UMUR
"The Bleeding" is the 4th full-length studio album by US death metal act Cannibal Corpse. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in April 1994. It´s the first album to feature Rob Barrett (guitars) and the last to feature lead vocalist Chris Barnes. The former came from his first stint with Malevolent Creation (a band he would later rejoin, and leave again to rejoin Cannibal Corpse) while the latter would leave (was fired) to concentrate fully on his then side-project Six Feet Under.
Cannibal Corpse experienced great success with "Tomb of the Mutilated (1992)" but "The Bleeding" is quite a different sounding album. While the music on the album is umistakably the sound of Cannibal Corpse, "The Bleeding" features a more organic sound production than the more clinical sound production of it´s predecessor but the major difference is heard in the vocal department. Chris Barnes growling vocals are almost completely intelligible this time around and that certainly wasn´t the case on neither "Tomb of the Mutilated (1992)" nor on "Butchered at Birth (1991)", where Barnes vocals were unintelligible and as a consequence of that also pretty one-dimensional and monotone. Chris Barnes is positively on fire on "The Bleeding" delivering an intense growling vocal performance spiced up with some higher pitched screams. It´s probably the most convincing vocal performance of his career.
The music on the album is slightly more groovy and lower paced than the music on most other albums by Cannibal Corpse but it´s only a plus if you ask me. It makes for a relatively diverse listen yet still within the concept of the band´s signature sound. The lyrics and general imagery of the band haven´t changed one bit though, which is more than emphasised by song titles like "Fucked with a Knife", "Stripped, Raped and Strangled" and "Force Fed Broken Glass".
While I generally enjoy Cannibal Corpse music it´s seldom my attention doesn´t wander a couple of times during most of their albums. With music this brutal it´s almost inevitable that monotony doesn´t set in at some point during an album´s playing time. "The Bleeding" is one of the exceptions in the band´s discography though and I find myself entertained and fully focused on the music for the duration of the 36:51 minutes long album. Razor sharp riffs, precision drumming, brutal and organic sound production, and a Chris Barnes who has never sounded better. "The Bleeding" is a quality release deserving a 4 - 4.5 star (85%) rating.