Band – Cannibal Corpse
Album – Chaos Horrific
Country of Origin – USA
Genre – Death Metal
Release Date – September 22, 2023
Label – Metal Blade Records
Author – Benjamin Boggs
Death metal legends Cannibal Corpse are back with their latest release. Horror business as usual, some might say, but this is what makes them so dependable. Relentless, technical, and brutal; the album feels like being dragged over concrete and pummeled by unforeseen forces. Chaos Horrific grabs a hold of the listener from the first riff and does not let go. In short, classic rippage per usual from the Cannibal Corpse camp.
The album starts with the frenzied Overlords of Violence, which ironically would be a fitting description of this band, now celebrating their 35th year in existence! Produced meticulously again by guitarist Erik Rutan, he brings the guitars to the frontlines on his sixth release for the band. Imagine a chainsaw in a glass house full of bees in sync with a jackhammer. Then… these sounds summon a literal monster, hellbent on fury with a roar straight out of depths of hell itself. If this audial image invokes a sense of horror, then we’ve only begun to scratch the surface on what this band can do.
On Chaos Horrific, we succumb to ten tracks of pounding, ripping grindage delivered in a way that only Cannibal Corpse can. The titular track starts with some of the band’s tightest riffs, accentuated expertly by drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz. There are no signs of this group ever slowing down, in fact, I feel like they’ve only gotten more brutal as the years have crept on. In terms of death metal, Cannibal Corpse is an institution, and this is another masterclass in aggression.
Cannibal Corpse as a band boasts some of the genre’s premier players including Rutan , Mazurkiewicz. Rob Barrett on guitars, Alex Webster on Bass and George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher on vocals. They are a veritable who’s who of extreme metal legends, and these performers still have a lot to prove as evidenced by their latest offering. Don’t mistake their longevity for complacency: This Cannibal Corpse is still hungry. VERY hungry.
