UMUR "Tomb of the Mutilated" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US death metal act Cannibal Corpse. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in September 1992. After releasing two very successful and increasingly brutal death metal albums in "Eaten Back to Life (1990)" and "Butchered at Birth (1991)", the band opted to turn up the brutality factor one more notch on "Tomb of the Mutilated", making it one of the most savage and brutal death metal releases of it´s time. As it´s almost tradition with Cannibal Corpse albums, "Tomb of the Mutilated" of course features parental advisory explicit lyrics and artwork.

Featuring a sharp and clean, yet powerful and raw sound production courtesy of Scott Burns (one of his best IMO), "Tomb of the Mutilated" kicks off with a blast with "Hammer Smashed Face". It´s clear from the start that Cannibal Corpse intend to take no prisoners, turning up the brutality level and the technical playing from the first note. The playing is in fact very impressive on the album delivered with a sharp precision and great technical skill. Multible tempo changes within tracks and fast and razor sharp brutal riffing. So far, so good. The instrumental part of the album and the sound production are way above standard for the genre. Especially considering that this is an album from 1992. The songwriting could have been more varied but we are talking about brutal death metal here, so most listener´s understand the premise and will expect a limited range of stylistic elements and variation.

While the instrumental part of the music certainly is impressive, the completely unintelligible and processed growling vocals by Chris Barnes ruin a lot of my listening experience. Already by the end of the opening track "Hammer Smashed Face", monotony sets in because of the vocals. Of course some of the gore drenched song titles like "I Cum Blood", "Entrails Ripped From a Virgin's Cunt" and "Post Mortal Ejaculation" are a good laugh, but the music would have been so much more effectful if I was able to just grasp a single word here and there.

"Tomb of the Mutilated" is, besides the monotone growling vocals, a really great death metal album. I know a lot of people enjoy the album and even the vocals, so the vocals are definitely an aquired taste that will thrill some people and put others off. Personally I would have rated "Tomb of the Mutilated" with 4 stars (80%) if the vocals had been more varied, but as the album is now I´ll rate it 3 - 3.5 stars (65%).

J-Man Cannibal Corpse is a band that, in spite of their huge following and universal acclaim, has yet to really grab me as more than a fairly monotonous brutal death metal act. Although the talent of the musicians is unquestionable and their influence on future death metal bands is enormous, none of Cannibal Corpse's albums have yet to impress me beyond a mildly enjoyable casual listen. Tomb of the Mutilated, the band's third full-length album, sees the American death metal pioneers continuing down the heavy, technical, and brutal style of Butchered at Birth - this, along with possibly the most disturbing Cannibal Corpse lyrics to date, virtually guarantees that the band has churned up yet another brutal death metal classic. A classic it is indeed, but a rather flawed one in my opinion. The one-dimensional songwriting and indecipherable growling style means that monotony sets in fairly quickly, and even though it is an undisputed classic for fans of the genre, Tomb of the Mutilated misses the mark in my book.

One quick glance at the repulsive cover art (so repulsive that the album was banned outright in Germany and an alternate cover was also offered worldwide) makes it rather clear that Cannibal Corpse had no intent of slowing down after their first two incredibly brutal full-lengths. Lovely song titles like “I Cum Blood”, “Addicted to Vaginal Skin”, and “Entrails Ripped From a Virgin's Cunt” may even suggest that this album shows Cannibal Corpse in a more brutal mindset than ever before. No matter what, one thing remains painstakingly clear throughout all of Tomb of the Mutilated - this is brutal death metal with absolutely no frills whatsoever. For better or worse, the band blasts away at their instruments for the CD's entire duration, leaving very little breathing room for the listener. This one-dimensional approach can be quite entertaining for the length of the album, but unfortunately it doesn't leave much of an impression once it ends. I do like a lot of the riffs here (“Post Mortal Ejaculation” sports some particularly great riffage), but the reality is that I have a tough time picking more than a few of them out in the end - this is ultimately Tomb of the Mutilated's downfall, and even though the musicianship and production are both stellar, the end result comes across as fairly uneventful.

Just like its predecessors, Tomb of the Mutilated is not an album that I'll be revisiting too often, but it's still difficult to deny quality like this. Cannibal Corpse is a group of impeccable musicians, and Tomb of the Mutilated is actually quite original when you consider that it was released in 1992. This is one of the most brutal albums from its time period, and although it has lost a bit of its originality over twenty years of countless clone acts, Tomb of the Mutilated should be regarded as a seminal brutal death metal album. The fairly monotonous songwriting does little for me, but the sheer precision of the riffs and rapid-fire compositions secure at least a 3 star rating for this classic release. While I can think of plenty of brutal death metal albums worth hearing first, Tomb of the Mutilated is still mandatory listening for those who wish to understand the genre.