CARCASS Symphonies of Sickness is the second album from the English Death Metal / Grindcore band from 1999. This is a HUGE step forward for the band. The first album as basically just grindcore, and if we’re being honest there were a few bands doing it better than them at the time. This time round the lads have obviously practiced hard and they’ve successfully combined grind core with death metal and and some much improved guitar playing and general song orchestration. Even the studio production is much improved to create what was to become a classic of the genre.
The album opens up with “Reek of Putrefaction” and its obvious from the outset that Carcass now mean business. The album is much more digestible (pardon the pun hahah) with songs that actually go for 3 mins and have choruses and guitar solos. The vocals are much more pronounced with the dual vocals of Bill Steer and main vocalist Jeff Walker being used to full effect. Jeffs vocals seem to be in the standard death metal range whilst Bill Steer’s vocals have been harmonised down to some kind of gutteral level which had never really been heard before Carcass. Sure they were on the first album too but now you can hear it properly and the effect really comes through. The band as I remember from the time copped some flack for it, but I think its a cool effect and not over used.
The album continues in fine form with “Exhume to Consume” which features some rather tasty melodic soloing from Bill Steer. What’s that I hear you say? Melodic Solo’s on a grindcore record? Like I said Carcass progressed in a huge way from what you see on their first record. It’s almost like a different band. With song titles like “Excoriating Abdominal Emanation” it becomes clear Jeff has accidently swallowed a thesaurus and shat it out. At this point it needs to be pointed out that Carcass have a decidedly different take on the lyrical direction of their metal. If you look at the lyric sleeve of this one Jeff’s vocalbulary is nothing short of astonishing combining many huge words to describe the atrocities contained within the lyrics. Lyrically the themes of death are ever present as you’d expect from a band like Carcass, but in a more twisted and graphic way. Descriptions of the rotting and decaying process are presented in an fiendish and very creative way.
“Ruptured in Purulence” combines some very addictive grooves and timing changes which not only makes for a great song but provides some variety in the songs and also means you can tell some of the songs apart from others. Something many death metal bands lack. “Empathlogical Necroticism” is another stand out song for me, with a very memorable groove where the vocals fit the songs perfectly.
With Symphonies of Sickness Carcass have managed to seperate themselves from the pack and become forerunners of the scene along side fellow label mates Morbid Angel. This was also the album to push death metal from being a soley underground phenomenon to incorporating elements of progression and more accessible songwriting sensibilities into the genre whilst still staying true to their grind core roots.
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