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Cannibal Corpse
Evisceration Plague
(Metal Blade Records)
In a time when the much-maligned Death Metal genre is being almost continuously redefined (let’s face it; the artists and groups of our youth(s) aren’t exactly getting any younger), many once prominent acts have, for various reasons, have either ‘…slipped from the limelight…’ or simply disbanded. With the genre itself having never been truly embraced, for obvious reasons, by the mainstream as a whole, even the subsequent spawning and international proliferation of the Blackened and Melodic sub-genres, have failed to provide the stability necessary for groups of such ilk to flourish. Fortunately, this is most definitely not the case with notoriously unnerving stalwarts Cannibal Corpse. Returning with Evisceration Plague, their first collection of all-new material since 2006’s acclaimed masterpiece Kill, the group is once again poised to kick our collective asses.
On the brilliant Evisceration Plague (2009), an expertly assembled twelve song collection of technically precise and uncompromisingly brutal Death Metal, each track, beginning with the fist-pumping, mosh-inducing “Priests Of Sodom”, and the blistering (to say the very least) “To Decompose”, instantly commands the rapt and undivided attention of even the most jaded and unimaginative of listeners, myself most definitely included. Deftly engulfing all parties involved amid an all-encompassing barrage of menacing vocals, blistering fretwork and imaginatively punishing rhythms, the group once again showcases their more than considerable collective talents without bogging down amid their own already well-documented aspirations. Understating the obvious without sacrificing their trademark ferociousness, the group succeeds early and often with a sickening ease.
Continuing with the full-throttle (if not outright scalding) “Beheading And Burning”, and the relentlessly pummeling “Carnivorous Swarm”, the newly rejuvenated combination of vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher (ex-Monstrosity, Paths Of Possession), guitarists Pat O’Brien and Rob Barrett, bassist Alex Webster and drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz steamrolls ahead at a carefully calculated pace. Wisely embracing their proverbial ‘…glory days…’ without, believe it or not, resorting to the shameless self-parody that plagues so many of their would-be contemporaries, the perennially ravenous group punctuates each airtight offering with a previously unparalleled lyrical and structural complexity, thus making the rumbling, blood-caked behemoth that is the mighty Evisceration Plague the group’s finest recorded moment since 2002’s oddly-overlooked Gore Obsessed.
Produced and mixed by acclaimed ex-Morbid Angel/Ripping Corpse axeman Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal, Goatwhore) at Rutan’s now-infamous St. Petersburg, Florida-based Mana Studios, other standouts, including the curiously-titled--albeit highly effective--“Carrion Sculpted Entity”, and the equally impressive closer “Skewered From Ear To Eye”, are delivered with a bloodthirsty, razor-sharp precision seemingly guaranteed to leave both die-hard completists and clueless newcomers alike thoroughly satisfied and only wanting for more. As a result, even if you somehow find yourself less than enthralled with the group’s undeniably insatiable penchant for all things gore and gore-related, the veritable avalanche of wealth of passion, imagination and vision at the molten epicenter of each delightfully over-the-top composition is admirable, to say the very least.
With the group’s curiously undersung Corpsegrinder era now arguably surpassing the ghoulish fivesome’s oft-coveted efforts with notorious Six Feet Under frontman Chris Barnes (i.e. everything prior the stunning, quasi-career defining opus that was 1996’s ingenious Vile), the majority--if not all--of the impossibly punishing material contained herein only further solidify the improbably long-running group’s reputation as a bona fide creative and commercial force not to be ignored. Not surprisingly, if you’ve once again found yourself in search of an authentically brutal Death Metal experience that doesn’t involve wholeheartedly embracing the seemingly never-ending array of inane European ‘…sonic atrocities...’ that are so often force fed en mass, then this, my friends, might just be the bile-tinged cure the doctored ordered. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
Select Discography
Evisceration Plague (2009) **
Centuries Of Torment: The First 20 Years (DVD) (2008) */**
Kill (2006) **
The Wretched Spawn (2004) **
15 Year Killing Spree (Box Set) (2003) */**
Worm Infested (EP) (2003) **
Gore Obsessed (2002) **
Live Cannibalism (2000) **
Bloodthirst (1999) **
Gallery Of Suicide (1998) **
Monolith Of Death Tour ’96 - ’97 (DVD) (1997)
Vile (1996) **
The Bleeding (1994) *
Hammer Smashed Face (EP) (1993) *
Tomb Of The Mutilated (1992) *
Butchered At Birth (1991) *
Eaten Back To Life (1990) *
* features vocalist Chris Barnes
** features vocalist George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher