Metal Underground.com

What can I say about a new Cannibal Corpse album that you don’t already know? You know that the George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher’s vocals are going to punch you in gut and he’ll belt a scream or two. Both Pat O’Brien and Rob Barrett will continue to push death metal riffing to extremes that haven’t been tried before. Alex Webster will still reign as the MVP of extreme low end and Paul Mazurkiewicz will continue to be the click track for all extreme metal drummers.

I’m not going to re-invent the wheel reviewing “Red Before Black,” so I’m going to get straight to the point on what you can expect and/or what’s different from previous Cannibal Corpse albums. I would have to say this album is closer to “A Skeletal Domain” than for example, “Kill.” “Red Before Black” is hooky in its own ways but there’s a lot more “technical” involved, meaning there are more time changes and less groove. You’re not listening to Cannibal Corpse to bob your head slowly anyways, you’re listening to them to psyche yourself out to kick someone’s ass.

Part of the lore of any new Cannibal Corpse album is what sort of gory mess is going to be on the cover and how offensive are the song titles going to be? I’m giving “Red Before Black” a “C” grade on this. Unfortunately, the song titles have a rated PG-13 feel to them and the cover is well, it’s ok…it’s just not shock your grandmother into a heart attack worthy of a higher grade.
As with most Cannibal Corpse albums, they don’t skimp on the amount of death metal they dish out per release. With there being twelve tracks in total, if I had to pick one that would be my favorite, it would have to be “Scavenger Consuming Death.” This is the track where you envision “Corpsegrinder” whipping the pit into a frenzy with his signature windmills while the rest of the band demonstrate why they are the elite of all of Death Metal.

Again, I don’t feel like I’ve trail blazed anything new with this review. I did what I set out to do and at this point, it’s now up to you to either download, buy or steal “Red Before Black” and enjoy the fuck out of this fine death metal album.