Carcass is a band that immediately grabs your attention.  The early days had sick album covers, crazy medical song titles and lyrics, and a sound that floored you on first listen.  You either hated or loved this band.  They were extreme in the ultimate sense.  

I remember the first time I saw a Carcass tape...9th grade, Business class.  A skater kid leans over and asks me if I've ever heard of Carcass before.  I said "no" and then he proceeded to hand me the tape.  HOLY SHIT!!!  The cover had real pictures of body parts and dead people.  He then tells me that they are medical students and they play in a band for fun...which turned out was an untrue rumor.  This album is Reek of Putrefaction, the very first Carcass album.  Upon taking it home and first listening to it, I was totally turned off by the horrible production.  There were some cool riffs, but overall it was unimpressive.  About a year later Carcass has a new album out.  I read some positive reviews, but kept passing on it...having not forgotten my first impressions of Reek of Putrefaction. 

Finally, Symphonies of Sickness crosses my path after being goaded into listening to it by some friends.  As soon as I saw the cover and the song titles I told them it was going to be the same shit as the first one.  Wrong...totally wrong.  The band that made Symphonies of Sickness was a death metal machine.  The production was clear, so you could pick out the individual instruments.  The guitars sounded awesome and the songs were not two and a half minutes of shit.  It was like everyone in this band learned how to play.  Jeff Walker's bass is killer, Bill Steer big time improved as a guitarist and Ken Owen started playing double bass.  The pitch shifted  vocals are not overdone and the whole thing is just brutal as hell.  My favorite track is "Ruptured in Purulence".  Awesome drum intro and when the bass kicks in the whole thing is as heavy as heavy can get.  This was the last record with the band as a trio.  Micheal Amott would join the band halfway through the tour and stay on for two albums. 

Symphonies of Sickness, released 20 years ago today on December 4, 1989, is a classic album and essential to any true metal collection.