CANCER — Inverted World (review)

Album · 2025 · Death Metal

3.5/5 · 2025-05-07
UMUR

"Inverted World" is the seventh full-length studio album by UK death metal act Cancer. The album was released through Peaceville Records in April 2025. It´s the successor to "Shadow Gripped" from 2018. There have been quite a few changes since "Shadow Gripped", which was a comeback album for Cancer and their first release since their 2013 reformation. While "Shadow Gripped" featured the original trio lineup of John Walker (lead vocals/guitars), Carl Stokes (drums), and Ian Buchanan (bass), "Inverted World" only features Walker and three new Spanish musicians. Walker has lived many years in Spain and is married to a Spanish woman (Raquel Walker who performs with him in Liquid Graveyard), so relocating Cancer to Spain in 2022 and hiring Spanish musicians were logical choices when the original trio lineup fell apart again.

...and if we start with the musicianship, the new cast of Spanish musicians have boosted Cancer´s sound. No disrespect to the two original guys who left, but it´s like Cancer have been given a kick in the butt with the addition of some younger performers. Walker sounds rejuvenated too and his voice and growling/snarling delivery haven´t sounded better or more vitale since the mid-1990s. The songwriting is effective and Cancer have produced some pretty memorable material too. The political/world-history themed lyrics are also interesting. "Ampute" is for example a song about the incredible horrors of the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then called Congo Free State) during the late 1880s/early 1990s rule of Leopold II of Belgium, and "Test Site" tells the story of the Manhattan Project and the first Nuclear bomb test.

The material is predominantly heavy mid-to fast-paced death metal with thrash metal traits here and there, and in that respect Cancer sound a lot like they did on their first couple of relases. Of course age has given Walker more experience and more stylistic elements to pull from and his voice is also deeper and slightly more death metal oriented compared to his more raw snarling of the past.

"Inverted World" features a heavy, meaty, and powerful sounding production job, which suits the material well. I´ve been waiting to say something positive about a Cancer album for many years now, as they really haven´t produced anything much of real quality since the mid-1990s, and it´s therefore with great pleasure that I can announce that "Inverted World" is a high quality death metal release from Cancer. Finally the potential they´ve always had (and showed in the early part of their career) shines through again. The new musicians have brought energy and a few contemporary playing ideas with them, which make "Inverted World" a strong death metal release, which may be old school in the way it combines death metal and brutal thrash metal with an intelligible growling vocalist in front, but still brings enough fresh ideas and quality songwriting to the table to make it a worthy release. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.