Cannibal Corpse – Chaos Horrific

Written by on 07-10-2023 at 11:20.

The oldest review of a Cannibal Corpse album that I can find on our beloved webzine is from the album Kill from 2006. From that moment on, all studio albums by these gentlemen from (now) Tampa, Florida have been reviewed here. Remarkably, each review has been written by a different editor. Maybe that’s a good thing and a way to get a different opinion every time, but apparently everyone agrees that Cannibal Corpse is still one of the better and most important death metal bands on this planet.

I must admit that my knowledge of Cannibal Corpse’s music is extremely limited. The only album I own is Vile from 1996. I got it as a promo at the time and it was the first album to feature grunter George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher. Chris Barnes (the band’s previous singer) and his associates had just released Haunted with Six Feet Under the year before and that record had made a bigger impression on me and so Cannibal Corpse remained a band for me that I occasionally heard.

This time it is my honor to write something about chapter sixteen, another blood-soaked story of Cannibal Corpse. This chapter is titled Chaos Horrific and has ten tracks. The first song released is Blood Blind.

The song starts a bit slower than I’m used to from Cannibal Corpse. Still death metal at its best, but it gives a little more breathing space. Something that happens more often on the album and even slightly more often than it does on its predecessor. The second representative of the album, Summoned for Sacrifice, also has some delay built in. It is not entirely new because on the band’s previous release (Violence Unimagined) these ‘resting points’ can also be found.

Other than that Cannibal Corpse is just being themselves. Fans can add another cool death metal album to their collection. Musically nothing has changed, although everything sounds a bit more dynamic. What strikes me is that the riffs that are played are never exactly the same. Clear examples of this are Overlords of Violence and Pitchfork Impalement. The riff  starts, but is rarely repeated completely. Instead, subtle changes are made that make it sound slightly different. Another standout song is Drain You Empty. The beginning of this track has a high death/doom quality. Furthermore, in this albumcloser they chop the remains to smithereens in order to open a new can of corpses and limbs on the next album.

The line-up of Chaos Horrific is the same as its predecessor. Paul Mazurkiewicz (responsible for the album title) smashes the drum kit to pieces as usual, Corpsegrinder unleashes his grunt wonderfully on the bloody lyrics, Alex Webster makes the songs sound fat again with his bassguitar and the melodies and solos of Rob and Erik are tight and ruthless.

Cannibal Corpse have no predefined plan. The band approaches everything with an open mind and with the intention to write the best possible songs of that moment. “Each song on the album should have the potential to stand alone and have its own character,” says bassist Alex Webster. Personally, I would have liked to see some more progression in a new Cannibal Corpse release, but on the other hand, we are of course talking about one of the Greats of Death Metal.

 

 

Score:

87/100

Label:

Metal Blade Records, 2023

Tracklisting:

  1. Overlords of Violence
  2. Frenzied Feeding
  3. Summoned for Sacrifice
  4. Blood Blind
  5. Vengeful Invasion
  6. Chaos Horrific
  7. Fracture and Refracture
  8. Pitchfork Impalement
  9. Pestilential Rictus
  10. Drain You Empty

Line-up:

  • George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher – Vocalen
  • Erik Rutan – Gitaar
  • Rob Barrett – Gitaar
  • Alex Webster – Basgitaar
  • Paul Mazurkiewicz – Drums

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