Cannibal Corpse can’t rise from the grave on ‘Plague’

1.5 out of 5 stars

Since its arrival on the death metal scene in the late ’80s, Cannibal Corpse has made a name for itself through its abrasive sounds, shocking lyrics and graphic album artwork. Song titles like “Necropedophile” and “Dismembered and Molested” have resulted in bans of Corpse albums in several countries and helped the band maintain its reputation as incredibly offensive in a genre that is already considered violent and subversive.

Although Corpse’s latest studio album features tamer artwork than usual — just a few zombies as opposed to masses of decomposing bodies — the song titles and sound remain as brutal as ever. Evisceration Plague relies too strongly on undifferentiated brutality and it fails to break away from predictable song structures, leaving listeners with nothing but another album to bang their heads to.

The album’s main fault is that — like the majority of Corpse’s recent releases — all the songs blend together in a jumble of double bass, detuned guitars and unintelligible vocals. While this consistent muddle contributes to album continuity, it doesn’t give listeners enough variation to make Plague a worthwhile spin. Tracks like “Beheading and Burning” and “Evidence in the Furnace” share more than titles reminiscent of horror films. They both adhere to a play-as-fast-as-you-can-and-throw-a-few-breakdowns-in-there formula, with a growl or two tossed in every so often. The lyrics are almost completely indecipherable, with only the odd word like “flesh” or “brains” worming its way out of the jungle of frontman George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher’s inhuman vocals.

Lead guitarist Pat O’Brien’s solos occasionally break up the monotony of Evisceration Plague, but more often than not, they devolve into spastic showcases of how fast he can move his fingers. Cannibal Corpse’s other members seem similarly content to compromise originality for technicality and speed, as evident in Paul Mazurkiewicz’s unrelentingly sharp, fast-paced drumming. He mixes up his beats in songs like “Skewered from Ear to Eye,” which features a combination of slower drum grooves and faster attacks on the snare and cymbals. But for the majority of the disc, he nixes the more interesting beats in favor of hitting the drums as quickly as possible.

Evisceration Plague’s title track saves the album from total failure. It starts with a heavily distorted guitar riff and a steadily pounding bass drum that begs listeners to bang their heads, then dives into the first verse with the help of a soaring mini-solo from O’Brien. Mazurkiewicz’s drumming is at its best, with machine gun snare rolls and solid timekeeping on the cymbals and toms. Corpsegrinder’s vocals are relatively easy to understand, and while lines like “Invisible foe / takes control / Evisceration plague” aren’t exactly poignant, they’re a refreshing change from the growling on the rest of the album.

Unfortunately, one decent track out of 12 isn’t enough to turn the album around completely. Cannibal Corpse’s latest effort is a brutal disappointment that lacks variation in song structure and sound. The title track is worth a download, but the rest of the album is a mess of unoriginal instrumentation and a slasher-movie mentality that is best left alone by those who aren’t die-hard Corpse fans.