Review by chrisc7249 on January 8, 2023.

Opinions are a beautiful thing, aren't they? When I first got into extreme metal, Cannibal Corpse being my first extreme metal band, it wasn't long before I discovered my new home - Metal Archives. And thus, I became obsessed with finding new bands, reading lyrics, looking at album covers, seeing the Similar Artists section for what I might like, and of course… reading the reviews. So, when I learned that Cannibal Corpse's first album with George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher was far and away the worst rated album they've released, I steered clear of this album as much as possible. After all, albums like "St. Anger," "Illud Diluvium Insanum" and this one must have low scores for a reason, right…?

WRONG.

This album kicks so much fucking ass! It took some time for it to settle in with me, but man, oh man, this is easily my favorite Cannibal Corpse album, blowing all of the Barnes-era albums out of the water, and every Fisher album to come after this pales in comparison. This is, without a doubt, the apex of their career. The songwriting, the production, the riffs, the motherfucking vocals! Everything about this entire album is what I love about death metal, and the more I listen to it, the better it seems to age.

Following the departure of legendary douchebag (but very talented death metal vocalist) Chris Barnes, we are greeted with a new vocalist, one that's much more talented and whose voice has aged much, much better than Barnes, the infamous Corpsegrinder. Plucked from Monstrosity and injected into the visceral hatred that is Cannibal Corpse, these 5 lads went on to create a vicious onslaught of ravenous death metal for decades to come. From the opening moments of "Devoured by Vermin," completed with the epic opening scream that's now become infamous in the scene, it's quite obvious that the next 37 minutes of your life are going to be filled with a relentless pummeling of death metal perfection.

There's very few wasted riffs on this album, if any at all… the major complaint I've seen from this album is that they all sound the same; I couldn't disagree more. Plenty of the riffs on here are unique, powerful and ultimately devastating. The crushing one in the middle of "Mummified in Barbed Wire" where Fisher screams "Steel wraps your face / Blood soaks the steel / Bound in wire, soon to die / Life choked out, bleed to death!" is one of the most infectious moments in metal history PERIOD. That part alone is enough to give this album 2 points out of 10, even if the rest was just bullshit trap hip hop ""music.""

The rest of the songs are filled with bludgeoning riffs pulled straight from the depths of hell. "Perverse Suffering," "Disfigured," "Absolute Hatred," "Eaten from Inside," and my personal favorite, "Orgasm Through Torture" are littered with some of the most intense and brutal riffs in death metal history. "Orgasm Through Torture" is just an all around infectious song that has me coming back for more time and time again, and just seems to get heavier as I listen to it more.

And George… oh, George. How could anyone prefer Chris Barnes over you? Corpsegrinder sounds like the angriest, most spiteful, disgusted creature of all time getting endlessly tortured throughout the entire record. This dude's a fucking maniac! His screeches are unparalleled, his flow and delivery is bombastic and the amount of energy he brings to the record is unmatched. I love Barnes just as much as the next death metal fan, but when comparing the two, there's no comparison… Barnes is a top 50 death metal vocalist of all time, whereas Corpsegrinder is an easy top 10. Add on top of all this, a PRISTINE production job where everything is clear, punchy and gut wrenching, and you have yourself one of the greatest death metal records ever made.

So, yeah, this album has taught me something special; for as much as I respect and appreciate everyone posting reviews on this website to give their opinions on various metal albums across the history of the genre, you also have to take it with a grain of salt. I could have easily brushed this album to the side and listened to the reviewers who claimed this is their weakest album. No way! I could listen to this album again and again, and it seriously is one of my favorite metal albums ever… no Cannibal Corpse album can compare. Here's to the era of Corpsegrinder!

Rating: 10 out of 10