Band:	Cannibal Corpse
Album:	Bloodthirst
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	October 19, 1999
Guest review by:	omne metallum

01. Pounded Into Dust
02. Dead Human Collection
03. Unleashing The Bloodthirsty
04. The Spine Splitter
05. Ecstacy In Decay
06. Raped By The Beast
07. Coffinfeeder
08. Hacksaw Decapitation
09. Blowtorch Slaughter
10. Sickening Metamorphosis
11. Condemned To Agony

Generic is probably the quickest way to sum up Bloodthirst; in the canon of Cannibal Corpse, it kind of just sits there, between records much better and worse than it is, gathering dust. Bloodthirst isn't a bad album per se, it's just one that doesn't have much of an identity of its own and does little to differentiate itself.

Hardcore fans of the band will enjoy Bloodthirst, as it is more of the same from the band; while they don't need to re-invent the wheel on every release (hell they'd done enough re-inventing metal during the Barnes era alone), I can't say many casual fans will find much on this release over other albums by the band.

Want a head-shattering bone-splintering serving of some of the most brutal death metal out there? Bloodthirst will tick that box; it does so by way of a more technical approach from Messrs Webster and O'Brien. Once your skull is smashed open and ripe for the album to imprint itself straight on your brain, Bloodthirst stumbles. Few songs are memorable enough or stand out sufficiently from each other to allow you to differentiate between them; albums like Kill or Wretched Spawn show this iteration of Cannibal Corpse are capable of doing this, they just fail to do so on this album.

Bloodthirst does have its merits; tracks like "Pounded Into Dust", "The Spine Splitter" and "Coffinfeeder" are solid doses of death metal, and the album as a whole is worthy of a spin every now and then. The band are still good at what they do, with the performances of each member being near flawless and no one dropping the ball; there is no glaring mistake to be found.

That said, for as good as those three tracks are, they are not some of the first tracks I would reach for if I want to listen to the band. As decent as they are, they lack the memorability of other songs in their arsenal. The same can be said of the band's performance; while no mistakes can be pointed out, they don't play much that would have me stop headbanging and focus on what they're playing. It lacks that moment that makes you sit up and really focus on what is being played.

The one element of this album that can be considered a big success is the production work of Richardson. Cannibal Corpse sound as full of life (irony) as before with each element of their style being coherent and powerful without sacrificing any of its impact. Transferring the sound of the band from old school to new school is something that could have gone horribly wrong, but Richardson does it perfectly.

Overall, Bloodthirst will satiate fans of the band who want more material from the band and casual fans won't be off put though, neither will they be enamored; it's just that Bloodthirst won't offer much in the way of knock-out drag-out classics for fans. Worth a listen for the converted, but I would recommend casual fans look elsewhere first before getting to this album; it's a great record but far from Cannibal Corpse's finest hour.