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Dismember - Hate Campaign (Regain Records/2005)

3/30/2015

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I think that this album is highly underrated, though they didn't progress as much as was expected from their earlier releases, but there still were moments on this release that are really melodic as well as intense. Sure the quality of the lead guitars are in a little question, but still I thought they did good with them. I think that the album is still intense plus you do still get those intense riffs guitar-wise, but not as memorable as the earlier releases. The guitar is still down there in B-tuning plus the same sort of tone i.e. the "Swedish" death metal guitar tone is there. I don't think that they fell short in the songwriting, I think that they just fell a little short on the quality of music that they dished out here.

'Hate Campaign' is a slower album here rhythmically, but I still think that it's quality. They really do a good job at riff-writing, creative with their sound and this one is still melodic featuring heavy guitar chords throughout as well. They take the rhythms a lot of the time then will have a lead guitar playing melodically around that, not just a solo, but a melody. This occurs during some songs, though it's not on every track. They really give you a sense that they're not giving up their Swedish sound nor being a melodic death band, just a band that likes to use melodies along with their brutally heavy sound. The reissue that I got had some bonus tracks that they recorded, but were only mediocre in quality.

What then do I make of this album since I'm sounding contradictory? Well, this album is no 'Like An Ever Flowing Stream' or 'Indecent and Obscene', but it's still quality death metal in Swedish tone of guitar. The main tracks, not the additional ones are well produced, the guitar riffs/melodies admirable, vocals that are hoarse, drums that are pounding away and a mixing that does it justice. I think that this one is way better than what other critics deemed this one as being. Sure some of the solos weren't the best, but I still thought that they were good. The guitars are what make this album the most memorable. The music is what's quality on here plus it seemed as if tempos were fluctuating.

Most of the songs on here musically were moderate tempo-based, however, they vary. They chose to experiment with sounds and melodies. The bulk of the guitars focus on a lot of bar chords with some intense tremolo picking. They really did include a mixture of slow, medium and fast riffs, but mostly eyed to get their music across by using a lot of chords and palm muted riffs. This by far is not even as near as intense of their earlier material, but it's still good. Just the reissue bonus tracks are the only beef I have against them. If it were just the LP itself, then I might've given it a little higher of a rating. You get quality music on here, it's just not your totally typical release of theirs.

Are you still in doubt? Well, my advice would be to YouTube the album before you do anything else. Don't go by what other people rated or reviewed from the album positive or negative, go by what you hear on YouTube, then you'll conclude if it's something that you'd want a physical copy of theirs. I chose to get the physical copy because it's Dismember and I liked what I heard before from this album, so I decided to buy it. Even though they disbanded, they left a great many releases in the metal community with their contributions to it musically. I think that no one should leave 'Hate Campaign' out of their discography, I say trust my words and what you hear on YouTube. It's worth it!

Rate: 80%.

Reviewed By Death8699 (ryanfanucchi@gmail.com).
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Cannibal Corpse - Bloodthirst (Metal Blade/1999)

3/30/2015

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Simply put, a masterpiece from start to finish, it is THAT good.  What a step-up in musicianship, period!  Every song is filled with brutal death metal annihilation!  B-flat tuned guitars once again and you get that sickeningly heavy, chunky and thick throughout the album.  Musically, this to me is their best album in their entire discography.  Not just because of the compositions, but the flawlessness of the release.  Corpsegrinder rips it up on vocals featuring low-end throat with screaming too all throughout.  This album doesn't let up much in intensity.  The compositions are death metal precision and simply unique guitar riff by both Jack and Pat.  Their guitars here are simply flawless!

What you have going on with the music is guitar that features extreme ingenuity and unrelenting brutality.  They have sequences of tapping, tremolo picking, flying through the fretboard and just overall a mind-blowing intense surges of energy in the axes that it's incredible to hear.  Their use of these methods make this one a release that truly honorable.  Not just honorable in the sense that it sounds great, but honorable in the sense that it's an album built upon precision in songwriting.  I cannot believe that after just one year marking a follow-up from 'Gallery of Suicide' that they'd make an album even more likeable than that one.  It completely blows that one away with it's futurity.  What an onslaught!

The use of differing vocals here leads it to yet more diversifying in sounds accompanying the magnificence of the guitar playing igniting it into an even more extensive use of brutality in each song.  These guys really knew what the hell they were doing for the concept of this release.  I think that it was the fact that they were trying to put out something that's brutally heavy, yet it covers so many angles musically that when you hear it, you'll be astonished.  The musicianship is so well displayed here I cannot believe that they made an album so technical and flawless.  Here you get nothing but sounds music-wise and vocal-wise that are more than just intriguing, they're incomprehensibly astonishing

The production quality here is brilliant and all the music you could hear everything going strong, nothing was left out in the mixing and engineering of the overall sense of each vocal/instrument.  The music reigns supreme over every Cannibal Corpse release to date.  I'm not going to reiterate my points here, just the music is what makes this one so dominating in their entire discography.  The vocals too slay and are so diverse, the fact that Corpsegrinder varies his voice from low end to screaming.  It makes the music more interesting to get into.  The guitar leads are well put out there by Jack and Pat, though I do favor their newer lineup nowadays.  Still nothing tops 'Bloodthirst'.

If you haven't listened to this album or know about it, learn to know about it.  Why am I ranking it so high?  Because like I said, it's a "one of a kind" musical output.  The intensity, the change in vocals, the variety in the music, the brutality, the pounding drums, the production quality, the guitar leads and the originality in the songwriting make it the best Cannibal Corpse release I've ever heard.  They truly made a gem of an album here.  If you already own it and consider it average, put it on again and hear it closely like you would other releases and you'll be probably like "hey, this album does kick butt.  I didn't realize it till I read this!"  Own this album if you don't already, it's in my opinion their best!

Rate: 100%.

Reviewed By Death8699 (ryanfanucchi@gmail.com).
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Moonspell - Night Eternal (Steamhammer/2008)

3/29/2015

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Pulling out strong with their gothic oriented metal release 'Night Eternal', combining mostly heavy guitar sounds, aggressive drumming, vampire laden vocals, intense drumming and aura filled atmospheric synthesizers to augment the musical finesse.  I liked this album from start to finish.  To me the guitar, vocals and drumming brought me more into this then the synthesizers, but they made the mood of this album dark totally.  One helluv a good release, intense and original.  The guitar melodies are what captivated me the most.  A lot of experimentation in the sounds of the album to get its' essence more than just another gothic metal output.  They dug deep in creativity here.  Way deepy composed!

The album's heaviness has to lie in the guitar riffs and drumming, plus the vocals are also very harsh as well as intensified.  Not every song was just sounding the same, but its' brutality is featured throughout.  Guitars are doing a series of things here, tremolo picking galore, some clean tone melodies, bar chords and some lead guitar, just a limited amount.  They focus more on the rhythms, but I'm not saying the leads are entirely absent or non-existent because that would be an untrue statement.  What their overall concept in this sort of musical change compared to past releases is the implementation of the synthesizers and a more melodic sounding gothic album, not just plain brutality.

As you get from track to track, you'll find different tempos, some tint of clean vocals/guitar, but in an overall sense the release is really dark and demented.  The vocals range, but mostly are intense throat, screaming away.  A total musical onslaught here musically, lyrically and atmospherically.  It's a really likeable release because it's balls out brutality a lot of the time, but it ranges though as the speed of the album is moderate.  The guitars are thick and heavy, the drumming pounding through your skull and vocals just deafening.  There's more clean guitar/vocals as the album progresses.  The synthesizers make it so grim, but they didn't abandon their roots in metal, they went diversifying.

What's unique even more so is the fact that they have some chorus parts that are so emotionally felt, with guest backup female voice and even more so riffs that are so creative.  When hearing this album, don't overlook the fact that they change things up and aren't tackling just one genre, they're tackling gothic, heavy and death oriented metal, though gothic is prominent on here.  It's a blend, I think that they wanted a change from what they originally started out doing nor by any means wanting to sell-out by changing a bit.  They want a different array of sound to their music and I think that they covered all avenues on here.  You get so many influences on this release it's incredible.

Still think that it's just average as I write this?  No, this album is NOT an average rating.  It's way higher because the music is what's so notorious on here and guitar that's so admirable.  They did an outstanding job in the production quality picking the right engineer to get this one mixed way awesome featuring every instrument/sound/vocal parts to be well heard and entirely admirable.  A sheer dominance in the gothic metal community and I think a highly underrated album to say the least.  Nothing boring or stale about this one.  They attract it all on

Rate: 90%.

Reviewed By Death8699 (ryanfanucchi@gmail.com).
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Deicide - In the Minds of Evil (Century Media/2013)

3/28/2015

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My initial contention was that this is a total "dud" compared to past releases, though after that original thought, I realized that yes this is the new generation of Deicide.  It's one of their best in years.  The reason is because the music on here is HEAVY and diverse.  It features guitars that gallop in essence, also featuring bar chord mania with maniacal speed picking frenzies.  Some of the drums seem like inhumanly possible, though Steve still pulls it off.  They also use a lot of lead guitar giving it a more "eerie" sound, though this is not by any means the darkest Deicide release in their discography.  Steve writes the music, though during the Hoffman brothers era they were just different.

Glen focuses more on low-end vocals since he's aged though there are some back-up screams.  It does fit with the music definitely, it's just not as intense as when their debut came out circa 1990.  However, the quality of the music is still good enough to give this a "B" rating.  The leads are active quite a lot and they seem to insist on their fretboard flying.  This is a little bit longer of an album, though it's under 40 minutes.  Still, the quality in the songwriting and the new era of the band seems to focus more on a whole different sort of guitar layout that what early Deicide listeners like myself were used to hearing.  This album I didn't think was mediocre death metal, it has some passion there still.

There's more experimental guitars here.  The lead guitar will go off when Glen's singing or they'll use rhythm guitar over chorus verses or just Glen spewing out blasphemous lyrics which seem to mix well with the overall sound.  They never really did that much with the old lineup.  The experimenting and obliteration of musical annihilation remains to be, but the music is better than it has been in a long while.  That's why a lot of people tended to favor their older because it was innovative and highly influential in the death metal world.  You'll never get that same quality of music from them, but on 'In the Minds of Evil', they show musical progression from their new era of members.  Going strong!

You will not find the same precision in leads as the Hoffman brothers, but still you get musical variety on here.  The rhythms, leads, production, drums and vocals definitely are likeable because of the way everything seemed to fit together for a solid album.  These musicians still show that they're working hard to carry the legacy of the old to the new.  I think that the bulk of the music in terms of the rhythm guitar is a lot of tremolo picking, but overall, it's a well carried out album both musically or you might be apt to say in composition.  The variety with those lead guitar moments that play over the rhythms seem to be a change from how they used to conduct their music.

So many people are stuck on the first two albums, I myself was considered to be one.  But on here, the music still is quality because of the experimenting and they use some variety in vocals, though not much of all really.  I think that they decided a different approach on here, using a lot of fast guitar, but they change it up a little and the fact that they're using a lot of leads and harmonies over the vocals to give that "evil" sense that's always brewing with this blasphemous death metal band.  Keep an open mind to what they've put out here and just remember the new generation of Deicide is here ever since the departure of the Hoffman brother and has been for over 10 years!  Get this one! 

Rate: 85%.

Reviewed By Death8699 (ryanfanucchi@gmail.com)
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Dismember - Like An Ever Flowing Stream (WillowTip/2012)

3/28/2015

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This album is a monument and for a debut to sound like a well furbished Swedish death metal sound, well they do achieve it insurmountably. The whole release is dark, eerie, heavy and melodic. The production sound is quite raw in its' nature, but I think that they were aiming for that kind of sound. It just goes with the marking release that stands alone from all the rest of death debuts originating is Swedish or throughout the world. I'd have to say that out of their entire discography, you won't find one that sounds as good as this one. Why? Because of the guitar riffs, they're touting in glory with musical devastation alongside domination. They really hit home on here with this unrelentingly heavy release.

I can't say that I like the lyrical topics, but the music makes them fitting because what you get are tremolo picking riffs with a ton of bar chord mania. It's unrelenting music, death metal at its' peak and finest. I think that this one really is captivating to listen to. The reason is because it's so heavy as they tune down their guitars to B and throw at you a conglomeration of riffs that really stand alone never to be heard again in triumph. These guys knew what they were doing and aiming for and they just did it. The fact that it is so heavy yet melodic, Dismember attacks you with such intensity the whole way through. They are a 5-piece and I think that was a smart choice to enter into the metal world that way.

Even though the leads are kind of amateur, they're still good, as the rhythm guitars make up for the fact that this is their first to outrage you with abomination. I think that everything was laid out just right on here though because everything does "flow", the music is what owns. It is definitely a "stream" of heavy guitar work that fits with the vocals and drums are right on top of the music. Everything really fits and there isn't really any flaws here, the guitars wipe out your eardrums in maniacal intensity. Dismember is really unique here, captivating and grasping that Swedish tone to the music meaning that it's raw, melodic, heavy, uncompromising and lacking in any sort of deficit. It simply owns!

Well the track that really hit home with me that you can YouTube is "Override To the Overture." But all the songs are really uncompromising death metal. If they kept that melodic sound entirely like on the opener, they'd be more in the melodic death metal genre. But they are not, they simply put something out there that is heavy and don't compromise. The music is the most notable, but the vocals compliment the music quite nicely. Everything fits here and you won't find an ounce of boredom on any track. It's really an amazing monumental album. It is on YouTube, the whole thing, so take a listen and now on Willowtip there's 4 bonus tracks. They feature an even more raw sound.

In conclusion, 'Like An Ever Flowing Stream' is an album that stands alone as I think their greatest one to date. Nothing captures you quite as well as this one. It really is a masterpiece because of its' musicianship, quality, precision, production sound, defamation and uncanny music that's entirely their own. They entered well into the death metal world and it's too bad to see them leave it, but they did leave it with good things to reflect upon. This one is the first and most notable death metal album to date for the band. If you're skeptical, just listen to it on YouTube and if you like it, get the reissue. The bonus tracks are great and you get that heavy, raw sound they're known for even greater!


Rate: 100%.



Reviewed By Death8699 (ryanfanucchi@gmail.com).


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Anthrax - Worship Music (Megaforce/2011)

3/26/2015

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​ This one reminds me a lot of the older days when the band put out 'Persistence of Time' and 'State of Euphoria'.  There still is that tint of thrash metal to the core of their sound, but now with more groove along with it.  Joey still sounds the same on vocals and the guitars throw out some strong rhythms/leads.  I'd say the blend of thrash/groove metal definitely does apply.  Great album here,  This one you can't really get tired of.  The band has been around for so long and pretty much (for the most part) have the same line-up they've had for years.  What's most striking here is the music and vocals.  Joey sings great on here and the guitars have some awesome riffs!  You have to hear it!

Does this album go along well the whole way through?  My answer is yes, it never gets boring.  What's different?  The ingenuity in the songwriting flat-out, the musical compositions are strong on every song and that groove is thick, not just thrash metal.  It's not a musically fast album though the leads are.  They are quite technical, the leads that is.  The main guitar riffs are solid, going on strong for every track.  They mix exquisitely with the vocals as do the drums.  It sounds like they tune down a little bit, making the music a little heavier then mix in that groove laden style in there.  The bar chords and tremolo picked riffs are all quite well played and thought out.  Very good songwriting! 

What's to be expected in the production quality is the fact that the guitars are well heard, vocals don't drown out the music, drums are well heard on here too, so overall a solid album sound-wise.  Nothing really very wrong about how this album sounds production-quality speaking, I think it's really solid.  The guitars hit home with me on here.  They really did a good job at piecing everything together.  You don't just hear groove guitar, you hear quality in some of its' thrash stricken style, but it isn't an album that's really overly aggressive.  Now that they've turned on the groove to their sound, they've made their metal sound quote like that to the likes of Soulfly's 'Savages' release.

Their clean sounding music isn't for the whole of the album.  It's just a part of their diversity.  It really is an overall album that is something that any metalhead could get into because the music is so well pieced together.  It fluctuates, but not in severity.  It's really a mild metal album.  Some darn good lead work as well!  i think Joey sounds awesome as usual on here.  His voice makes Anthrax unique in the metal community.  It's what sets them aside from bands like Exodus, Slayer, Testament, et al.  Even though their aggression isn't as prominent than is on their earlier days, they are still making quality metal.  This one is probably one of their better ones in their discography.

Still skeptical?  Well you shouldn't be because 'Worship Music' hits home with each and every track.  They dig deep in creativity and hit home with all outputs.  Don't expect anything extremely fast or thrash laden.  Even though the crunch tone on the guitar is still there, the intensity has backed down and they're playing more groove than thrash.  The thrash elements are still apart of this album, but the music aims more at a groove to it.  It really is diverse, but yeah, it is definitely one that's entirely likeable.  If you haven't liked more recent Anthrax releases, this one you'd be surprised that you'll like and is well better than just an average metal release.  These guys are still going on strong!  They own!

Rate: 85%.

Reviewed By Death8699 (ryanfanucchi@gmail.com)​
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Cannibal Corpse - Kill (Metal Blade/2006)

3/25/2015

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Very thrash laden/thick guitar onslaught here with utmost brutality, probably their best one since 'Bloodthirst', this one captures it all once again.  These guys are pioneers of the genres even though the lyrical content is not favorable to my pallet, 'Kill' has everything that a death metal album should incorporate: ingenuity in riff-writing, vocal range, drumming pounding through your head and a superb production by Eric Rutan.  Definitely one of my favorite Cannibal Corpse releases, even though I thought that it wasn't ingenious when I first played it.  My contention was that it really wasn't something that captivated me until I listened to it on my earphones.  My God, what a difference now!

In terms of the music, what to expect exactly from non-guitar players that are asking themselves "what's a riff?"  Well to explain in simple terms, the way the guitar is arranged on the fretboard as to what the guitars are doing it's flying all over the fretboard.  If you're wondering "what is a fretboard?"  Well it's where your fingers are placed on a guitar that symbolize notation when you play a song which denotes what and which string your hitting and where your fingers are placed on the guitar denotes the fretboard then the riff would be where the notes are plucked on the strings as well as what the right hand is doing to pluck the strings (if you're right handed).  So these "riffs" here are mind-blowing!

The guitars make this album a thrashy death metal album even though it is brutal death metal, it's still so chunky and thick.  The guitars once again are tuned to B-flat like on other previous releases.  But what does 'Kill' have to offer that previous releases don't?  Eric Rutan producing the album is one, right off the bat, if you know of him (Hate Eternal, Hypocrisy), then you know that the music is definitely gets justice because everything is mixed together with Rutan's precision.  The leads are captivating by Pat and Rob, bass great by Alex as usual, Corpsegrinder does a great job on his vocal onslaught plus Paul annihilating behind the set.  Corpsegrinder screams on some tracks, but is mostly low-end bellowing, not as low as Barnes was though.

Still what makes 'Kill' 100% deserving in a rating?  Well musically, the guitars are all over the fretboard.  They simply annihilate, that's what makes this so deserving of praise.  It fits in every respect with sheer precision.  The music is what owns the most on here.  Why?  Well it's just balls-out intensity and brutality.  Blast beating, innovative compositions, well-fitting vocals, uncompromising lyrical onslaught and frenzy of "riffs" flying all over the place.  These guys don't let up, but yes the tempos sway from fast-picking guitar to bar-chord thickness.  It's their thrashy, but still brutal death metal sounding  release to date and I think that would be due to the amps and how the tracks were laid out in the final complete stages of production.

This one does no wrong.  It's simply a musical devastation.  These riffs just don't seem to let up the whole way through, except for the outro song.  I think that to-date, this album is their best produced one.  Still the same record label, but again Rutan just knows how to make everything stand out in the mixing of the music, vocals and overall end product.  That's why 'Kill' owns so much.  They did good when it came time to decide who to choose in getting behind the scenes and wanting someone who knows how to mix death metal albums with utmost ingenuity and innovation.  Rutan makes everything so precise and I could not ask for a better produced Cannibal Corpse album.

So still questioning the 100% rating?  Well I think that I made it clear in terms of the quality in composition, vocal annihilation, drumming right on cue with the guitars, leads that simply shred by both guitarists and sounds never before heard from this band until this came out.  It was just such a step up from their predecessors.  These guys tear it apart on here in terms of creativity in songwriting and keeping such a brutal sound that just rips it up.  Cannibal Corpse in my opinion are much better off now without Owen and Barnes in the band.  Their current line-up just gets the job done and done right.  This musicianship on here is top notch.  Technical as all hell and what a crushing album!  Own it!


Rate: 100%.

Reviewed By Death8699 (ryanfanucchi@gmail.com)​
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Cannibal Corpse - Evisceration Plague (Metal Blade/2009)

3/24/2015

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What differentiates this one from the rest of Cannibal Corpse's discography?  Well the music flat out.  Yes, still sticking to B-flat tuned guitars, low-end hoarse vocals with some screaming, decently recorded, aggressive drumming and of course a lyrical nightmare.  This you may say is similar to the rest, but no, it it might sound that way from my words, what makes it unique?  The fact that the guitar riffs are technical, variety in vocals, variety in brutality, creative musical output, intensity, and balls-out heavy.  If you're still asking what makes it DIFFERENT?  My answer is: THE GUITARS.  You get riffs that are intense, technical, solid leads, and exceptional musicianship for a death metal band.

The opener may have you set on pouncing drumming with fast guitar, but there's variety here.  It isn't all just fast.  It varies.  Corpsegrinder is right on cue with the music.  He really does a good job here and in my opinion his vocal style is more diverse and fitting for this death metal band.  There may be people that favor Barnes, but Corpsegrinder has range.  His throat annihilation fits with the music better than Barnes' style hands down.  These guys tear it up on here.  I'd have to say that all the music on this one doesn't hit any rock-bottom or boring riffing.  All the way from start to end, it's very well put together.  They really make a statement here despite what the naysayers may say about it..

You still get that chunky sound once again, but the creativity in the music is what counts here.  It's what differentiates it from other albums.  They really hit home in my book on here because it isn't just an album of pure noise with blast beating all over the place and absolutely no musical purpose, it's actual purpose is to remain underground and once again over-the-top creative when they wrote the music for this one.  Yes, you may say "but you said that they still tune the same and have chunky guitars", though I say on here the music made the magic of this album balls out great.  The way they pieced together their riff-writing is what's insurmountably exceptional.  The guitars dominate!

Still skeptical, huh?  Well I'm going to say that this one covered all angles of music when they wrote it.  Again, it is intense in a lot of different ways, but it also shows you how what critics may disagree with me on this is the fact that it sounds like Corpsegrinder is monotonous or the guitars are stale, but they'd be wrong.  What I said was that it is creative, they explored sounds on the fretboard that make it yes heavy, but also unique because they decided to dig deep in the progression from their past albums amounting to one genuinely solid release.  The leads were top notch and so technical, even though there wasn't an extensive amount of them on the whole album, they still were good.

Production lacked a little, not as solid as their later album 'Torture', but still the mixing was good and the whole album just is so intense and brutal, it'll blow your hair back.  The guitars and vocals were the highlight plus the drums were right there blasting away at these prolific overtures.  This is not just death metal, this is brutal death metal that digs deep in creativity's utopia.  I really do think that this album is way underrated because a lot of people that heard this pretty much may as well have said it to be "generic" death metal.  I don't feel that way about it, in fact, I think it was a musical progression.  Don't leave this out of your Cannibal Corpse collection because it simply annihilates!


Rate: 90%.

Reviewed By: Death8699 (ryanfanucchi@gmail.com)
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Cannibal Corpse - Torture (Metal Blade/2012)

3/22/2015

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Chunky, thick and well orchestrated annihilation frenzy of fantastic guitar-work in play here.  The vocals go well with the music and what an array of riffs that Pat and Rob came up with on here.  Totally killer music, death metal at its finest.  One of their best releases to date to me.  Fast riffs and some just so slow and thick that they simply slay.  Longer album for these guys, about 44 minutes of simply well put death metal concoction.  Really unique guitar-work, they got super-creative on here.  It is just really blasting on here in terms of the guitar.  That's what made this album an over-the-top creative execution.  Corpsegrinder is mostly deep-throat on this one.  But it fits so well with the guitars.

What differentiates this album from their others is their creativity and experimentation regarding their chunk style of musical "torture."  They change it up all the time though and the leads are better on here (sad to say better than when Owen was with the band) and they play around with their sound regarding how they put together their music.  You get slow, medium and fast essence of yes all the above on here.  They really have deepened into the riffing wide arrange of experimenting with all different things.  I mean the guitars have and array of bar chords, heavily palm muted speed picking licks then just flat out crunch tone down picked riffing which makes this one so likeable.  A real wide experimentation.

Corpsegrinder focuses me on the deep/end of throat which makes the album sound just brutal.  He doesn't go ball's out with a lot of screaming.  He mostly feeds into the thick core of the sound here.  He does go a little high-end, but not a whole lot really.  This Cannibal Corpse release I actually like better than their 2014 one because of the music and the production.  Really good production here because you can hear it all.  Everything is well mixed and it does the album great justice.  Not a lick on here that either guitarist does wrong on.  It is precision death metal from beginning to the end.  A ruthless array of abomination.  Never been a fan of their lyrical choice, but the music just kills!

So what you can expect here is just riffs thrown at you that are creative, solos that are way technical digging deep into the fretboard, drums that go right in hand with their riffing, vocals that are deep and from beginning to end, expect no boredom whatsoever.  In past releases, a lot of their music doesn't really progress, I'm blaming that on Owen, I'm just saying that their guitar combination nowadays is more solid and creative.  It really comes down to: what Cannibal Corpse album is their best?  Well, reflection on past and present, they really have come a long way.  I'll admit that 'Butchered At Birth' is one of my favorites, but now, 'Torture' is up there too!  Different lineup back then though.

Well all in all, this was a highly gifted Cannibal Corpse release.  They cover diversity meaning their sound changes (there's even clean-tone guitar on here) and their brutality is top notch.  It slays the whole way through.  Not a song on here that I dislike.  I'm saying that all of their work here fit together for one awesome release.  One thing that they could've done a little more with are the vocal ranges.  I know that they were probably focusing on making this just balls out brutal, so that's why you don't here Corpsegrinder screaming as much.  That doesn't take away from the quality of the album.  It doesn't make it stale at all, it makes just flat out HEAVY.  Get this one ASAP!  It rips the speakers!


Rate: 95%.

Reviewed By: Death8699 (ryanfanucchi@gmail.com).
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Cannibal Corpse - Gallery of Suicide (Metal Blade/1998)

3/5/2015

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In aghast honesty, I've never been a huge fan of this band, but will say that I respect some of their work, especially this one.  I like some brutal death metal which is what they represent -- well established in the metal community for the past several years in existence.  'Gallery of Suicide' captures their brutal death sound with chunk laden guitar activity whizzing all in various arrays of significance.  From beginning to finish these guys hit home here with a solid, well put together album.  They take their guitars and tune them down to B-flat, making that heavy, distorted sound with musical compositions that embrace you alongside "Corpsegrinder's"lyrical tyranny including a vocal onslaught.
 
What distinguishes this album from their previous others is the fact that it touches on major musical progression featuring compilations of sounds that include heavy palm-muted riffs with tremolo (fast)  picking, tapping sequences on the fretboard, innovation of ideology in composing musical supposition and genuinely original extremity of idealization.  Their earlier work featured more thrash oriented licks alongside deeper vocals as there was a different vocalist (Chris Barnes) and they seemed to have experimented a lot -- their first 3 albums were brutal death metal like this, but  the musical style meaning their combining thrash metal guitar with death voice changed on 'The Bleeding' and on here is different also.  Not only did they change vocalists for the better, they thickened their whole entire sound.
 
The band I would say progressed, sort of regressed then progressed again especially on here.  I didn't bother reading any of the current reviews of this album, just the ratings and my contention is that musically this album features something that is quite moving -- a progression, not only with the music, but variation on the vocals as well.  You get their thick and heavy sound which most songs here contain fast paced phenomenon, but also catch the listener off-guard with a slow instrumental.  There is a combination of intensity, brilliance in the riff-writing, aggressive vocals spewing out gore lyrics, and drum-work that's tight which fits with the music as well as the final outro on the album.
 
Essence is key when writing successful albums -- here, Cannibal Corpse gives you that.  The production quality was magnificent and the music was entirely original.  Taking influences on extreme music then conducting songs that seem to entice a number of listeners, making the fans look at brutal death metal in a whole different category...a category that is in a league of its' own.  You can hear everything going on here including the guitars, the drums, the vocals and the sound in the recording came out triumphant.  This is one underrated album.  I don't see why the scores here are in the lower range because it deserves so much more.  I'm not saying flattery, I'm saying recognition.
 
This one is NOT boring, but interesting.  Lyrically it has no value to me, but musically it covers a heathen of dynamics and inspirational riffs especially for guitarists.  This is one to own that will not, cannot be dull and if it is to that particular listener, then this band is not for you.  The music on here captures all different avenues of musical triumph -- originality, intelligibility, technicality and variety.  I think this band with this album can inspire because the music is what is so owning to the listener.  What exists in the brutal death metal community is 'Gallery of Suicide', a triumph in musical exploratory genius.  These guys slay and this album should be owned by all fans because it's in a league of its' own!  
 
Rating: 90%.

Reviewed By Death8699 (ryanfanucchi@gmail.com).
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