Cannibal Corpse - The Wretched Spawn (Metal Blade Records/2004)
When I went to purchase this release, even the woman at the record
store
made a comment (malicious) about the cover of this CC release. It was
of
course of the Uncensored version. You can get this CD + DVD all in one
the
DVD is on the making of "The Wretched Spawn". It seems as though every
new
release CC has a more gory cover to send the public the message that
they
will never compromise their music genre/style whatsoever.
Unfortunately
this is the last release featuring Jack Owen on guitar who now is in
Deicide
to replace one of the Hoffman guitarists. Rob Barett (ex-Malevolent
Creation guitarist) has now replaced Jack Owen.
I think it's safe to say that "The Wretched Spawn" is the most
technical CC
release that I've heard. However, the songs are not as catchy as they
are
on "Butchered At Birth" which is my personal favorite album by CC. The
songs (lyrics & music) were written by most of the band members except
Corpsegrinder who just spewed forth the lyrics in mostly a low
bellowing end
with less screams then previous releases (such as "Gore Obsessed").
The lead guitar from Owen and O'brien were to me just average not
performed
on every track only a few or so. O'brien is more technical than Owen
in my
opinion. But both guitar players as well as Alex Webster wrote some
good
riffs. As I said, it's to me it's the most technical release by them
though
some tracks there were slower riffs which added more variety to the
album.
Overall, "The Wretched Spawn" is I would say in the top 3 of the best
CC
releases that I've heard (I have yet to hear "Kill" their newest
release).
Some tracks to check out are "Cyanide Assassin", "Psychotic Precision",
"The
Wretched Spawn" (title track) and "Nothing Left To Mutilate". It was a
good
idea to actually know more about the band with that DVD that it comes
with.
Gives you a better conglomeration as to how these guys make recordings
and
what all is involved. Pick up "The Wretched Spawn" if you are wishing
to
hear some good technical Death Metal!!!
Rate: 8.5/10.