Cannibal Corpse - Torture

Without a doubt the biggest name in the Death Metal community, Cannibal Corpse has returned with their 12th studio album and it’s quite possibly the best material they’ve ever recorded. Torture marks the 3rd time the band has opted to record with producer Erik Rutan (of Hate Eternal fame) and they have returned to the Sonic Ranch in Texas, where several previous albums were recorded. The combination proved to be nothing short of incredible.

Before continuing further on how Rutan has made Cannibal Corpse sound the best they ever have, I have to start off with saying that Rob Barrett is the man. When it comes to death metal, everything this guy has touched has been some of the best material to come out of the genre. Barrett wrote two of Cannibal Corpse’s best records in The Bleeding and Vile before departing the band for 8 years. During that time frame, the band wrote easily their worst material. Sure there were banger songs like Pounded Into Dust and Savage Butchery that popped up here and there but Gallery Of Suicide thru The Wretched Spawn were the “boring” years of Cannibal Corpse. Each release made me want to come back less and less. Then in 2005, Kill happened. Cannibal Corpse sounded pissed again. A new sound and aggression had myself, and many other fans, excited about the band again. Taking the longest break between albums (3 years), the band proved that Kill wasn’t a fluke and Evisceration Plague continued the momentum that Kill started.

Now we are here in 2012 and Barrett and bassist Alex Webster again are out to prove that their combined effort can still hold weight in a genre that they were being surpassed in for a few years. It seems that not breaking the mold and taking the extra time (it’s been 3 years since the last record) are proving to be the best decisions the band has ever made. Torture is arguably the best material that the band has ever created. The fire that was lit under the bands ass 7 years ago, has turned into a full fledged inferno. Torture comes at you like a shotgun blast to the face from opening note of Demented Aggression until the last ring out of Torn Through. This also marks the first time of a more focused song structures. Typically Cannibal Corpse was a bit chaotic with the way their songs played out. They weren’t like a band like Origin who play fast for fast’s sake but songs tended to be all over the place before coming back to the original idea at the end. The new, mature song writing is refreshing for a band that has done the same thing for years and years. Solos on almost every Corpse record prior to this were laughable and so spastic that they could never be replicated exactly live. They made Slayer solos appear to be Satriani like. On this record, every solo is catchy and memorable. Barrett and O’Brien don’t masturbate their guitar necks and instead put some thought behind the notes played. I was truly impressed.

Now back to Erik Rutan. Maybe he sold his soul to the devil, but he has been nothing but gold behind the board. While Barrett gets most of the credit for the improved song writing, Rutan easily gets the nod as being the man responsible for making Cannibal Corpse sound the best they ever have.

While albums like Tomb Of The Mutilated, The Bleeding, and Butchered At Birth will always hold it’s place in the fan’s hearts, it’s these new albums I think that the band should really be recognized for. It’s very rare for a band to fall off as hard as Corpse did for the length of time they did and come back as strong as they have in the last 3 records. 24 years in the game and the Kings Of Death Metal are at the top of mountain once again. This is easily the frontrunner for my favorite album of the year and it’s only February 20th.

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