𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…
July 28, 1988 — Carcass released their debut full-length studio album, Reek of Putrefaction via Earache Records (Combat Records in the US). (Apple Music or Spotify)
Background:
When released, Reek of Putrefaction reached No. 6 on the UK Indie Chart, establishing Carcass as one of the pioneers of the Grindcore genre. The late BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel declared it his favorite album of 1988, in an interview for British newspaper The Observer. Guitarist/vocalist Bill Steer retrospectively said that "𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚗’𝚝 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍, 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚢…".
He went on to say that the band didn’t intend the muddy sound present throughout the album:
"𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚋𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚌𝚛𝚊𝚣𝚢 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝. 𝙸𝚝’𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚊 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚠. 𝚆𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚎 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚎𝚡𝚎𝚌𝚞𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖. 𝚆𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐, 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚗𝚊𝙸𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚍. 𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚂𝚢𝚖𝚙𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜, 𝚠𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘."
Production:
Reek of Putrefaction was recorded in four days at Ritch Bitch Studios in Birmingham. According to guitarist Bill Steer, the studio's engineer "𝚛𝚞𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍" the record, especially its drum tracks. Carcass had only had a few hours available of mixing, so they had to release the LP as it was to meet the label's deadline. The band were "𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢" with the end result, declared Steer.
When the master recording was first sent to the pressing plant, the original vinyl LP had to be pressed at lower volumes, because the bass frequencies were so low (sometimes reaching 25 Hz) that they were in danger of rendering higher frequencies inaudible.
Release History:
Reek of Putrefaction was first released in 1988.
The original album cover consisted of a collage of autopsy photographs collected from medical journals.
Reek of Putrefaction was re-released in 1994 with a "𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚗" cover.
In 2002, the album was reissued with a censored outer cover proclaiming "𝙾𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎".
The album was re-released in 2008 as part of an ongoing series of Carcass reissues to tie in with their reunion.
The main album, along with the demo Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment, is presented as one side of a dualdisc, while the DVD side features the first part of an extended documentary titled The Pathologist's Report Part I: Incubation.
Later editions contain the album on a CD and the documentary on a separate DVD. The album is presented in a 12-panel digipak with full lyrics and artwork and is sealed in a white medical bag with sticker, to hide the controversial cover art.
Critical Reception:
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Ned Raggett writes;
“…𝚁𝚎𝚎𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚞𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚢𝚣𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚒𝚗 𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚑 𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 -- 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚙𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚐𝚘 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚌𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚖 -- "𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝙶𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛," 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚘𝚏𝚏, 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚜 𝚛𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝, 𝚌𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚔𝚢 𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚏, 𝚊 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚠 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚛. 𝚃𝚘𝚙 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏𝚏 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚎𝚍, 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚎𝚕𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚟𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚐𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚢, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚁𝚎𝚎𝚔 𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜.”
Notice: Any reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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