Corpsegrinder - Corpsegrinder (Album Review)
Corpsegrinder - Corpsegrinder
Released: February 25, 2022
Lineup:
George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher | vocals
Charlie Bellmore | guitar, bass
Nick Bellmore | drums
Online:
Official Website
Instagram
Twitter
If you’re after a harmonious stroll through the fields of transcendent thought on your lifelong journey to serene oneness then you’re about 666 apocalyptic miles in the wrong fucking direction mate.
Because this, my very lost friend, is so far from the gentle venture you thought you’d embarked upon. It’s not even on the Highway to Hell. You’re on a side road to hell, a dirt track riddled with the bones of lost travellers, with chattering teeth torn from the faces of the innocent and the grabbing arms of dismembered zombies dragging you screaming through festered towns that make Deliverance look like Disneyland. Are you ready? The fuck you are.
Opening track ‘Acid Vat’ sees George’s Cannibal Corpse bandmate Eric Rutan jump on board and there ain’t no spiders getting fucked here. There’s no gentle intro, no subtle build, you’re thrown straight in the shit, face first, eyes pried open Clockwork Orange style with your arms and legs bound to your spine with rusty barbed wire. It’s its fun as it is intense. Just try and wipe the smile off your face.
‘Bottom Feeder’ jumps in and it’s an old fashioned beat down. No bells or whistles here. Just straight in, straight out, hard and fast death metal. Great if you’re out to flog your neck to within an inch of never walking again. ‘On Wings Of Carnage’ is a mid tempo thumper that will batter its way out from the centre of your soul and should have you head banging like it’s 1985. George roars, ‘On wings of carnage taken back through time. Emerging where the battle rages”. If only he’d go back in time to flog the gronk that went on to eat bat soup and set the world back to mosh pit normality, that’d be lovely.
‘All Souls Get Torn’ is a maelstrom of layered fury designed from the ground up to see people get hurt. If you’re a first time mosh pit visitor or still violently unfit from spending two years of lockdown face-first in a fridge, then get the fuck out of the way when this bastard comes on. Not even joking. Seconds into this circle-pit conjuring song coming on, you’ll instinctively break out into a curved sprint, just as the giant head-case that spent the same two years in the weight room comes raging in behind you and sends you flying back in time to when you could still walk up a flight of stairs without sucking wind up your arse. Maybe you like the feeling of having your throat stomped on after all. If so, then ‘Death is the Only Key’ will tickle your little fancy. Don’t say you weren’t warned either dickhead. If Corpsegrinder yelling out “IT’S YOUR FUNERAL” isn’t a call to arms, daring you to charge nonchalantly into a group of flailing metal fans, then I’m not here. Put this on at the gym you’ve been dodging and try not pick up every weight in that mirrored den of insta selfie bandits. Go on. I dare ya.
The intro to ‘Crimson Proof’ has me thinking that someone was listening to a bit of System of a Down for about three seconds, before ol big neck screams ‘BRING ON THE BLOODSHED”. Then it’s a straight up flog fest, sounding a lot like turn of the century Slayer and there’s nothing fucking wrong with that. ‘Devourer of Souls’ is the closest you’re going to get to a campsite singalong on this album. Having said that, there’s no fire, just you lost in the woods and some bloke in a hockey mask is right behind you with a machete just waiting for you to turn around and scream. This is a hooky, head banging screamer that’s got a genuine Hatebreed feel to it and George’s cadence on this one is straight out of the Jamey Jasta handbook. Its groovy as fuck though and a frontrunner for my fave song on the album. Killer. The Jasta influence kicks on with ‘Defined by Your Demise’ and much like the bulk of this album, is a straight blend of death, thrash and hardcore that feels much like I’m getting pointed at whilst being yelled at from three feet away. This seems to me like the least challenging song of the album for Charlie and Nick Bellmore, who have throughout this album, kicked an immeasurable amount of arse. I’ll definitely be going into a deep dive after this to suss out more of their work, specifically with the Dee Snider solo trip and Toxic Holocaust.
‘Masters of the Longest Night’ is for me the nearest you’ll get to a pure black metal song from this lot. It still has a mile of the same sound aesthetic as everything else on this album, but there’s enough of a change up in structure that makes this seem less like you’re flogging your skull in with this more measured approach. Still, this is close to the heaviest tune you’ll get on this endeavour and a great lead in to the big closer. ‘Vaguely Human’ is an absolute belter. Unrelenting from the start and the bass line through the guts of it gives me chills. If this song doesn’t light a fire under your arse then I can’t help you mate. A perfect finisher to a killer album and don’t be afraid to put the whole album on repeat.
Now is there any surprise as to how this album sounds? Of course not. I mean, what were you expecting from a lad named Corpsegrinder? Clean vocals, glam metal, synth pop, a ballad, Jim Morrison riding a snake while spitting lines of stylised poetry overlayed with avant instrumentals and a ride over the rainbow on a unicorn? Of course not. This is one of the most iconic death metal singers of the last twenty plus years doing what he does best. I love Cannibal Corpse and him in it, but it’s no surprise to me that he’s out finding his own voice, since the last writing credit he received with CC was back in 1998 with the song ‘Disposal of the Body' off of the Gallery of Suicide album.
There’s no denying Jasta’s influence on this album. Every song on this bad boy is built to be played live and there is zero filler to be found anywhere. There’s acres of opportunities for the lunatics in the pit to sing along whilst doing their best to socially distance themselves straight into each another. It’s hardly the sort of album you sit down and relax to. She’s a stand up, knock down animal that is still more fun than watching video’s of shirtless ice junkies yell at a train door. Now we just have to play the waiting game and get these legends into Australia and back onstage. But not before I do a few thousand sit ups. #respecttheneck
Corpsegrinder – Corpsegrinder tracklisting:
1. Acid Vat (feat. Erik Rutan)
2. Bottom Dweller
3. On Wings of Carnage
4. All Souls Get Torn
5. Death Is the Only Key
6. Crimson Proof
7. Devourer of Souls
8. Defined by Your Demise
9. Master of the Longest Night
10. Vaguely Human
Rating: 8.666/10
Corpsegrinder is out Friday through Perseverance Music Group. Pre-order here
Review by Duane James @duanejames666
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