| Written by Alex Stojanovic TRACK LISTING Murderous Rampage Necrogenic Resurrection Inhumane Harvest Condemnation Contagion Surround, Kill, Devour Ritual Annihilation Follow The Blood Bound & Burned Slowly Sawn Overtorture Cerements Of The Flayed Release Date: April 16, 2021 Label: Metal Blade Records Website: www.cannibalcorpse.net www.facebook.com/cannibalcorpse |  |
CANNIBAL CORPSE IS:
George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher - Vocals / Alex Webster - Bass / Rob Barrett - Guitars
Erik Rutan - Guitars / Paul Mazurkiewicz - Drums
George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher - Vocals / Alex Webster - Bass / Rob Barrett - Guitars
Erik Rutan - Guitars / Paul Mazurkiewicz - Drums
Hide the kids (unless they love death metal), because the kings of murderous tunes have returned! That's right, after four years, Cannibal Corpse have arrived at #15 with their new album Violence Unimagined. Now, the last couple of years have been both good and not-so-good for the death metal kings, because they were touring relentlessly in support of Red Before Black from 2017 to 2019, and even got to support Slayer on their final tour. However, as it has been well-documented, Pat O'Brien is facing legal issues after being arrested for assault and battery in late 2018. As a result, he had to sit out the band's 2019 touring commitments, and they got their longtime friend and producer Erik Rutan to fill in for Pat, and now he has taken Pat's place as the band's new guitarist. This marks the first time in a decade and a half that the band had a lineup change. I can honestly say that it didn't really come as an overall surprise about Erik becoming the new member. I think we all saw it coming.
Getting into the album, it's Cannibal Corpse, and you know exactly what you're getting. Right from note 1 of the bludgeoning opener "Murderous Rampage", all the way down to the brutal closer "Cerements Of The Flayed", there's no letting up as expected. Thrashy sections can be heard in every song, even if certain songs are more centric on groove. People have been wondering what songs were written by Rutan. According to Alex Webster, those songs are "Condemnation Contagion", "Ritual Annihilation" and "Overtorture". The transition in the middle of "Ritual Annihilation" will throw a lot of people for a loop, because the song stops silent for half a second before the guitar chord comes creeping back up and slamming into a mid-paced rager of a riff. One of the more groove-oriented tracks that is one of the highlights is "Follow The Blood", which has one of the darkest riffs on the record. If I may also add, this is the first time in 15 years since The Wretched Spawn that Cannibal Corpse had a gory album cover, and first since Tomb Of The Mutilated that they had dual covers. The cover artwork, once again done by the legendary Vince Locke, is like a combination of Butchered At Birth and Tomb Of The Mutilated.
With all that being said, when comparing Violence Unimagined to Red Before Black, the biggest difference that I can pick out is elements in the production. What I noticed is that the drums sound like they're little more in the background, and that the distortion levels on the guitars are a little higher than usual, resulting in a pretty similar production to that of Torture. As a result, it can be a little bit tougher this time around to distinguish what's being played, and the guitars tend to overpower the drums in certain areas. Is it another great Cannibal Corpse album? Definitely yes. Does it top Red Before Black or A Skeletal Domain which came before it? No. I personally would've preferred another album with production in the style of A Skeletal Domain, because it was more pristine and refined, and you could really hear everything a lot more clearly, but it still retained the brutality that Cannibal Corpse is known for. Violence Unimagined shows that even after more than 30 years of brutality, Cannibal Corpse still have plenty of gas left in the tank, and is showing no signs of slowing down.
Highs: Straightforward Cannibal Corpse, just how we like it. Standout tracks include "Murderous Rampage", "Inhumane Harvest", "Follow The Blood"
Lows: The distortion levels of the guitars are a bit too high to where they overpower the drums.
Getting into the album, it's Cannibal Corpse, and you know exactly what you're getting. Right from note 1 of the bludgeoning opener "Murderous Rampage", all the way down to the brutal closer "Cerements Of The Flayed", there's no letting up as expected. Thrashy sections can be heard in every song, even if certain songs are more centric on groove. People have been wondering what songs were written by Rutan. According to Alex Webster, those songs are "Condemnation Contagion", "Ritual Annihilation" and "Overtorture". The transition in the middle of "Ritual Annihilation" will throw a lot of people for a loop, because the song stops silent for half a second before the guitar chord comes creeping back up and slamming into a mid-paced rager of a riff. One of the more groove-oriented tracks that is one of the highlights is "Follow The Blood", which has one of the darkest riffs on the record. If I may also add, this is the first time in 15 years since The Wretched Spawn that Cannibal Corpse had a gory album cover, and first since Tomb Of The Mutilated that they had dual covers. The cover artwork, once again done by the legendary Vince Locke, is like a combination of Butchered At Birth and Tomb Of The Mutilated.
With all that being said, when comparing Violence Unimagined to Red Before Black, the biggest difference that I can pick out is elements in the production. What I noticed is that the drums sound like they're little more in the background, and that the distortion levels on the guitars are a little higher than usual, resulting in a pretty similar production to that of Torture. As a result, it can be a little bit tougher this time around to distinguish what's being played, and the guitars tend to overpower the drums in certain areas. Is it another great Cannibal Corpse album? Definitely yes. Does it top Red Before Black or A Skeletal Domain which came before it? No. I personally would've preferred another album with production in the style of A Skeletal Domain, because it was more pristine and refined, and you could really hear everything a lot more clearly, but it still retained the brutality that Cannibal Corpse is known for. Violence Unimagined shows that even after more than 30 years of brutality, Cannibal Corpse still have plenty of gas left in the tank, and is showing no signs of slowing down.
Highs: Straightforward Cannibal Corpse, just how we like it. Standout tracks include "Murderous Rampage", "Inhumane Harvest", "Follow The Blood"
Lows: The distortion levels of the guitars are a bit too high to where they overpower the drums.
FINAL RATING
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