's guitar riffs are amazing, and his style has been copied repeatedly in the past 20 years. Highlights are Reek of Putrefaction, Exhume to Consume, Empathological Necroticism and of course Swarming Vulgar Mass of Infected Virulency. You got to love those titles. Carcass rocks!