Band:	Cannibal Corpse
Album:	Violence Unimagined
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	April 16, 2021
A review by:	omne metallum

01. Murderous Rampage
02. Necrogenic Resurrection
03. Inhumane Harvest
04. Condemnation Contagion
05. Surround, Kill, Devour
06. Ritual Annihilation
07. Follow The Blood
08. Bound And Burned
09. Slowly Sawn
10. Overtorture
11. Cerements Of The Flayed

I mean, its not like you've provided listeners with fourteen albums' worth of imagination fuel up to this point or anything.

Where do Cannibal Corpse find themselves in 2021? An ever-constant in a world of flux, true to their roots throughout and a bastion of death metal, Cannibal Corpse are probably the band you think of when someone asks for an example of the genre. While their reputation certainly precedes them, Cannibal Corpse have long found themselves to be an act that stays true to a fault, leading to new albums being fun but predictable. With that said, while the band stick to their lane, Cannibal Corpse ensure that Violence Unimagined tops the quality of their previous work. Sure, this comes with the caveat of referring to their modern material and not their classic work, but that is still a high bar anyway, and one that is fun to see the band leap over.

The recruitment of Erik Rutan has led to a rush of fresh blood to the, er, corpse. The razor-sharp guitar work on tracks like "Condemnation Contagion" will flay your skin. "Follow The Blood" hooks you in with its death-come-doom riff and ensures there is no mid-album lull to be found. Fitting in amongst the familiar faces, Rutan gives new perspective for listeners that provides Violence Unimagined with the best of both worlds, an album that is a chip off the old block but one that doesn't seem like just another Cannibal Corpse album.

Added to this are "Surround, Kill, Devour" and "Ritual Annihilation", two tracks that remind you that while the blueprint may be a bit worn and faded fifteen albums in, it is one that can and still does provide for moments of gory glory. The rest of the album may not be as vital as these four tracks, but they manage to stay a few levels above the filler that has blighted recent output by the band; "Overtorture" may only be regarded as an album track, but it has a reason for inclusion beyond mere padding, being entertaining in its own right.

The rest of the band do not rest on their laurels performance-wise. Corpsegrinder seemingly hasn't aged at all and is still as hoarse and sharp as he was way back in 1996; while he is still singing the same anthems of horror-inspired terror, he sounds just as fired up singing them now as he did on Vile. Barret's ability to form a solid guitar tandem with the aforementioned Rutan is perhaps the secret weapon here, with Barret providing the traditional sound that Rutan works around, such as on the opening "Murderous Rampage". It is perhaps because of the frenetic and attention-grabbing guitar work that Alex Webster takes more of a back seat than usual with his bass; although he is still high in the mix, he isn't given as prominent a spot as he usually is. While it doesn't derail the album, given the quality he has at his hand(s), you think the band would continue to highlight him.

Violence Unimagined suffers from a lot of the same problems many of the later Cannibal Corpse albums are also afflicted with, that being they confine themselves to a narrow sound. Even with the fresh impetus Rutan provides, it isn't enough to breathe life into the body fully, and the album does sound all too familiar when the quality drops. "Bound And Burned" is perhaps a concise example of the problem with latter0day Cannibal Corpse, a song bookended by both uninspired and messy ideas that makes you question if the interlude between both parts is worth listening to. While the strike rate on this album is better than the band has produced in years, it isn't immune from mis-hitting either, such as on "Slowly Sawn".

When judged in the context of its immediate predecessors, Violence Unimagined stands tall as the best they have done in years, though still in the shadow of the band's classic work. In context of metal in general? A good-to-great album and one I can see thrown around for album of the year, though never being a serious contender. Well worth checking out if you want a hefty dose of gory death metal that will bludgeon you while compelling you to headbang.