Way back in the late 80's I remember first hearing 'Reek...' and being rather blown away by the ghoulishly sloppy dual vocal assault and absolutely chaotic whirlwind of grindcore riff terrorism. Of course, the true possibilities of the band's potential would be made breathtakingly clear once album number two came barreling 'round the bend, 1989's sewage fest, 'Symphonies of Sickness'.
While the over the top tag team vocals helped keep me interested, the truth is, 'Reek...' would have been so much better had the riff intricacies been a bit more sculpted and defined throughout the studio sessions. Unfortunately, making sense of any one song on this album is next to impossible. In 1992, however, there was a glimmer of hope as the band had chosen to re-record one of their chestnuts off of their debut, 'Pyosisified', and the results were fucking brilliant! I immediately wished that the band had done this with the entire album. Sure, I understand that all of the purists out there would cry foul, but fuck it, if you don't like the notion, then don't listen to the album. Simple as that. Hey, I haven't bothered to listen to Sodom or Exodus' reworkings of their classic debuts for just that reason.
Honestly, I really stopped paying attention to this album once 'Symphonies...' was released. Granted, at the time 'Reek...' had come out, I was astonished and happily bludgeoned by its gleeful insanity, but truthfully, I have always had a very short attention span when it came to early grindcore. I always felt that things didn't really start to cook until the release of the sophomore album.
No comments:
Post a Comment