I'll come right out and tell you why it has taken me so long to knock this review out. I have nothing to say about 2014's A Skeletal Domain. We were riding high a mere two years after Torture, an apogee in the band's pilgrimage. It never occurred to me that the next Cannibal Corpse record would be underwhelming in any way, shape, or form. And that's taking Evisceration Plague into consideration. I was already disgruntled by a CC crusade. The odds of my favorite extreme metal band releasing another perceived misfire so soon after the last one were conscientiously low. Besides, Torture was a walloping bundle of badass. What could go wrong???
Not much could go wrong on a palpable, outward level. It was impossible for this group of musicians to mint and mold a culvert as stunted as Lulu or Cold Lake. I knew that kind of splashdown was out of the question. No, if Domain was going to fail my sniff test, it was going to be because of weird, seemingly trivial bullshit that didn't faze other fans. Love it or leave it, that's the stage of myopia (or "nerdy near-sightedness," as I like to call it) that I have reached as a dedicated CC listener. In short, these songs sound very, very similar to pre-existing songs. I can't point to specific riffs or phrases that have been rehashed; I'm talking about a general feeling of sameness. These are not fresh donuts!
I can only compare it to how I responded to Plague. I wasn't a happy camper there either, but at the very least, that was a set of material with its own garland, its own striations. Domain doesn't lay claim to virtues unique to itself. What differentiates "Vector of Cruelty" from a deep cut on Kill or Plague? It's a competent CC strangler, but it's also safe. This was their fourth consecutive album with the same line-up, which may have contributed to the cozy vibe in the studio. I was ready to admonish the producer, but nope. Erik Rutan is absolved. Off the hook! Fancy-free! Mark Lewis manned the knobs and...um, yeah. He did his job well.
Many of the cuts in the middle of the pack blend into one another. Again, identity is the issue, and while "The Murderer's Pact" does drive a glottal, sabulous riff down your windpipe, it lacks identity. Huh, I think that Glottal Sabulous was the name of the guy who tried to steal my father's identity overseas. Anyway, I dig a handful of tracks. "Kill or Become" is too catchy to be denied. "Icepick Lobotomy" crawls along as if it were slithering behind you and making designs on your exposed flesh. "Bloodstained Cement" is just cool. See, I don't hate this record.
Unfortunately, I don't find it terribly appealing. I gave it a few open-minded spins during the gestation period of this review and I actively tried to get into it, but all blood tests came back positive. Or negative. I'm not...I'm not sure how to cement that metaphor. Hopefully, you didn't start with this paragraph.
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