Cannibal Corpse The Wretched Spawn (death metal) (4.5/5)

As widely debated as they are, it is a rarity to find anyone that will dispute the fact that Cannibal Corpse have always been true to death metal. From their humble inception with the release of their debut Eaten Back To Life, right through to their most recent album, Torture, they have kept the core death metal sound that made them popular within the scene to begin with, no matter where this has taken them. Their career now spans more than twenty years, and they have definately had their highs and lows, with albums such as Tomb Of The Mutilated and The Bleeding frequently being elevated as the best they have ever put out. However, there was one album that is often overlooked, 2004's The Wretched Spawn.

Following their weakest point, Gore Obsessed, this was a major step up from that album, whilst taking the technical elements first added to their sound on The Bleeding to even more extreme territory. Commonly considered to be one of the band's weakest releases, this is definately not the case, as the band shows right from the off. Severed Head Stoning is the track that introduces the listener to this album, and right away shows off one of the best aspects of the band-George Fisher's vocals. Delivered at a thousand miles an hour, George manages to add a huge amount of intensity to this song that would otherwise be rather bland, with a main riff that feels slightly boring and underwhelming. However, the growls take this above mediocrity, being spat out faster than many death metal vocalists could ever claim, and once again cement George's position as the better of the two Cannibal Corpse vocalists.

Other highlights of this album include Decency Defied, the title track, Festering In The Crypt and Frantic Disembowelment. Decency Defied is rather slow when stacked up against much of what Cannibal Corpse has allowed the listeners to become accustomed to, but manages to drill itself into the listeners head, being exceedingly catchy. This is a trend that is continued with Festering In The Crypt, which is the slowest song Cannibal Corpse have ever released, but contains some extremely well written lyrics, is massively catchy, and the solo absolutely shreds. The main riffs to the title track are the catchiest in Cannibal Corpse's entire discography, and when coupled with the sudden speed change towards the end of the song, this becomes one of the band's finest pieces. Frantic Disembowelment fills the spot of the obligatory fretboard workout, being highly technical and played at insane speeds, to the point that the video accompanying it looks sped up from the sheer speed Pat O'Brien's fingers are moving at. This is one of the most technical tracks in the bands catalogue, behind only Purification By Fire and sections of Carrion Sculpted Entity, and is a credit to the band's name. If there was ever a rhythm guitarist worthy of mention in extreme metal circles, this is the man who deserves it, writing some very catchy but also crazily difficult riffs to play, showing off a dimension that CC has become known throughout the metal community for.

The real drawback of this release is that at times it feels as though the band is slacking off a little bit in the song writing department. In particular, the drum work from Paul does not seem to have developed very much from the previous albums. He can play fast, with a fair amount of talent behind it, but there are so many better and faster drummers that could have done a lot better on this release. My other criticism is the album art, when compared to past albums, feels too forced. Kill proved that an album cover does not need to be exceedingly gory to be effective, and this just looked a little too childish, being a sick perversion of the alien chestburster from the alien films, with what looks like the villains from Amnesia:The Dark Descent surrounding the vicim.

This stands out as being one of the best in the band's catalogue, as it avoids over-utilizing ideas to the point of stagnancy. There is a little variation to the usually one-dimensional song writing the band are known for, and a surprising level of technical ability throughout. The stand out tracks make this one hell of a ride for the uninitiated in the CC discography, making this the perfect starting point for one of the most infamous bands in the genre. 4.5/5