CANNIBAL CORPSE — The Wretched Spawn (review)

CANNIBAL CORPSE — The Wretched Spawn album cover Album · 2004 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"The Wretched Spawn" is the 9th full-length studio album by US death metal act Cannibal Corpse. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in February 2002. "The Wretched Spawn" features the same lineup who recorded the three previous studio albums. At this point the most stable lineup in the band´s career. It was however the last Cannibal Corpse album to feature founding member/guitarist Jack Owen (who after a short break in activities would join Deicide). "The Wretched Spawn" was recorded at Sonic Ranch Studios in Tornillo, Texas with producer Neil Kernon.

"The Wretched Spawn" pretty much continues down the same gore themed brutal death metal path as the path tread on "Gore Obsessed (2002)". Sharp precision playing, tempo changes, brutal growling yet intelligible vocals (and occassional higher pitched screams) and an emphasis on brutality that has always been a trademark of Cannibal Corpse.

The material are generally well written and tracks like "Severed Head Stoning" and "Blunt Force Castration" are incredibly powerful but there are one particular track on the album which needs a special mention. "Frantic Disembowelment" is a technical beast of a track, which all members of the band also comment on during the "Centuries of Torment: The First 20 Years (2008)" DVD. It´s a Pat O'Brien penned track, and his tracks are usually in the more demanding end of the Cannibal Corpse spectrum. This one is positively insane though. Ultra fast technical riffs, blast beats, and fast rhythmic vocal lines. But as Alex Webster exlains on the documentary, Cannibal Corpse never deliberately wrote technically demanding music, but if technical riffing helps make a track more brutal and punishing, they have no problem including them.

"The Wretched Spawn" features a powerful professional sound production, which suits the music well. A bit more grit probably wouldn´t have hurt, but that´s always an aquired taste and objectively seen it´s a strong production. Overall "The Wretched Spawn" is another strong death metal release by Cannibal Corpse. Some tracks could have been more memorable, and as a result of the band focusing as much on brutality as they do, their music has a tendency to become a bit one-dimensional over the course of a full album, but a 3.5 star (70%) rating is fully deserved.
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Kingcrimsonprog wrote:
more than 2 years ago
My number one, two and three favourite Cannibal' songs ever are on this one. 'Decency Deified,' 'Nothing Left To Mutilate' and the title track.
siLLy puPPy wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Yeah, i find the totally shocking album covers to be more memorable than their actually music but i can't say i don't love it when it's playing :)

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