CD review: CANNIBAL CORPSE, "Evisceration Plague"

Like any movie starring Freddy Krueger, CANNIBAL CORPSE are almost insusceptible to evaluation. Anybody who likes Cannibal Corpse is going to enjoy Evisceration Plague, the band’s eleventh full-length offering, and the rest of the world will know to look elsewhere. Really the only way to rate a new Cannibal Corpse CD is by comparing it to the rest of their output, and on that scale, Evisceration Plague is a very good album.

The most noticeable distinction from older Corpse on Evisceration Plague is the relatively un-gnarly song titles—when you’re CORPSEGRINDER FISHER, “Skewered from Ear to Eye” and “Priests of Sodom” read like walks in the park. But these guys can be brutal without being absurdly gory, as proven by the murderous "To Decompose," the harder-than-hardcore "Beheading and Burning" and the aforementioned opener, "Priests of Sodom." The title track has an almost Sabbath-esque stomp that pines for a sludge-metal side project, building on a relatively plodding riff to make us wonder what other curveballs these guys are hiding. Lest one think that Cannibal Corpse will ever change their sound, "Scalding Hail" and "Carnivorous Swarm" hit like unreleased Reign in Blood demos. Over in 39 minutes, Evisceration Plague won't make you forget Butchered at Birth or Tomb of the Mutilated, but it's a more than Corpse-worthy add to one of America's greatest death metal legacies.

Buy it/burn it/chuck it scale: Burn