Six Feet Under
Maximum Violence (Metal Blade)
by Tim Den
I used to worship Chris Barnes. When he was fronting Cannibal Corpse, he was nothing less than a slick showman and sadistic (and perverted, and brilliant) poet. His vocal timing was so catchy that I couldn’t shake it from my lips as I ran my laps during high school gym class. Then things changed. His new band, Six Feet Under, kept releasing horrible D-grade death metal filled with cheesy lyrics and shitty music. Most of the blame fell on guitarist Allen West’s half-hearted writing (one would guess – or hope – that he saved his better compositions for his full-time gig, Obituary), but it couldn’t be denied that Barnes’ lyrics and vocals were going down the drain. The charisma and inventiveness had evaporated.
Six years of Six Feet Under later, the band’s armed with a new guitarist (Steve Swanson, whose killer debut work can be found on Massacre’s Inhuman Conditions) and ready to redeem themselves. The result? Almost a success. Maximum Violence is a livelier, meatier, and more interesting record than any of their previous work, but it still lacks true intelligence. It has Barnes finally utilizing his voice to its full potential (something he’s never done with this band), and the musicians writing some damn nice tunes, but it still suffers from repetitive ideas and a few lyrical cheese factors. For example, the verses for “Feast on the Blood of the Insane” are pure musical mayhem, but then a title like “Mass Murder Rampage” or “Torture Killer” sneaks up and renders everything a joke. I mean, as much as I want to take the music (which is definitely better than the old days because of Swanson’s input) seriously, I just can’t help but feel the cheese when hearing “true death still lives on” or “one sick fuck/torture killer!” Granted, the solid production and overall heaviness serve as decent distractions, but sometimes it just doesn’t cut it.
Six Feet Under still needs work. And while Swanson’s arrival has given the band better music, one can’t help but feel that Barnes has passed his peak.
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