If a debut album containing 22 songs that in total are over 40 minutes is followed up a year later with an album containing 10 songs that in total are about 3 minutes longer, then something has changed in terms of composition and arrangement, right? Perhaps not to the ears of the traditional pop music listener. Not at first, at least, but perseverance is one of development´s parents and surely we all want to develop as music consumers? If your answer is yes, then Carcass may not be the one I would first recommend, but if you can plow through the traditional heavy metal path and dare to continue through the waste lands of thrash metal, you are faced with a number of choices, of which the subgenre grindcore is one of the most extreme expressions.
And that is where we now stand with the Liverpool band's second album Symphonies of Sickness (1989). Guitarist/vocalist Bill Steer had already participated in 1987 on the B-side of the debut album of Birmingham band Napalm Death with his thick, down-tuned strings, while Carcass bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker cobbled together the cover for the same album. Carcass was formed in 1985 by both of the aforementioned men together with drummer Ken Owen when the guys were in high school. Although Syphonies of Sickness is by no means like cotton in your ears, both the arrangements and the production have taken a significant step forward compared to the debut Reek of Putrefaction. An extremely fast instrumental tempo is as much a part of the genre as the guttural sounds that flow from the vocalists' throats. Likewise, the string instruments are tuned significantly lower than the standard tuning found in most popular musical genres. The traditional grindcore compositions are characterized by compressed pieces, heavily inspired by the crust and anarcho-punk of the time. Symphonies of Sickness has also been spiced with a lot of death metal, which forces longer and more dynamic compositions. At least when compared to the debut album, as mentioned.
Even the lyrical messages are often inspired by punk, if they are distancing themselves from or engaged in various social issues. Carcass´, at least at that time, "gore lyrics" are often thorough enumerations of autopsy protocols that are then preferably kept alongside the visual contributions that accompany the album covers. Perhaps a contribution to the debate about the meat industry. At least that was something that at the time they thought was important to emphasize in interviews.
Symphonies of Sickness was recorded at The Slaughterhouse Studios in the summer of 1989 and was released on Earache Records 4 months later.
Genre: Grindcore / Death metal
Rating: 4.7 / 7