CANNIBAL CORPSE – Being released on March 13th, 2012, via Metal Blade Records, Torture is the 12th full-length album from Death Metal’s reigning genre headliner and pissed-off pack of pit bulls known world-wide as: CANNIBAL CORPSE. Make no mistake, these guys can play their instruments and write some of the most bone chilling and skull crunching Death Metal this side of the anti-mainstream. CANNIBAL CORPSE has proven their dominant status as Death Metal defenders once again with Torture. In my Metal opinion they are just that.
I find it humorous when someone says to me, “oh, CANNIBAL CORPSE, yeah, I used to listen to ’em”. Well, this album isn’t for the “used to be fans” that in reality are hypocrites that secretly sit through numerous SAW movie marathons. Closet CANNIBAL CORPSE fans shouldn’t worry about what the neighbors may think, for it’s these same neighbors that are usually arrested for unspeakable crimes anyways. In other words, this is a legendary Death Metal band and so be it that their lyrics mirror the stories being aired on 24 hour cable news networks… during suppertime no less.
The continued existence of CANNIBAL CORPSE is not due to a small group of band devotees asking them to stick around, it’s all about a more massive global underground acceptance of a band that isn’t intimidated to push the envelope lyrically while never-ceasing to improve musically from one album to the next. This album isn’t carrying its Torture title for nothing. The songs on Torture are lyrically symbolic of what truly scares the living shit out of you, while keeping true to the Death Metal grooves that have made CANNIBAL CORPSE such an embracing, no bullshit and non-technical extreme outfit.
Torture isn’t just for CANNIBAL CORPSE diehards, this album will undoubtedly be a stepping stone listen for new fans of this band as well. From Demented Aggression to Torn Through, George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher belts out his guttural growls and vocally pronounces the lyrics in a way only us Death Metal fanatics can understand. Metal truth be told, Corpsegrinder sounds as deathly dangerous as he ever has before. Amazing and terrifying vocals.
Man, them deadly leads,riffs and solos are non-stop on Torture; with guitarists Pat O’Brien and Rob Barrett proving to me, they are a world-class Death Metal duo. Hell, this entire band is world-class Death Metal for that Metal matter. I’m always going goofy and I play some serious air guitar every time I listen to Torture. Really. Founding members Alex Webster (bass) and Paul Mazurkiewicz (drums) keep the Metal grooves smashing along; they play super tight and their beats are probably capable of (or responsible for) making seismic scales register earth tremors.
My favorite three songs on Torture are: Scourge Of Iron, Rabid and Encased In Concrete. Whoa. Scourge Of Iron just has a steady marching Death Metal beat; one that could seriously scare away any alien attack on our beloved planet Earth. Encased In Concrete and Rabid are 100% lethal in their overall extremity of sound. Brilliant songs.
With Torture, the lyrics and Death Metal go hand-in-hand and are thoroughly entertaining for my scorched eardrums. For me, Torture has earned its status as one of the very best from the CANNIBAL CORPSE catalog and one of the very best of Metal albums (overall) in 2012. A headbanging must this Torture album is. Metal be thy name.
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TORTURE – Track Listing:
Demented Aggression
Sarcophagic Frenzy
Scourge of Iron
Encased In Concrete
As Deep As The Knife Will Go
Intestinal Crank
Followed Home Then Killed
The Strangulation Chair
Caged… Contorted
Crucifier Avenged
Rabid
Torn Through
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* For more info on CANNIBAL CORPSE, click on the links below:
CANNIBAL CORPSE – Official Website
LONG LIVE CANNIBAL CORPSE.
Stone.
SKELETONWITCH released their second full studio album with Prosthetic Records, Breathing the Fire, on October 13, 2009. I could not resist the Metal temptation and need of picking up this new CD on my visit to f.y.e. today. As I stood there staring at the hellish and downright evil artwork on the front cover of Breathing the Fire, it dawned on me… the Metal wait is over for this new Skeletonwitch. Yeah, very often enough I want my Metal pretty damned fast and extreme in every musical facet. All twelve songs on this album are extremely worthy, I can’t point out any skip overs whatsoever. Skeletonwitch does not fall short of Extreme Metal – every song on Breathing the Fire is blended with the very best of several Metal genres.
Today I found myself in another one of those funks, where the melancholy feelings just won’t subside. So, earlier tonight, I turned to music, Metal Music, to settle my thoughts, nerves and soul. I chose to listen to Entombed, Wolverine Blues. Released back in 1993, on Earache/Columbia Records, I find it startling that this album is around seventeen years old already. An excellent listening choice I made, Entombed was the Metal elixir and their album Wolverine Blues was the Metal prescription that served me right tonight. Entombed delivers their original style of Death Metal or Death N’ Roll with Wolverine Blues, it is as groove charged as it is sinister. With each listen, I can still hear some Thrash Metal being fused within Entombed’s songs on this album. In a Metal nutshell, Entombed covers some ground with Extreme Metal genres. This is one hell of a heavy and hard album, the righteous Metal remedy for curing my blues – let me tell you. Lyrically, there is no bashfulness to be found when it comes to topics and imagery on Wolverine Blues. The combination of the aggressive lyrics and Death N’ Roll charge makes this album sound like it belongs on top of the Metal heap in 2009.
Arch Enemy is one of my favorite Death Metal bands. Brutally heavy from every musical angle, yet still melodic, Arch Enemy needs no introduction to die hard Metal and Death Metal fans. For those new fans of Arch Enemy who are still looking to purchase a CD from their Death Metal catalog, a great starting point that will not set you back a ton of loot, is their EP “Revolution Begins”, (released on August 31, 2007). This EP was released in 2007 to promote their studio album “Rise Of The Tyrant”, (released on September 25, 2007). EP’s or CD singles, (as they are sometimes referred as), are a cool opportunity to own a few songs of a Metal band, (a Metal test run for fans, if you will). If you are like me, EP’s are a must to own – especially EP’s of my favorite bands. These EP’s more often than not, include studio and/or live songs that are not found on any regular studio or live album. “Revolution Begins” includes the cover of the Queensryche classic – “Walk In The Shadows”. This cover version from Arch Enemy, thrills me just as high as the original version from the great Queensryche. I am Metal serious about that. I revere the Queensryche original, still I revere this Arch Enemy version too. Arch Enemy gives “Walk In The Shadows” a darker, more creepy sense about it… Death Metal style.
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