by: CHRIS OSMORPHYUS (USA correspondent)
thats right, the latest offering from our old friends cannibal corpse came out this february 3rd entitled, "evisceration plague". right off the bat i thought, "what the hell does that even mean? did that really make sense to them when they thought of it?"
evisceration plague is 12 tracks of relentlessly brutal, incredibly technical death metal. and it should be, its done by cannibal corpse, my favorite band in death metal for all time.
unfortunately, its 12 tracks that we've all heard before. after "gallery of suicide", cannibal has stagnated like a pool of mucky water, devoid of any life thanks to millions of algae's blotting out the light and suffocating everything beneath them.
let me explain a bit further. since the departure of chris barnes, years and years ago now, the lyrics have been entirely written between paul and alex. these guys have brains much like the tyrannosaurus had. they think small, brutal thoughts. they write lyrics that are brutal, if you think about actually experiencing a demise the way they write about, but they're small because they recycle the same goddamn ideas every fucking time, now.
the lyrics now have all been the same, "eat the guts, i love to eat guts! zombies come and eat your guts, i am a zombie and ill eat your guts! guts are in my mouth as i eat my own guts, i am dying because zombies are eating my guts!" come on now, literally, guts and zombies are as gory as these boys can seem to get. im starting to think that cannibal should open a late night diner and name it, "guts n' zombies!". they could have a motto like, "gotta get those guts!" or "when you need your late night fix of flesh, zombie on over to guts n' zombies!", which actually, the latter i will reserve for my own restaurant in the future.
i will say this about the vocals, corpsey is still a helluva fast vocalist, and knows how to chop it up behind the mic, that can't be denied. i also like that they experimented with something different,
vocal layering, something they haven't done since "butchered at birth", when glen benton mixed his vocals up with barnes for about 3 seconds with the lyrics, "raped by the devil, under inverted crosses!" it really brings a much needed fresh effect to the stale style that cannibal has been pushing, but it's still only here and there on the album. the title track for example, to me, could have really used some vocal layering when corpsegrinder says,
"...evisceration plague!"
"ravenous soldiers will tear you apart, they'll eat your fucking guts and your brains." ; actual lyrics from the track, "shatter their bones"
the music has been the next thing thats just sat around. who needs to be pushed out of the band next? paul! man, what a shitty drummer, seriously. i am so sick of his lackadaisical percussion. yes, he is incredibly good at smashing the shit out of a snare drum, but thats all he does. its the usual, standard issue 'da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-ching! da-da-da-da-", you get the idea. no fills, no mixing anything up, no change in tempo, just the same shit hes done for 20 years now. there are plenty of great drummers out there, and this guy does not wish to be one of them. he plays in the most well known death metal band in history, and he is content with just getting by. i guess i can admire his laziness in a way, but no, i cant. if i was in a band that renowned, i would have less to be lazy about in life.
the guitar work is incredible, even though it sounds like jack owen is still playing guitars. no original guitar sounds at all. they share the same fast and chunky vein that owen tapped and bled dry with cannibal, the distortion is even the same sounding. im wondering if the band is
supposed to use certain distortion pedals and shit from as many endorsements as they have by now.
cant hear any of alex's bass work, probably because he doesnt want to be held accountable for anything anymore, either. im sure he just follows rhythm with the guitar slingers. kind of depressing.
all in all, its another run of the mill, drill to your ears album by cannibal corpse. nothing new is brought to the table at all with this. in fact, if youve heard one of their late albums, you've heard this one. its relentlessly heavy, but fails to have anything memorable on it. no groove, no breaks, it just beats you over and over again with a closed fist. its on top of you, beating the shit out of you. brutality is good, but cannibal unfortunately is just becoming
brutally boring.
can't wait for the tour, tho!
rating: 2 of 5 skulls
