Cannibal Corpse

Evisceration Plague

[4/5]

A glance over the tracklisting on the new Cannibal Corpse album is enough to make any longtime fan wonder, “Have these legendary death metallers gone soft? Where’s the new ‘I Cum Blood’ or ‘Entrails Ripped From A Virgin’s Cunt’?” Fortunately, the music is as uncompromisingly brutal as ever; vocalist George Fisher long ago banished the ghost of former frontman Chris Barnes, and his performance (particularly on the sludgy title track and the gloriously repulsive “Carnivorous Swarm”) is as intensely brilliant as anything on previous releases. The rest of the band are as tight as all hell-even if they don’t seem to be stretching themselves anymore. Cannibal Corpse have learned their songs don’t need gross-out titles to keep their gore-hungry fans happy. So, no, they haven’t gone soft, though this corpse remains rotten. (METAL BLADE; metalblade.com) Brett Callwood