Review: Cannibal Corpse - A Skeletal Domain
By Eric Perzanowski, Staff Writer
[Metal Blade; 2014]
Rating: 7/10
Key Tracks: “Kill or Become,” “The Murderer’s Pact,” “High Velocity Impact Splatter”
Whether people know them for their highly graphic, controversial album covers, as the band from that one scene in "Ace Ventura Pet Detective" or as one of the most influential death metal bands, Cannibal Corpse has certainly created a name for itself. Since the late ‘80s, Cannibal Corpse has been consistently delivering crushing tunes and shocking parents, religious leaders and the like along the way.
With A Skeletal Domain being the 13th entry in the band’s storied catalog, some may question how Cannibal Corpse is able to sustain its success, both commercially and artistically. Nevertheless, the band is able to shake things up enough to prevent the shtick from getting stale.
Some may say that Cannibal Corpse has been making the same album for the past decade, which may have some validity to it. It’s clear that this band has been seemingly unwavering in continuing doing what makes it successful. However, there always seem to be a few intangible tricks up the sleeves of these musicians.
One great thing about A Skeletal Domain, and all of Cannibal Corpse’s work, is the presence of bass. As with all of this band’s material, the masterful Alex Webster is able to quell a common complaint of essentially nonexistent bass in a lot of extreme metal. His work adds a nice deep, groovy layer to the work.
The album starts off in a manner described by the title of the first song, “High Velocity Impact Splatter.” At times this song seems particularly faster than most of the others and for an opening track, it certainly does its job of making listeners engaged with the material to follow.
“Sadistic Embodiment” was the first track premiered off of this album. Originally it feels underwhelming, but after repeated listens it certainly grows in quality. The chanted line of “SA-DIS-TIC… EM-BODI-MENT” is one that will stick with listeners long after the song ends.
The highlight of the album has to be “Kill or Become.” The song has a crushing, groovy main riff, the vocals have an excellent flow to them and of course there’s the chorus, which is as graphic as it is catchy. You may not believe so, but by the second or third time vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher shouts, “Fire up the chainsaws / Hack all their heads off,” or, “There’s no other way, you have to kill or become,” you’ll be growling along with him. That is if we’re assuming you’re like me, someone who will repeat a particularly brutal or catchy line on and off throughout the day.
While Cannibal Corpse may no longer be on the cutting edge of the genre it helped popularize, A Skeletal Domain is a testament to the band’s endurance and ability to keep things fresh.
