Symphonies of Sickness

Symphonies of Sickness
Carcass studio album
Publication (s)	December 1989
admission	July to August 1989
Label (s)	Earache Records
Format (s)	LP, CD
Genre (s)	Grindcore
Title (number)	10
running time	43min 10s
occupation	Ken Owen : vocals , drums Bill Steer : electric guitar Jeff Walker : Electric bass
production	Colin Richardson , Carcass
Studio (s)	Slaughterhouse
chronology Reek of Putrefaction 1988 Symphonies of Sickness Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious 1991

Symphonies of Sickness is the second studio album by the English extreme metal band Carcass . It was released in December 1989 on Earache Records and in the US on Combat Records . In 2009, the music magazine Terrorizer chose it as number 4 on its list of the Most Important European Grindcore Albums . In addition to the record version, a CD with 16 additional songs from the previous album Reek of Putrefaction was released .

Emergence

The album consists of six older songs previously released by Carcass on various demos , as well as four new songs. These were very different from what the group had written so far and, according to Bill Steer, represented the musical direction in which Carcass wanted to develop. In a contemporary interview, Bill Steer paid tribute to the American death metal bands, but denied having been influenced by this music in their songwriting , and cited early hardcore punk as the main influence . In July 1989, Carcass went to the Slaughterhouse Studio to record the songs with producer Colin Richardson . In contrast to the previous studio album, the musicians had around four weeks to record. When it was released, Earache Records decided to expand the CD version as an incentive to buy 16 tracks from the debut album Reek of Putrefaction . The band respected this decision, although they would have preferred to record some new tracks for these purposes while they were in the studio.

The album was released in December 1989 as LP, CD, MC and Picture Disc . In 2002 there was a re-release in various limited editions, one of them in Germany with red vinyl and limited to 1,000 copies. In October 2008 a digipak was released that contained a DualDisc in addition to the CD . On their audio side was the demo Symphonies of Sickness , on the video side a band biography under the title The Pathologist's Report Part II - Propagation .

reception

For Natalie J. Purcell, the album with its "catchier and slower pieces" was Carcass' first step towards Death Metal, which they played on the following album. Allmusic's Ned Raggett says the better production and longer playing time of the songs was a step forward without Carcass losing any of their energy. The reviewer particularly emphasizes the second piece Exhume to Consume and describes it as an "absolute Carcass highlight". André Bohnensack from Ox Fanzine described Symphonies of Sickness as a “Grindcore masterpiece” which, thanks to its combination of “musical brutality with intelligent songwriting”, is still unsurpassed. The US music magazine Decibel listed the album as an overrated album with cult status in 2011 in the category Disposable Heroes . For author Jamie Getz, the album is neither Grindcore nor Death Metal, he describes the guitar solos as weak, the breakdowns as unsuccessful and criticizes that longer pieces like Empathological Necroticism don't get to the point for too long.

Track list

Regular titles of the LP version

1. Reek of Putrefaction - 4:11
2. Exhume to Consume - 3:51
3. Excoriating Abdominal Emanation - 4:32
4. Ruptured in Purulence - 4:11
5. Empathological Necroticism - 5:45
6. Embryonic Necropsy and Devourment - 5:13
7. Swarming Vulgar Mass of Infected Virulency - 3:10
8. Cadaveric Incubator of Endoparasites - 3:24
9. Slash Dementia - 3:23
10. Crepitating Bowel Erosion - 5:27

Bonus pieces of the CD version

1. Genital Grinder - 1:25
2. Regurgitation of Giblets - 1:22
3. Maggot Colony - 1:37
4. Pyosisified (Rotten to the Gore) - 2:54
5. Vomited Anal-Tract - 1:43
6. Fermenting Innards - 2:33
7. Excreted Alive - 1:20
8. Suppuration - 2:19
9. Foeticide - 2:44
10. Feast on Dismembered Carnage - 1:25
11. Splattered Cavities - 1:53
12. Psychopathologis - 1:17
13. Burnt to a Crisp - 2:40
14. Pungent Excruciation - 2:30
15. Oxidized Razor Masticator - 3:11
16. Malignant Defecation - 2:16

Web links

• Symphonies of Sickness on Allmusic (English)
• Symphonies of Sickness on Earache Records (English)
• Symphonies of Sickness at Discogs (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Olivier Badin: Essential Albums: Europe . In: Terrorizer . No. 180 , February 2009, p. 54 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Perverse Sickos. Carcass interview . In: Rock Hard . No. 40 June 1990.
3. ^ Natalie J. Purcell: Death Metal Music. The Passion and Politics of a Subculture . McFarland, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7864-1585-4 , pp. 21st f .
4. ^ André Bohnensack: Carcass / Symphonies of Sickness. Ox Fanzine # 81, accessed April 6, 2011 . 
5. ↑ Jamie Getz: Disposable Heroes: Carcass's “Symphonies of Sickness”. Decibel Blog, July 13, 2011, accessed October 15, 2011 .