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Ah, Cannibal Corpse – a band from when I first got into metal are still around, when a fair few of my favourite bands have faded into obscurity or disappeared entirely (and in many cases decided to reform, completely out of the blue). As an extreme metal fan first and above anything, they were one of the bands that formed the cornerstones of my elaborate collection of music. I never forget the first time I encountered them two decades ago on MTV Headbanger’s Ball on tour with Cynic, and the marriage of 1980’s video nasty gore combined with metal was (and still is) one of the most inspired ideas since sliced bread. In fact, yours truly as a young metalhead was so captivated by this that he bunked off college for a day to make a trip to Liverpool just to ensure that he was the first of the college metalheads to buy a copy of The Bleeding. Many years later, my enthusiasm has never dulled.
Anyway, enough of the nostalgia trip from me – let’s concentrate on their latest album A Skeletal Domain, which is studio album number 13. Cynics out there would imagine that by now a repertoire of songs about disemboweling, evisceration, decapitation, murder and death in general would somehow become stale – but somehow Cannibal Corpse keep on delivering the gore soaked goods. A perfect case in point is the glorious sledgehammer attack of ‘High Velocity Impact Splatter’, with Corpsegrinder’s growled and screamed lyrics acting as a menacing presence perfectly layered on top of buzz saw guitar riffs, machine gun drumming and perfectly followable bass by Alex Webster.
A particularly good thing with Corpsegrinder is that despite the nature of death metal vocals being growled/screamed by nature – they are for the most part very legible (which is a common complaint of those not into death/black metal styles). Which, was something that as much as I liked Chris Barnes on their earlier output I grew up – I have to say that I prefer Corpsegrinder’s vocals by a diameter that could only be measured by keyhole surgery. A perfect case in point is the anthemic ‘Kill or Become’ – a paean dedicated to that old chestnut of zombie slaying with the chorus of “Fire up the chainsaw, hack all their heads off! Fire up the chainsaw, hack their fucking heads off! IF YOU WANT TO LIVE YOU HAVE TO KILL OR BECOME!!”. Which, will be a surefire crowd pleaser in the live setting that is up there with classics such as ‘Devoured By Vermin’ and ‘Hammer Smashed Face’. For the record, people really do need to shut up about the Barnes/Corpsegrinder comparison debates as I feel that Corpsegrinder carried the torch for the band perfectly – a lot of beer has gone under the bridge since then, 20 years worth and countless gallons in fact.
The title track ‘A Skeletal Domain’ starts off slowly and dramatically, but then picks up glorious fast riffs and pounding drums – and in general the album tracks are integrated perfectly and flow well. Key tracks on this album can be selected and studied under close scrutiny as much as you like, but as a whole the experience of the album is best dealt with playing from start to end – such is the consistency of how well the tracks flow. ‘Funeral Cremation’ is a thorough banger that’s a little over half way into the album, that to my ears has interest; parts of the riffs involved has tinges of galloping thrash metal patterns in places which make it stand out in particular. ‘Icepick Lobotomy’ is also of particular interest which contains slow cranium smashing riffs, that quickly changes pace with a thrash flavoured rhythm that sounds like Testament put through a specially patented mincing machine of Cannibal Corpse’s making. What does play an important part to this album is that the mastering is extremely sharp and precise; the drumming of PaulMazurkiewicz is particularly punchy, the guitar work of Rob Barrett and Pat O’Brien has a pleasing crunch, and the bass guitar work of Alex Webster is the icing on a meat splattered cake and is seemingly better than that of previous work. Death metal for hi-fi nerds? Undeniably so in this case.
To conclude, it can be very easy for cynics and snobs to criticise Cannibal Corpse – and I have often been branded as being very particular and fussy about what I like, both in person and in many (sometimes tedious) online musical debates. Who cares if some liken the band to be like the death metal equivalent of Iron Maiden or AC/DC? The fact of the matter is, they’ve made 13 pretty consistent albums and they show no signs of becoming tired, which is an impressive feat. In fact, I find it ironic that people are clamouring all over the trendy neo thrash renaissance movement like a hoard of battle jacket and high top clad rats (as much as I like it) – but that is a movement that to be fair is far from being original too. The point that I’m making here is that appreciate the album for what it is. Which is, a thoroughly enjoyable blast that despite being veterans of the scene still feels as much of an adrenaline rush as their first sonic massacre all those years ago. A gore splattered grin, from start to finish.
