Metal Blade 2012

The first time I heard Cannibal Corpse I absolutely hated them. This was in college, when the campus radio station was clearing out a bunch of their metal CD’s. As I recall they were phasing out the metal program there, so this had to have been early 90’s. I do believe the album was Butchered At Birth. I’d heard the controversy about them because of the album covers, song titles, and lyrics, and being a person who typically goes for the controversial, I had to give them a shot. Now let’s keep in mind that at the time the heaviest band I was into was Slayer, and tended to listen to more melodic stuff like Firehouse and Journey, and had started experimenting with other styles as well, the shock to my system when the music started was substantial. It was this wall of noise with Cookie Monster grunting unintelligible words. I immediately turned it off and promptly pawned the CD’s for some cigarette’s. Damn I wish I had kept them.

Some years later I became reacquainted with Cannibal Corpse. I was getting prepped to see them live. Ironically enough the reason I was seeing them was because I was dying to see Goatwhore. Clearly my tastes had shifted as the years progressed. I assume a lot of that had to do with the fact that my life had sucked on many levels making me angrier, so the music I needed to get me through was heavier and angrier at times. I still wasn’t keen on the idea of seeing Cannibal Corpse live initially. After spinning some of their music I realized they weren’t half bad. Though we didn’t stay for much of their set (the previous band almost killed my love for music) I actually really liked what I heard.

Now I have seen the band several times, and rank them as one of my favorites. It’s funny how an opinion can change over time. Now it’s 2012, and the band have released their latest collection of carnage for Metal Blade Records entitled Torture. The following statement is very bold considering the classic material they have put out over the years, but this could very easily be the greatest album of their career. It opens with “Demented Aggression” which is Corpse at their absolute most brutal moment. It’s like the band has had so much pent up anger and frustration since their last release that once they were finally able to let it loose it was with such face melting ferocity, the listener is totally unsuspecting of it. I mean, brutal is this bands calling card, but Torture takes it to levels uncharted. It has the rawness of their early albums yet the maturity expected from them. The CD is unrelenting from the start. One of the component’s that is true to the traditional Cannibal Corpse sound that they seemed to lose focus on the last couple releases was the groove.

They have definitely gotten their groove back. Not that there’s been anything bad about any of their albums. Corpse is certainly one of the most consistent bands in the metal world. It’s just Torture returns them to true form, and is at their absolute best with the intensity of the songs as well as that dark groove underlying. Tracks like “Encased In Concrete,” “The Strangulation Chair,” and “Crucifier Avenged” were my fav’s, however there is not a single bad track on this album. If you are at all a fan of this band or this style of music, this album should be in your collection. Now!

****1/2

Chris Martin

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Power Plays w/c 1 December 2025

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