Carcass – Reek Of Putrefaction

“Sounds like shit” is what most people would think of this album. I grew to love it with time, and it’s definitely a grower for most Carcass fans. The OG copy has a sticker with the suggested price of 4.99£ and it honestly sounds much better than digital audio could ever do for this album. My record is almost flawless, and I’d argue this is worth hunting down, the newest reissue censors the art which is beyond LAME.

With regards to mastering and sound quality and all that bullshit, what cd should i pick? I want that original degenerated sound quality and dont want any remastered bullshit, so what do y'all recommend?

Hahaha after all those years and this record still gets cencorship, i m glad i have the digipack version with original cover, this record is legendary just for the cover only, without it, you better get the mp3 files

fyi: i have two copies of the original issue, one with a printed innersleeve, the other has a generic innersleeve and a double sided insert.

I recently picked up the original LP version from a Discogs seller and everything seems to match except the run-out. The information in the run-out appears to have been cut out or defaced and does not match the listing information. There are no other markings on the LP for me to distinguish if this is a boot or not. What do you think is going on?

who knows exactly the size of the sticker on the front cover?

Did they use pics of real corpses on the cover? Or are they the guys themselves?

This record is a good example of when undesired production quality ends up adding something to the end result, at least for some people. Initially when this came out, I thought that the 'production' on it was intentional. However, after having a conversation with Bill Steer at a Carcass gig in 1989, he made it clear that the production was not as they intended, and in fact (as hinted at in the album credits for the studio), it was a struggle for them to just get something on tape - apparently they had to rerecord parts of it and generally struggle with the recording. Carcasses later records probably show the bands desired sound, much more defined and 'sharp' sounding.

However, intentionally or unintentionally, the sound of this release just fits in perfectly with the concept. It sounds raw, indistinct, purified. In the fast sections, the instruments decay into one claustrophobic mush, only the cymbals and vocals escaping the soup.

Getting past the splattered mush of sound, the album has some classic mid tempo 'mosh' sections (perhaps the best example is in "Psycopathologist"), and early use of the pitch shift effect making the vocals sound like the undead from Evil Dead II and 'Bub' from "Day Of The Dead" are on vocals. There are some crazed out-of-nowhere kill frenzy guitar 'solos', and even though there are usually many tempo changes and sections in each track, there seems to be a point to the intricacies, and the tracks hang together through the changes.

Finally, through all the heavy riffage and gargling, the humor in this release is unmistakable, which just tops it off nicely.

"Burnt to a crisp,
Your hair is singed,
Devouring your scalp,
Receding your fringe"

Top marks.