15 Year Killing Spree

by

Cannibal Corpse

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I'm so tired of these morons writing reviews about bands that they haven't spent 1 second listening to and simply feel like bashing for no real reason. For an amusing experience, the next time you see a review by one of these jokers, click on their link and look at the other CDs they've reviewed. Two examples -- on the page for the Cannibal Corpse box set we have "Asephilocity" who has said that Tenacious D is a "masterpiece" and The Sickness by Disturbed is an "exceptional piece of work". His apparent colleague, "mazaro", ponders the mind-bending question about Korn "How could I not give this 5 stars?", and about Insane Clown Posse he boldly states "I love ICP". Our friend "mazaro" also states that Cannibal Corpse "isn't death metal", a statement obviously reinforced by his brutal death-metal background. If growling vocals, brutal low-end guitar riffs, unrelenting double-bass drums, and gore-filled lyrics do not make a band death metal, then these death-metal experts are welcome to tell us all what death-metal is. Why are these chronic oxygen-wasters reviewing Cannibal Corpse CDs? The band obviously must offend their gentle Christian sensibilities, which as we all know shouldn't ever be tampered with. Clearly their moms and dads have sternly forbidden that them from venturing into the death metal aisle at their local music retailer, a warning to which they have no doubt strictly adhered.

As for me, I have not even purchased the Corpse box set -- I am saving my money for the Feb. 04 release of their new CD, "The Wretched Spawn". The track listing indicate that this set is clearly an all-encompassing overview of their entire musical catalog up to and through Gore Obsessed. Cannibal Corpse remain one of the best death metal bands around. Fans and metal critics agree that the band are excellent at what they do, esp. the guitarists & drummer (who, contrary to what some chowder-head thinks, had never lost time).

Nu-metal fans, stay the f*** away from reviewing Cannibal Corpse. Save your limited vocabulary for the new Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit albums. Perhaps there you will find another "exceptional" piece of work.

Cannibal Corpse's albums have always intrigued me, I'm not sure why. The covers are usually so wretched and offensive it just makes me go "cool!" Anyway, in their latest offering box set they give fans something to collect and hold dear for a long time to come. They really didn't cheap out on the stuff either. On top of 3 CD's of greatest hits and unreleased material we also get a bonus DVD of a few different shows, including the first one they ever played. Then comes the poster, guitar pick, Unleash the Bloodthirsty comic and a big 24 page booklet with band photos and biography. You get you money's worth in terms of items, the music itself is another thing.

One of the cool things about this was being able to compare the bands career with their old vocalist Chris Barnes and new vocalist George Fisher. After all the debate whether which one is actually better, my feeling is that niether is better then the other, they both have good points and bad points. Everyone talks about how amazing Barnes' death growl was but it was only good during the middle of their career with him, during the Tomb of the Mutilated era really. Before that he had a lot more of a death scream (not growl) and after that he tried to sing so his vocals would be more decipherable but that really made it very weak in my opinion, the brutality was gone by The Bleeding album.

George Fisher is a lot more diverse in vocal range, his screams are fierce and piercing, his growl is brutal and quick at the same time a lot more dechipherable then Barnes'. Their new material with him became more technical, more song oriented; there were verses, chorus' and solo's. Barnes' work was cool but had less memorable songs.

I really only enjoyed the last part of the first CD (the good Barnes era), the first part of the 2nd CD (the Fisher era) and the DVD. Actually, the DVD was GREAT. Lots of backstage stuff and hanging out with the band outside of studio or concert time. The concert footage was awesome also, seeing both George and Chris play shows. The DVD alone was worth the money. The unreleased stuff (3rd CD) wasn't that interesting. Another reason to get into Cannibal Corpse is for the musicians alone. Alex Webster is one of the greatest bassists I've ever heard, and the guitar players kill their fingers with some of the most complex brutal riffs in death metal.

So if you're a corpse fan, you MUST own this, just for the DVD alone even. if you're just getting into this band and have heard some of their stuff you should pick this one up because all their best songs are on it. Sure some songs sound the same and are pretty lame, but some others give you that needed fix of brutality as you've never heard it. I'm happy I got it.