Opening salvo “Overlords of Violence” checks off the overt nature of the band’s particular brand of bludgeoning, allowing for vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher to lead his murderous charge right through your aural canal. The manic riffing from the appropriately titled “Frenzied Feeding” is both speedy and crunchy allowing for them to change up the sound of their weaponry before launching into a grotesque groove about halfway through.
Meat and potatoes death metal is a wonderful thing, but occasionally, some added flavor makes its way in there and you are more thankful for it. “Blood Blind” features a solid combination of guitar soloing as well as a slowed death march that eventually envelops you before your demise; in a live setting this is the kind of slowed slaughter that will wreck necks.
The album’s title track is a barn burner, one that unleashes plenty of the potential of Rutan and fellow guitarist Rob Barrett who open the song with dueling flamethrowers wielding them on full blast before Corpsegrinder enters and things begin to groove. Then it all circles back the way of insanity which is signaled by drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz. This really makes for the perfect title track for this record.
When you are Cannibal Corpse, subtlety escapes you say when you write a song called “Pitchfork Impalement” a quick hit of adrenaline that completely incinerates all who oppose it, sometimes we just like to have the violence cherry-picked for us.
Longtime fans of Cannibal Corpse will feel right at home with Chaos Horrific, an album that is so unabashedly death metal that could serve as a modern-day primer by these forebearers of the genre. Corpsegrinder and crew have delivered another quality record of sanguine slaughter, well worthy of the Corpse name. These boys aren’t stopping any time soon.
(released September 19, 2023 on Metal Blade Records)
