Reek of Putrefaction

Reek of Putrefaction was recorded in four days at Rich 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 result, declared Steer.{{cite magazine |date=June 1990 |title=Carcass – Perverted Sickos |url=http://www.goddamnbastard.org/carcass/interviews/rockhard40.html |accessdate=27 April 2008 |magazine=Rock Hard |via=goddamnbastard.org}}

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.{{cite magazine |last=Merle |first=Laurent |year=1990 |title=The Glammer, Bill, is Speaking |url=http://www.goddamnbastard.org/carcass/interviews/peardrop.html |accessdate=27 April 2008 |magazine=Peardrop |via=goddamnbastard.org |issue=2}}

Guitarist/vocalist Bill Steer retrospectively said that "The first album wasn’t very focused, it was just about being fast and heavy..."{{Cn|date=June 2025}}

He went on to say that the band did not 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 naïve, and inexperienced. From 'Symphonies' onwards, we got better at achieving the things we wanted to achieve in the studio."{{Cn|date=June 2025}}

Invisible Oranges wrote: "Carcass’ 1988 [debut] set new standards for auditory dismemberment, channeling the sound of Napalm Death through a vomited, gore-encrusted wormhole backwards. This is the aural nightmare of the dissecting table pushed beyond the extremes previously explored by the tinny sounds of blackthrash with bowl-rupturing, gurgling low end. Ken Owen flails about so nightmarishly you can’t even really distinguish if he’s even playing drums or has merely taken the contents of mortician’s tools of the trade and thrown them out of the window of morgue into the biohazard-labeled dumpster."{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Invisible Oranges |title=Top 10 Great Metal Albums with Terrible Drumming |url=https://www.invisibleoranges.com/top-10-great-metal-albums-with-terrible-drumming/ |access-date=2025-06-09 |website=Invisible Oranges - The Metal Blog |language=en-US}}

Reek of Putrefaction was first released in 1988. When released, Reek of Putrefaction reached No. 6 on the UK Indie Chart, establishing Carcass' earlier grindcore sound.{{cite web |title=Carcass: Bio |url=http://www.goddamnbastard.org/carcass/interviews/bio.html |accessdate=27 April 2008 |website=Metal Maniacs |via=goddamnbastard.org}}{{cite book |last=J. Purcell |first=Natalie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AwJJR5vvlIsC&q=Choosing+Death:+The+Improbable+History+of+Death+Metal+%26+Grindcore+Carcass |title=Death Metal Music: The Passion and Politics of a Subculture |date=5 May 2003 |isbn=0-7864-1585-1 |editor=McFarland |pages=21–22 |quote=Carcass' debut album Reek of Putrefaction is said to have spurred the British Grindcore with its precise riffs and outrageous guitar solos. [...] Carcass' following album, Symphonies of Sickness, featured slower and catchier songs, and showed the band's movement into the Death Metal genre. |accessdate=18 December 2011}} The late BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel declared it his favourite album of 1988, in an interview for British newspaper The Observer.{{cite book |last=Mudrian |first=Albert |title=Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore |publisher=Feral House |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-93259-504-8 |location=Los Angeles |page=132}}

Reek of Putrefaction was re-released in 1994.British 1994 re-release. In 2002, the album was reissued.{{Cn|date=June 2025}}

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.{{Cn|date=June 2025}}

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".{{Cn|date=June 2025}}

{{track listing

| headline = Side One: Faecal Disarticulation

| title1 = Genital Grinder

| length1 = 1:32

| title2 = Regurgitation of Giblets

| length2 = 1:24

| title3 = Maggot Colony

| length3 = 1:37

| title4 = Pyosisified (Rotten to the Gore)

| length4 = 2:55

| title5 = Carbonized Eyesockets

| length5 = 1:11

| title6 = Frenzied Detruncation

| length6 = 0:59

| title7 = Vomited Anal Tract

| length7 = 1:45

| title8 = Festerday

| length8 = 0:22

| title9 = Fermenting Innards

| length9 = 2:35

| title10 = Excreted Alive

| length10 = 1:21

| title11 = Suppuration

| length11 = 2:19

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side Two: Anal Disgorgement

| title12 = Foeticide

| length12 = 2:46

| title13 = Microwaved Uterogestation

| length13 = 1:24

| title14 = Feast on Dismembered Carnage

| length14 = 1:27

| title15 = Splattered Cavities

| length15 = 1:54

| title16 = Psychopathologist

| length16 = 1:18

| title17 = Burnt to a Crisp

| length17 = 2:43

| title18 = Pungent Excruciation

| length18 = 2:31

| title19 = Manifestation of Verrucose Urethra

| length19 = 1:02

| title20 = Oxidised Razor Masticator

| length20 = 3:13

| title21 = Mucopurulence Excretor

| length21 = 1:09

| title22 = Malignant Defecation

| length22 = 2:14

}}

{{track listing

| headline = 2008 reissue bonus tracks (taken from the Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment demo)

| title23 = Genital Grinder (Intro)

| length23 = 0:50

| title24 = Regurgitation of Giblets

| length24 = 1:56

| title25 = Festerday

| length25 = 0:19

| title26 = Limb from Limb

| length26 = 1:05

| title27 = Rotten to the Gore

| length27 = 2:54

| title28 = Excreted Alive

| length28 = 0:55

| title29 = Malignant Defecation

| length29 = 1:59

| title30 = Fermenting Innards

| length30 = 2:33

| title31 = Necro-Cannibal Bloodfeast

| length31 = 1:49

| title32 = Psychopathologist

| length32 = 1:29

| title33 = Die in Pain

| length33 = 0:11

| title34 = Pungent Excruciation

| length34 = 3:04

| title35 = Face Meltaaargh

| length35 = 1:16

}}

• Frenzied Fornicator of Fetid Fetishes and Sickening Grisly Fetes – bass, vocals
• Gratuitously Brutal Asphyxiator of Ulcerated Pyoaxanthous Goitres – guitar, vocals
• Grume Gargler and Eviscerator of Matured Neoplasm – drums, vocals
• Sanjiv – lead vocals (tracks 23–35)

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{{Carcass}}

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Category:Earache Records albums

Category:Carcass (band) albums

Category:1988 debut albums