Carcass
Reek of Putrefaction

THE REVIEW

It's difficult to describe an album like this in positive terms as it might seem horrific to most (and even to those who love it!), but let's start with the history.

Carcass was formed in Liverpool in 1985 as a trio, comprised of none other than Bill Steer on guitar, Jeff Walker on bass, and Ken Owen on drums. Initially, the vocals were done by all the band members, although as the years went by, Walker would become the sole singer while Bill Steer continued to do Growl in very few songs.

After a few demos, they decided to record this album, taking as their main lyrical inspiration some medical books. The three young men were so fascinated that they decided to use a collage of obscene photos from these books as the album cover!

This album is almost universally considered the first Goregrind album in history, although, as Walker himself reiterated, the creation of this subgenre is something to be attributed to the press since they only wanted to play "normal" Death Metal. This Death Metal was complemented by the extremely short duration of the songs, the totally cluttered production, and a disproportionate use of Blast Beat on the drums, which was not so common in Death at the time (some bands like Death or Obituary never used it).

The terrible production was also a mastering error, according to Steer, due to an incompetent sound engineer, and I don't find it hard to believe. But now let's move on to the music, which is probably the most violent that could be found until its release year, 1988, when Slayer was playing South of Heaven and Death was about to release their masterpiece "Leprosy." Carcass was playing a very primitive and uncompromising Goregrind.

The few riffs that can be distinguished are clearly inspired by Death Metal but make great use of tremolo picking, which fits perfectly with the huge amount of Blast Beat by Owen that covers almost the entire duration of the album, with some slowdowns that make the musical proposal slightly more dynamic and help create this huge violent atmosphere that surrounds the entire album. The bass is often inaudible, but in the few moments we can hear it, we are overwhelmed by a series of completely distorted notes, almost like a chainsaw! The drums have a fairly natural sound while maintaining the album's horrible sound, with a very resonant snare that will become almost mandatory for all future Goregrind bands. The voice is frighteningly low, in some cases also thanks to the use of a Pitch Shifter, and it’s fantastic how it perfectly matches the music when the low voices are "doubled" by higher screams to create a single sonic wall.

I think many would agree that this album is totally underrated in the Carcass discography, where Heartwork or at most Necroticism is always mentioned, almost wanting to erase a much more violent and original past of the band only because of the poor sound quality or the bitterness of the compositions, which will probably make most people frown.

It's difficult to recommend individual songs since outside the album they might be considered trivial or even boring despite their short length. Certainly, a song like "Vomited Anal Tract" or "Regurgitation Of Giblets" gives a good idea of what Carcass managed to create, whether deliberately or by mistake.

It may not be the most varied album in the world, but I consider it a classic and I think it has a very interesting atmosphere as well as a greatly undervalued historical significance.

However, the carcass is continuously evolving, and even their latest albums are of excellent quality.