Not to be outdone by forbearers Napalm Death, Cannibal Corpse release what will probably hold as the best brutal death metal album of the year, Evisceration Plague. Superficially, the album is everything one would expect – totally ripping and brutal, with great production by Erik Rutan. If Scott Burns of Morrissound Studios was death metal’s early producer extraordinaire, Rutan should be considered the modern equivalent. Rutan is able to capture clear sound out all instruments, even making the bass audible, in a genre that is not known for quality sound. Better still is that he does it without sacrificing any of the music’s heaviness. The only “noticeable” change from the band, other than pushing their musical heaviness further, is the seeming lack of gore-based lyrics, which may bother some long-time fans. The songs are unrelenting, generally driving with a ferocious drum beat and riffs, only spiced up by the occasional sinewy, dissonant guitar solos. It’s amazing that Cannibal Corpse is able to approach such a stoic and austere musical style with the same bravado and intensity after 20 years, but they remain unchallenged as the best at straight-ahead, pounding fast death metal.
chris @ June 15, 2009
Now that hockey season is over, there is a lot of crap to catch-up on with the draft less than two weeks away and the start of free agency three weeks away.
The first story was the Bruins re-signing my hockey dreamboat, David Krejci. While the Bruins are saddled with a bit of a cap-crunch, Chiarelli also made a number of smart moves with the signing. More on page 189
chris @ June 14, 2009
Superseding “Cookies ist Krieg,” this may be the best black metal YouTube video ever. A dude in corpsepaint skateboarding through London, flashing invisible oranges at unsuspecting children and tourists and then tearing pages out of the bible with his teeth. No matter how many times I watch it, it remains freaking hilarious.
chris @ June 8, 2009
Understandably, Anneke van Giersbergen has spent the better part of the last 18 months touring to promote her post- The Gathering project, Agua de Annique. I instantly fell in love with their debut, Air, and have only grown more fond of it over time. Rather than make fans wait while trying to build their name touring, the band(or just Anneke, I believe) has released Pure Air, an acoustic album containing a few re-worked versions of songs from Air, a few collaborations with some famous friends, and a bunch of covers. More on page 180
chris @ May 5, 2009