My experience with the legendary Cannibal Corpse is owning/enjoying the only album (so far) by Serpentine Dominion, the supergroup that features CC vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher (Along with Shannon Lucas of The Black Dahlia Murder and Killswitch Engage’s Adam D) and that’s it. So stating that I’m a Cannibal Corpse noob is a vast understatement, okay? As a lifelong Metalhead, though, I respect the hell out of the legacy and, while I can’t recite “Devoured By Vermin” from memory, I sure as shit appreciate their continued existence especially when it comes to their latest, Violence Unimagined.
Known for vicious visuals, vicious vocals, and, well, vicious everything, Cannibal Corpse is back at it again with another frightening slab of diabolical Death Metal. Violence Unimagined, the band’s fifteenth full-length, is both titillating and triumphant, tantamount to their best from any other time throughout their storied career and it all starts with “Murderous Rampage” which kicks off a trail of cacophonous sonic carnage that’s pure blistering brutality that acts as both a mission statement for a newbie like myself and as a refresher course for the already initiated.
And it just keeps getting heavier.
“Necrogenic Ressurection” is next level Metal with a furious guitar riff at its’ onset before really getting the shredding started courtesy of Rob Barrett and Erik Rutan. Then there’s this massive breakdown that slows things down but is no less incendiary and ushers in the big grooves of “Inhumane Harvest” with drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz and bassist Alex Webster’s rhythm section getting the spotlight on a track that brings to mind newer offerings from Sepultura and Slayer. Later, “Condemnation Contagion” starts with a shrieking guitar line that sounds like an ominous warning siren then heads towards “Surround, Kill, Devour” which is pure headbanging heaven.
Beyond that, “Follow the Blood” is a grinding experimentation in Sludge with Fisher’s commanding voice sounding just as prevalent when tossed into a new genre while “Bound and Burned” has Mazurkiewicz sparring with Rutan and Barrett with blast beats and biting riffage being tossed back and forth by the parties present. “Slowly Sawn” is ominously menacing throughout with Webster’s bass inducing sonic quakes, “Overtorture” is fast and furious, and “Cements of the Flayed” closes out the newest Cannibal Corpse collection of catastrophic catharsis with a moody monster that is a prime example of why CC is still one of the leaders of Death Metal.
Violence Unimagined arrives on April 16th through Metal Blade Records. Pre-orders are up now and can be found when you head here or here. For the latest on Cannibal Corpse, follow them across the information superhighway by clicking here, here, or here.