Months of eager anticipation for Cannibal Corpse's 12th album "Torture" have been proven righteously justified as Cannibal Corpse have crafted a dynamic, album of not only pummeling, head banging death metal, but of actual songs that stand out in a scene that has forgotten what makes bands great and memorable...Great songs.
The album begins with the blazing "Demented Agression," featuring some super quickly annunciated gutterals by George "corpsegrinder" Fisher The track never truly relents from start to finish and serves as a nice juxtaposition to the slower(compared to "Demented Agression") "Sarcophagic Frenzy," one of the strongest tracks on the album(in my humble opinion). Along with the first Alex Webster penned track on the album "Scourge of Iron," these first three songs effectively set the tone for the entire album for a couple of reasons.
1. On "Torture," Cannibal Corpse does not stay in one mindset for long at all, outside of a few exceptions, most tracks feature both slower and faster sections which really accentuated the dynamic quality that the entire album seemed to possess. Every track on this album is a song not just a technical exercise(It's plenty technical though too, this is CC after all). In a genre that is too often dismissed as a rapid procession of noodly guitars and blast beats and it's always great when a band actually writes some hooks in their death metal, especially when they can write them as well as Cannibal Corpse.
2. Alex Webster(God, period.) seems to have taken a backseat on this album. Now let me clarify this a little bit. Webster still wrote five of the twelve songs featured on this album including some of the finer tracks on the album("Scourge of Iron," "Intestinal Crank," and "Crucifier Avenged.") but maybe it isn't so much Webster has taken a backseat as the other members have truly stepped up their game. Songs like "As Deep as the Knife Will Go," and "Followed Home Then Killed," are pure head banging genius and are sure to please the fans at the upcoming shows(Birmingham Al, May 1st, Pensacola, Fl May 2nd, BE THERE!) "Torn Through" and the Rob Barret Penned track "Sarcophagic Frenzy" are even further examples of the truly fantastic crop of tunes that Rob Barret, Pat O' Brien, and Paul Mazurkiewicz have provided for this album.
3.Tempo change is very common throughout the entire album and keeps the album from ever feeling boring. The only time the album seemed to take make an errant left turn is a brief 5-7 second bass diddle(that is awesome no doubt) in "Strangulation Chair" that seems a little out of place and kind of interupts the flow of what is a great track.
4. The production on this album is superb. Eric Rutan who also produced other the modern classics from Cannibal Corspe, "Kill" and "Evisceration Plague," has outdone himself once again. Few albums in this genre can I ever describe as clean, but this is just a testament to the clarity and crispness that you can hear throughout the whole album. Not even the most intensely note heavy sections become muddled, every note is clear to discern. Erik Rutan needs to become the unofficial Cannibal Corpse producer for life.
There really isn't a bad song on this entire album. From start to finish "Torture" is alot of fun to listen to(And I'm sure itll be just as fun to mosh and head bang live to!)and further cements Cannibal Corpse's place at the top level of the death metal heap.
Only one question, "Where you at George?" Don't get me wrong, Mr. Fisher sounds great on this album, but is he ever going to create anything lyrically again(It's been since "vile" and "Gallery of Suicide" since we've seen any significant input from him)? Then again, if the albums that Cannibal Corpse puts out in the future are as good as "Torture"then he really doesn't need to.
9.0/10(GO BUY THIS ONE, support death metal and get some wicked tunes in the process)
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