CARCASS — Symphonies of Sickness (review)

CARCASS — Symphonies of Sickness album cover Album · 1989 · Goregrind Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"Symphonies of Sickness" is the 2nd full-length studio album by UK goregrind/death metal act Carcass. The album was released through Earache Records in November 1989. The original version of the album features a gory meat collage cover artwork, while several of the many re-releases/reissues have featured censored cover artwork. My version is for example a gatefold vinyl version with a grey and black cover artwork. It´s only when you open the gatefold that you´ll be exposed to the repulsive meat collage. I know there are several other versions around including the CD releases from the 90es which feature a cover with drawn humans like the ones you´ll find in biology teaching materials. Just as the cover artwork for Carcass debut album "Reek of Putrefaction (1988)", which also featured a similar gory meat collage, the artwork for "Symphonies of Sickness" was banned shortly after the album was released.

The music on the album is a combination of grindcore and death metal. The muddy and primitive sound quality of the debut album has been replaced by a much clearer yet still not polished Colin Richardson sound production, which means that "Symphonies of Sickness" is actually an album that´s listenable. The vocal style is still the combination of deep growls and snarling higher pitched vocals. The musicianship has improved a great deal since the debut and while Ken Owen was never the most tight drummer around, his playing has it´s charm and he too has improved greatly since the debut. The tracks are decently composed and much longer than the short grindcore assaults of the debut album. As a result there are "only" 10 tracks on the album. The lyrics are still in the gore themed catagory with the clinical medicine/pathology touch that Carcass were known for on their early releases. There are some absolutely ridiculous (this is actually meant in a positive way) song titles on this album like "Cadaveric Incubator Of Endo Parasites", "Swarming Vulgar Mass Of Infected Virulency" and "Empathological Necroticism".

Upon conclusion "Symphonies of Sickness" is pretty much a 100% improvement over "Reek of Putrefaction (1988)", but that really wasn´t too difficult to achieve and doesn´t really say much about the quality of the material on "Symphonies of Sickness". While all tracks are somewhat entertaining and relatively well composed, I´ve always felt the album lacked power and catchy hooks. Like the case is with "Reek of Putrefaction (1988)", "Symphonies of Sickness" is a "classic" goregrind/death metal album and it has influenced legions of artists since it was released. In this case influential doesn´t necessarily mean great though. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
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Vim Fuego wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Ooh, I gotta disagree! Gore grind doesn't get much better than this album, which is why it's been imitated so often.

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