CANNIBAL CORPSE - Violence Unimagined
Metal Blade Records
I've gotta give credit to Metal Blade Records where it's do. For the past fifteen years they've managed to hype up every new CANNIBAL CORPSE album to the point where you'd think it was going to be their last. Granted the band did have a low repetitive period after 1996's Vile. I know I was fuckin bored with em.
But when Kill dropped in 2006 it started a period for the band which creatively was good. Since then every new album has been consistent to say the least. It's still CANNIBAL CORPSE and you know what to expect. But they have a way now of just adding something slightly interesting which makes for wanting to continue checking out. But come on we don't need the hype.
For Violence Unimagined the interesting part is the major line-up change. Longtime guitarist Pat O'Brien is out of the band because of problems with the law. His replacement is Erik Rutan. Yes the guitarist for HATE ETERNAL and an amazing producer in his own right. I guess the choice of Rutan was obvious. He's been producing some of their albums, is a longtime friend of the band and knows death metal like the Chinese know rice.
So now finally I get to write about this one after getting a copy. I say finally since everyone and their cousin seem to have already given an opinion. Thanks to the label leaking a song or two on Youtube everyone's either blown away or bored. Honestly I haven't been blown away by this band since 2009's Evisceration Plague. But hey I'm a fan so.....
Opener "Murderous Rampage" and it's follow up "Necrogenic Resurrection" are a perfect one two punch to get things rolling. The band is in death thrash mode on those cuts. "Inhumane Harvest", which was everyone's first taste of the new album via Youtube, is also a winner reminding fans of the brutality the band is known for. What comes afterwards is hit or decent and that's from repeated listens.
Violence Unimagined is more like re-imagined since we've been here before so many times. Corpsegrinder has been with em for so long now we kinda forget about the early days. As always the riffs and rhythms are well done. The addition of Rutan is noticeable in some leads plus he does some song writing. "Condemnation Contagion" reminds me of HATE ETERNAL a bit as does "Ritual Annihilation". Then again they're Rutan penned tunes which are heavy, punishing and brutal.
On a whole it's consistent CANNIBAL CORPSE. The album cover art is better looking and will make for a cool t-shirt as compared to 2017's Red Before Black. I'll just add this to the collection. It's their fifteenth album in thirty-three years. In death metal terms that's significant. Like I mentioned earlier the band adds just enough excitement in order to stay from being redundant.
https://www.metalblade.com/us/
LISTEN HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MptVkuh8cQ8
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