Cannibal Corpse

Kill (Metal Blade)
by Tim Den

Having been a follower of Cannibal Corpse‘s since Butchered at Birth, I’ve watched the band grow from a relatively straight-ahead death metal act into a chunky, technical, precision-obsessed phenomenon over the past 15 years (Jesus, has it been that long!?). The band have remained steadfast to their motto of “not fixing what’s not broken,” churning out slab after slab of gorecore riff platters that refine the art instead of progress beyond it. Obviously, the approach has worked: Cannibal Corpse remain the highest-selling death metal band ever, with Kill cracking the Billboard Top 100, a feat matched by only one other release in the genre, the band’s own Vile. But what does that leave reviewers such as myself to say about this new collection of deadly offerings? Pretty much what I’ve been saying all along, that the faithful will love yet another punishing album from the reliable quartet because, hell, these guys do it damn well.

The departure of founding guitarist Jack Owen and the return of former axeslinger Rob Barrett (everyone should own a copy of Barrett’s old band, Solstice. Best death metal album ever. No debate) means that Kill is much more ferocious than The Wretched Spawn, since Owen penned most of the more “accessible” tunes in the band’s repertoire. But it’s not like they’ve all of a sudden gone Agoraphobic Nosebleed or something: There are still stomping grooves, weird pitch harmonics, and the occasional waltzing shuffle (“Submerged in Boiling Flesh,” one of the album’s highlights, written by drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz, no less!) to assure you that, yup, this is death metal. The kind that Cannibal Corpse helped invent. It’s as catchy, brutal, technical, well-recorded, and gore-a-riffic as anything the band have ever done, which means there are going to be a lot of happy longhairs air drumming for the next few months.
(www.metalblade.com)