UMUR
"A Skeletal Domain" is the 13th full-length studio album by US, Florida based (originally from Buffalo, New York) death metal act Cannibal Corpse. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in September 2014. This time Cannibal Corpse opted to stay in Florida to record the album at Audiohammer Studios with producer Mark Lewis, instead of working with Erik Rutan again like they had on the three preceeding albums.
The change of studio and producer doesn´t affect the sound production much though as "A Skeletal Domain" more or less sounds like a typical brutal and heavy Cannibal Corpse album. The gory lyrical subjects are also in place, which is apparent by reading song titles like "High Velocity Impact Spatter", "Icepick Lobotomy" and "Bloodstained Cement". The cover artwork isn´t as gory as usual though and "A Skeletal Domain" is one of the few Cannibal Corpse albums, which doesn´t feature a "Parental Advisory" sticker concerning the artwork for the album.
The band´s relatively technical brand of brutal death metal is delivered with great energy and fierce conviction, and Cannibal Corpse as always makes sure to bludgeon your ears with a brutal assault. Fast paced guitars riffs, solid mid- to fast paced beats, and a brutal yet relatively intelligible growling vocal performance by George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher (and occasional higher pitched screaming vocals). Some of the riffs are very complex and definitely not written to be played by a novice, but the focus is on bringing out the most brutal sound imaginable but still within a relatively catchy context. Nothing has changed in that department as that has been Cannibal Corpse main objective since day one.
I did write catchy about the material in my description above, but while that is true to some extent, the variation and the memorability of the material are actually some of the major issues on "A Skeletal Domain". A couple of tracks into the album, the material starts to become difficult to tell apart, and a few more hooks, and maybe a guitar solo now and again, could definitely have helped the album feel more entertaining throughout. Cannibal Corpse has always been a completely uncompromising size though, and you got to respect that, wether or not a bit more variation probably could have made the overall listening experience a bit more satisfying. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.