UMUR "Corpsegrinder" is the eponymously titled debut full-length studio album by US death metal artist Corpsegrinder. The album was released through Perseverance Media Group in February 2022. Corpsegrinder is the solo project of Cannibal Corpse frontman George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher. Fisher was actually involved in a death metal act called Corpsegrinder while he was living in Baltimore, Maryland. The band dissolved after Fisher moved to Florida in 1990 to join Monstrosity.

It happens that death metal musicians participate in various side-projects and supergroups, but it´s not that often they release solo albums. Fisher is of course in a league of his own, being the frontman of the most successful death metal band in the last 27 years, and it makes sense that he would be the one to release a solo album. He is helped here by the Bellmore brothers (Charlie and Nick) on guitars/bass and drums respectively. Both are associated with artists like Dee Snider, Phantoms, and Kingdom of Sorrow. Nick Bellmore and Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed, Kingdom of Sorrow) are credited for producing and helping out with the songwriting. In the case of Bellmore he is also credited for recording, mixing, and mastering the album.

Stylistically Fisher doesn´t stray too far from the path of Cannibal Corpse in terms of the material on this debut album being US death metal. Technically well played, brutal, and delivered with a punch. The tracks are maybe a bit more straight forward and not nearly as technical as some of the output of his main act, but other than that, this is pretty much what you´d expect to hear, after learning that Fisher made a death metal solo album. The 10 tracks on the 31:03 minutes long album are all well written effective death metal tunes and Fisher´s voice and vocal style are unmistakable (predominantly deep growling spiced up with the occasional high pitched scream). This is the work of a true professional.

What you don´t get here are any surprises. Sure this doesn´t sound 1 to 1 like Cannibal Corpse, and that´s always something, but if you ask me, it would have been nice to hear Fisher venture into more unknown territories, to challenge himself and his audience. But if you want another well produced, well written, and well performed US death metal release to add to your collection, you could do far worse than invest in this album. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

siLLy puPPy George Fisher better known as CORPSEGRINDER is best known as the lead guttural growler of Cannibal Corpse since he joined ranks as far back in 1995 but got his start prior in a band called Monstrosity and since has served as chief growler in Paths of Possession, Serpentine Dominion and Voodoo Gods while retaining his role in America’s most authentically pure old school death metal band. Now in 2022 he can add a new task to his resume and that is in being a solo artist. Yep, CORPSEGRINDER just can’t get enough of that old school death metal madness and delivers another slice of it in full old school fury.

Well solo album in name only really. Of course this is a band experience and no ole CORPSY doesn’t play the instruments at all. Rather he incorporates the talents of newest Cannibal Corpse member Erik Rutan on guitars, guitarist / bassist Charlie Bellmore of Kingdom of Sorrow, Kings and Liars, Phantoms and Treebeard and his brother Nick Bellmore also of Kingdom of Sorrow and Phantoms as well as Toxic Holocaust. The stage is set for a caustic uproar of old school death metal rage and CORPSEGRINDER delivers the goods in the fullest fury! This self-titled debut clocks in at only 31 minutes but as expected follows in the footsteps of you know who - Cannibal Corpse!

Personally i’ve never gotten too overly excited about Cannibal Corpse. Yeah, they scratch that old school death metal itch by keeping the style alive and well far into the 21st century but basically i find them to be the epitome of generic old school death metal in virtually every way. They’ve even been called the AC/DC of death metal. OK. Well, CORPSEGRINDER hasn’t deviated from the formula at all. No, there are no industrial or black metal crossovers or anything remotely experimental. Rather this eponymously titled debut is basically another Cannibal Corpse styled album albeit with its own personality that for the attentive listener will come off as something that exists outside that band’s established stylistic approach but not too far from the tree.

Basically this is a well played old school death metal album complete with that distinct early 90s album cover art that will remind you of, guess who! Cannibal Corpse but also other similarly minded bands of the 90s like Massacre, Toxik, early Death and other who loved those semi-cheesy early shock value horror visuals. Basically what you get here is no nonsense “i don’t wanna leave the 90s” death metal and in that regard it delivers all the goods in abundance. Brutal guitar riffs, bantering bass and drums and all the guttural growls you could hope for but on the other end of the stick, death metal has branched out into a massive tree of splinter genres this far into the future and the game has been upped manyfold since old school death metal’s heyday. This is retro as fuck and and although CORPSEGRINDER delivers a few moments of energetic deathcore to the recipe, basically this is a dedicated tribute to the past. Cool but not brilliant. Basically average but if you love Cannibal Corpse you can’t go wrong here either.