bartosso Killer stuff!

I have had a long, complicated but, all in all, romantic relationship with this album. Not being a die-hard Cannibal Corpse fan, I have never listened throughout their entire output so I don't feel entitled to decide if Kill is or isn't the best album by the notorious veterans of brutal death metal. All I can say is that, after many years of my music taste oscillation and existential crescendos (whatever that means), it ended up being my favorite album by them.

It might have been the case with releases like The Bleeding, but Kill is a rare case of a brutal death album that keeps my attention riveted past the first two tracks. A common problem with many brutal death metal releases is the lack of variation that leads to the chicken pâté syndrome - the first sandwich is delicious, but by the end you feel a little sick. Now, the thing is Kill isn't even that varied. What makes it engaging is that, even if uniform, the songwriting and the clean-yet-organic sound production are both solid throughout. In some ways it's the quintessential modern brutal death metal album. Pleasantly familiar and straightforward structure-wise, it elevates the quality of the bulk of its content with mindbogglingly groovy breaks ("Murder Worship"), passages of technical brutality ("Five Nails Through the Neck") and, most of all, spot-on rhythm variations ("Necrosadistic Warning"). In other words, instead of kicking your ass all the time, it unexpectedly slams your head into a wall, breaks your nose, pulls your eyes out and hits you in the stomach. It basically makes you suffer. Sadly the songwriting gets more generic towards the end of the record and that's actually my only - although serious - problem with the album.

All that being said, Kill's biggest selling point is what made every other Cannibal Corpse album before it so successful. It's genuinely brutal and it doesn't try to prove anything else besides its unwavering devotion to what makes brutal death metal enjoyable - gore, groove and grit. In other words, if Kill were a slasher movie, it would be a good slasher movie. If not for the more generic songwriting in the second half, it would have been a great one.

arcane-beautiful This as my first Cannibal Corpse album, and I'm glad it was, cause their earlier stuff can be a bit extreme, especially cover and topic wise, but this one kind of balances them both.

This was the start of a newer era of Cannibal Corpse, with lighter topics, (still pretty gory tho), heavier sounding guitars and some real frantic and quite experimental like moments.

It's a pretty normal Cannibal Corpse album, with some fantastic songs, and some great ones too, nothing too bland or bleak, and its short and simple.

I think when it comes to death metal, these guys will never disapoint me, and they sum up mainly everything I love about the genre....

1. The Time To Kill Is Now - Very frantic and quick. Great use of vocals. 10/10

2. Make Them Suffer - Great riffd and chorus. 9/10

3. Murder Worship - Great kyrics and arrangement. Some killer riffs. 9/10

4. Necrosadistic Warning - One of my all time favourite Cannibal Corpse songs. Mammolthly heavy. 10/10

5. 5 Nails Through The Neck - Interesting arrangment. Great vocals throughout. 9/10

6. Purification By Fire - Great intro. Some of their most memorable riffs, and a great chorus and arrangement. 10/10

7. Death Walking Terror - Very heavy. Great chorus. 9/10

8. Barbaric Bludgeonings - Great arrangement and lyrics. Some impressive vocals, 9/10

9. The Discipline Of Revenge - Great bass intro. Pretty cool lyrics and some nice dark moments. 9/10

10. Brain Removal Device - Great lyrics and some gabba like moments. Very frantic. 10/10

11. Maniacal - Great lyrics and franticly paced. 9/10

12. Submerged In Boiling Flesh - Mammothly heavy. Some pretty groovy moments. 9/10

13. Infinite Misery - Interesting to hear these guys do an instrumental, and to be honest, its pretty cool. 9/10

CONCLUSION: If a child asked me what death metal was, I'd give him this, then kill him and eat him.

UMUR "Kill" is the 10th full-length studio album by US death metal act Cannibal Corpse. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in March 2006. "Kill" was produced, mixed and engineered by Erik Rutan (Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal, Alas, Ripping Corpse) and is the group´s first collaboration with the prolific producer/musician. There´s been a linup change since "The Wretched Spawn (2004)" as guitarist Jack Owen decided to call it quits. He is replaced here by a returning Rob Barrett, who after some years playing with Malevolent Creation, started to regret his decision to leave Cannibal Corpse and when he found out that Owen had quit, he contacted the band to hear if there was a vacant spot that he could occupy.

The music on "Kill" is brutal and technically well played death metal and it´s in every possible way the unmistakable sound of Cannibal Corpse. The band has always delivered solid brutal death metal releases and this is no exception. While all tracks on the 13 track, 42:17 minutes long album are well composed and relatively catchy if you listen to them out of context, "Kill" does suffer from being slightly one-dimensional when listened to from beginning to end. The instrumental closing track "Infinite Misery" is an exception but the remaining tracks are pretty straight forward brutal death metal. Sometimes blasting, mostly fast but also with some mid-paced heavy sections. The vocals by George Fisher are very brutal (although still relatively intelligible) and suit the gore themed lyrics well (check out song titles like "Five Nails Through the Neck", "Brain Removal Device", or "Submerged in Boiling Flesh"). The instrumental part of the album is also delivered with great technical skill and aggressive passion.

The sound production by Erik Rutan is professional, raw, and powerful, but to my ears the riff details drown in a wall of brutal sound. As a consequnce the already rather one-dimensional material sound even more monotone. It´s probably an aquired taste though and objectively it´s still a quality production. Overall "Kill" is another quality death metal release by Cannibal Corpse and even though it´s not among their best output a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.