As I’m sure has been the case for thousands of other fans, Cannibal Corpse was the band that truly roped me into the death metal genre. Chancing upon a second hand copy of their debut ‘Eaten Back to Life’ – with its crazy artwork, insane lyrics and ripping music – provided me with precisely what I had been looking for in my teens. In fact I can still picture the look of horror on a fellow school kid’s face (the posh boy, now a Tory broadsheet journalist) as he scanned the inlay’s content: priceless! Obviously since then the Corpse have toned down quite considerably and their music has also changed but they continue to fly the flag of hate. Their last outing ‘Torture’ seemed to be an improvement on the previous ‘Evisceration Plague’ so I came into this with relatively high hopes.
The thirteenth Cannibal Corpse album doesn’t start in the way you might expect: first emerging in the form of abyssal feedback before a scream beckons us into some slow-burning death metal. Though true to their latter career, it’s not long before flurries of crazy tech riffs and manic roars/screams of ‘High Velocity Impact Spatter’ enter the picture. After a few listens, this repeated chorus proves a real ear maggot. The vibe is dark due to those creeping, contorting riffs but particularly effective is the bludgeoning time change around the two-minute-thirty-second mark. All in all then, typical Cannibal. ‘Sadistic Embodiment’ comes next, accelerating immediately and simultaneously throwing some crazy lead work into the equation. A crucial aspect to the formula is Paul Mazurkiewicz, who keeps time as reliably as ever – one minute enabling the guitarists (Alex Webster is necessarily included here) to wind away, the next initiating a headless caveman stomp.
The most infectious instance on the whole of ‘A Skeletal Domain’ is the lyrical eye-opener on ‘Kill or Become’ in which Corpsegrinder repeatedly commands himself/his inner demon/us to “fire up the chainsaw.” Naturally these whacky lyrics are backed up with equally bonkers riffs that are guaranteed to make an impact at gigs. Hot on the stumps of this one comes the title track. Somewhere along the line, its slow morbidity and erupting drums strike me as being a kind of cross between the songs ‘Gallery of Suicide’ and ‘Perverse Suffering’. Its final bit, with the kick drums and solos, is indeed cool. Despite the silly title, ‘Headlong into Carnage’ is also musically very satisfying: riffs called CHUGATHOR rule for large sections before finding space for some incredibly Slayer-esque solo work. Up to this part of the record then, the album can be summed up as a familiar, raging return to the world of these gore giants.
When it comes to the likes of ‘The Murderer’s Pact’ and ‘Funeral Cremation’, events unfortunately run out of steam. Aside from an excellent, dignified solo in the former, there’s really not much to elevate these compositions beyond standard, by-the-numbers modern day Cannibal Corpse. It’s hard to imagine tracks like these muscling their way into a live set, for instance. Much better are the likes of ‘Icepick Lobotomy’, whose slower parts are accentuated with mania, and ‘Bloodstained Cement’, where scorching aspects merge with the loitering to create a tangibly threatening atmosphere. In that sense, these two correspond to much of the opening section of the disc by having a bit more variation (and speed). One factor that may have heightened the impact of such brooding numbers as ‘The Murderer’s…’ and ‘Funeral…’ is a greater emphasis on the bass in the mix. What we get for the most part is vocals, guitars and drums. Pretty much in that order.
However, the fundamental problem with latter day Cannibal Corpse has consistently been – and remains to be – the song writing itself. While this album doesn’t seem to aspire to technicality as much as some previous efforts, it’s still rare that the listener is caught off guard by a vicious hook or dragged along by some humdinger of a riff. There are such instances on here – like on ‘Asphyxiate to Resuscitate’ – but a fair amount of the music seems anonymous within the context of the band’s other work (‘Vector of Cruelty’, anyone?). Equally deflating are the incessant vocal patterns, dominating as they do due to endless mechanical sounding lyrics. Where there were once twisted stories about voodoo and the like, its now all encyclopaedic vocabulary devoid of much shock or linguistic artistry. (Or maybe I’ve simply listened to so much Cannibal Corpse over the years that I’ve become jaded…)
On that note, ‘A Skeletal Domain’ will not change perceptions of the band for detractors or indeed fans, like me, who have been hoping to be pulverised by a new Cannibal Corpse record for years on end now. But it’s not as if any of this will matter to either the stalwarts or people who have just discovered death metal, and it certainly won’t affect the band’s stature – which is rightfully cemented in blood and chunks of viscera. As a completist I’ll probably still buy this anyway. It’s good after all, with some great moments, but it would just be nice to hear these guys streamline the formula somewhat. In my opinion, revisiting the early albums would be the perfect place to start.
(7/10 Jamie)
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