A godly album by death metal gods Cannibal Corpse, welcome to “Chaos Horrific”

How the mighty have risen, and continue to rise again and again. Death metal gods Cannibal Corpse have come back with their signature twisted sound and they keep confirming that the world needs brutal death metal to stay on track. “Chaos Horrific” is a title that you’d associate to the Buffalo, NY band without thinking twice, the artwork is a classic and grotesque display of blood and gore, and the track list doesn’t fail to provide with gut wrenching titles and shockingly brutal appellations.

There is so much admiration to lay on the music that you’re left wondering where to start. The riffs are so satisfying, they are so twisting and serpentine, yet brutal and efficient, and the incredible technique behind them is masked by that wall of sound that would make a layman think that’s a cluster of unintelligible noise, whereas the genius behind each succession of notes is immeasurable.

That doesn’t mean the album is lacking any heaviness. Rest assured, you have your dose of face smashing, suffocating chugs that have become a Cannibal Corpse signature on their more recent releases. And so, on the same line of reasoning as your “Scourge of Iron” and your “Code of the Slashers” you have your “Blood Blind” that perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the death metal classic tune “Hammer Smashed Face”; your face is smashed with a power surge of absurdly heavy and low tuned succession of mean riffs.

Should we address the incredibly greasy tone? The haunting, gurgling vocals? The heavily beaten drums? The thunderous bass? The (positively) overwhelming production that encases you in a concrete wall of sound? There is no need, as those elements all speak for themselves.

As the years go by, and more bands burst onto the scene, and even more acquire the “headliner” status, we often find ourselves debating what it takes to be up there, the elements to incorporate to your creation to make it reach wider audiences, and how flexible you should be bending to the industry’s liking, and by extension how much you should compromise to reach new heights. Meanwhile, Cannibal Corpse have been proving that the key is authenticity, staying true to themselves over the course of a three and a half decades long career, uncompromised and unbothered, and rather pushing the envelope further as each release is out, defining what metal should be, without preaching, but doing.

They initiated what brutal metal was supposed to be, and 35 years later, they are still showing how it should be done. Cannibal Corpse, we hail you!