Long-running band Cannibal Corpse is back with their twelfth disc, Torture (released March 13th on Metal Blade). This new twelve track disc combines the raw thrash of the band’s early works with the technical precision of the band’s later works and complements this with clear production from (Hate Eternal/x-Morbid Angel) Erik Rutan. This new disc is the band’s third with Rutan and it follows in a similar musical vein as Kill (2006) and Evisceration Plague (2009).

Torture is everything that you would expect from a Cannibal Corpse disc – brutal riffs and technical solos, throat-shredding guttural vocals and pounding blast beats. To mix things up, the band slows down on a couple of numbers (“Scourge of Iron” and “Sarcophagic Frenzy”) for some down-tuned, slow burning dirge. Rutan’s clean production gives the band’s music an ‘accessibility’ that really wasn’t heard on previous discs as each song has room to breathe and stand on its own. The production also highlights the band’s maturing songwriting and brings out the razor-tight interplay between the members. In an interview with ThisIsNotAScene, guitarist Rob Barrett said “we have got to a point where the chemistry has developed to its best point, now we’re all writing songs to a point where we’re keeping each individual in mind, as opposed to before where perhaps we were writing whatever we wanted to play and weren’t really keeping into consideration what anyone else was going to play”.

Some of the standout tracks are the Barrett-penned “Sarcophagic Frenzy”, “The Strangulation Chair”, which has a killer bass solo from Alex Webster and “Intestinal Crank”, with its chugging bass and tightly integrated start/stop riffs.



With track names like “As Deep as the Knife Will Go” and “Followed Home Then Killed”, one can see that Cannibal Corpse’s lyrics continue in the same horror/gore vein as past releases (…as if anyone would have expected differently). Going back to the This IsNotAScene interview, Rob Barrett said “When we were thinking about potential album titles and ended up agreeing on the ‘Torture’ title that pretty much gave us a focus of what we were going to write all the lyrics about, each song deals with some sort of form of different torture.” Adding to the overall experience is a return to the horror/gore art of the band’s early days with carefully packaged gruesome album cover by artist Vince Locke.

Cannibal Corpse Tour Dates
Apr 05 - Jacksonville Beach, FL, Freebird Live
Apr 08 - Huntington, WV, V Club
Apr 13 - Rochester, NY, Club @ Water Street
Apr 14 - Cincinnati, OH, Bogart's
Apr 15 - Phoenix, AZ, Rhythm Room
Apr 16 - Des Moines, IA, People's Court
Apr 21 - Grand Junction, CO, Mesa Theater
Apr 25 - Houston, TX, Jake's
Apr 27 - Columbia, MO, The Blue Note
Apr 28 - Oklahoma City, OK, Diamond Ballroom
Apr 30 - Nashville, TN, Exit/In
May 01 - Birmingham, AL, Zydeco (Upstairs)
May 02 - Pensacola, FL, Vinyl Music Hall
May 03 - Gainesville, FL, Double Down Live

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Cannibal Corpse