I have reached the first capstone in Cannibal Corpse's demented delectus. It's a significant juncture in their career. Most fans will tell you that 1992's Tomb of the Mutilated is the finest work bestowed upon our butcher blocks, the epitome of early 90's death metal, the crackerjack quintessence of kindergarten cunt carnage. Okay, that's a bit far, but have you noticed the review material? Going too far is a central theme. I don't know that Chris Barnes was actively trying to shock rustic homemakers with his lyrics for "Necropedophile" or "Entrails Ripped From a Virgin's Cunt," but regardless of intent, they fucking shocked people. Oh, to be a fly on the wall when Chris brought this stuff into rehearsal.
I won't belabor the point, but it's hard not to address the controversy associated with this album. It's an elephant in the room...raping a dead kid. Bad elephant! I remember reading the lyrics as a teenager. It was the late 90's, so I read them online. Hopefully, that won't subtract too many points from my Metal Cred Score (MCS). So I'm sitting in front of my boxy mainframe, praying to God (I wasn't completely evil yet) that my mother wouldn't walk in and catch sight of these ghastly descriptions of ghastlier actions. I couldn't believe the words on my monitor. It wasn't "safe" bringing a CC record into the house until my senior year in high school. Even then, it was the relatively tame Bloodthirst.
Should I discuss the music itself? Really? Fuck, I'll pack a lunch. This killer opens with the group's breakout hit. I mean, it wasn't a crossover smash, but it was featured in 1994's Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. I wonder how many CC disciples were turned onto them by the white guy from In Living Color. I was a mere scamp, but I distinctly recall my cousin playing "Hammer Smashed Face" in his bedroom. We thought it was funny. Honestly, I was too young to have a critical opinion on death metal. As of right now, I rate it highly. "I Cum Blood" is the abutting jam, and blessed Mary, this has got to be one of the heaviest songs of all time.
Abrupt paragraph break! Sorry if you experienced wormlash (a.k.a. bookworm whiplash). The shifting of time signatures, the deviations in tempo, the heaving riffs...all of it is arranged to achieve optimal brutality. Hey, deathcore dweebs. "I Cum Blood." That's it. That's the song you've been trying to write for fifteen years. Did I need to bully a niche of the metalhead community? No, and in fact, I feel petty and immature. But goddamn it, that speaks to the sheer ferocity of Tomb. It made me dumber! It will probably make you dumber, but that's not a reason to keep it at sickle's length.
After Ed Gein shares diet tips with the listener, the staggered pulse of "Addicted to Vaginal Skin" thumps your speakers. I dig the stop-start sequences of "Split Wide Open." Didn't The Dixie Chicks cover that tune? Surprisingly, "Necropedophile" is a pedestrian track, at least in comparison to the rest of Tomb. Closer "Beyond the Cemetery" sends the pit home happy with a mid-paced stomp that my neck is still feeling. The songwriting has improved since Butchered at Birth, and as players, CC are beginning to dip their toes into the glamorous waters of technicality. The vocals suck.
I'm jerking your chain, you gullible twerp! I'm going to fuck your sister and bu--wow, sorry. Apparently, I enjoy bullying. Huh, who knew? It's clear that the vocals DO NOT suck. This is prime Chris Barnes. His growls are smoother and deeper than ever before. Tomb of the Mutilated also contains his best high-pitched screams. Just my opinion, but if you scope out every recording that Monsieur Barnes appears on, these screams sound - I'm not proud of holding this position - the least like Monsieur Barnes. Less than a decade later, he was employing his cracked "pig witch" screech. By the way, if there isn't a stoner band named Pig Witch (I will also accept Witch Pig), I'll lick my own scrotum.
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