Cannibal Corpse Evisceration Plague

I can vividly remember the years that I was first being exposed to punk, hardcore and metal music. Coming of age before the Internet had officially become the source of all things music-related, I spent many years experimenting with artists and albums by poring over thank you lists and listening to label comps in a process of trial and error that quickly depleted the meager funds I could accumulate mowing lawns. During those formative years, Cannibal Corpse was always the band at the limits of extreme music and plain old decency. My frame of reference for metal hadn't expanded to include much more than elementary thrash records and hardcore bands that were experimenting with the yet-to-be-named metalcore genre, but Cannibal Corpse were that first band that introduced me to death metal. Almost two decades later, metal has been pushed to extremities that no one could have predicted and Cannibal Corpse have continued to release music that keeps up with the times. Evisceration Plague is officially the band's eleventh full-length and while the band's artwork has unfortunately hit an all-time low, the music is arguably among the best the band has ever produced. The lineup from the impeccable Kill album returns, as does producer and Floridian death metal god Erik Rutan. At times, it almost feels like everything these guys did during the writing and recording process was intended to top that album's many successes and in many ways, they do. Where the band has been quoted as saying Kill was intended to "rape their fans' ears," Evisceration Plague might aim to strip, rape and strangle one's ears whilst fucking their brain with a proverbial knife. "Evidence In The Furnace" features the band's capacity for blastbeat-driven intensity, while the disc's title track slows things down and showcases a couple of memorable hooks. "Carnivorous Swarm" mixes both approaches together well and ranks among the disc's standout tracks. Fans of death metal will eat this album up like rotting flesh and those not inclined to enjoy the genre might even want to give this a chance to experience what a truly great modern death metal album sounds like. Despite all its musical virtuosity and accomplished songwriting, the two biggest reasons I love this album are slightly less obvious. First, George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher's vocals are both brutal AND intelligible, a rare feat that always evaded the band's founding vocalist Chris Barnes and generally eludes many death metal frontmen. There's a surprisingly fine line between shrieking like a pussy and gurgling like cookie monster and Fisher walks it perfectly every time. The other major strength that sets this disc apart from hordes of other perfectly competent death metal releases is the production. Between the band's collective experience in Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Hate Eternal, Malevolent Creation, Paths of Possession and that of producer Rutan, they just know what death metal should sound like. So many extreme metal releases are hurt by a bad mix or a poor choice of drum sounds or guitar tones. Bands should be knocking down Rutan's door to get their records to sound this good. The initial pressing of the album includes a DVD on the making of the album that I will admittedly never watch, but for those who see added value in that sort of thing, I would strongly suggest picking up this nicely-put-together double digipak release. While the cover artwork isn't particularly impressive, the multi-panel layout on the inside is pretty well done. Bottom Line: On Evisceration Plague, the band's eleventh studio album, Cannibal Corpse sound as strong as ever and potentially stronger. While many artists seem to peak within their first few albums, Cannibal Corpse has aged like a fine wine: Wine made of flesh and blood with notes of murder and a hint of entrails ripped from a virgin's cunt.