Happy April Fools’ Day, foos! It’s ya boi Waldo here spitting the FINEST reviews regarding some upcoming metal releases. As always, some are good, some are bad and some are “meh.” Read the peck on or pay the price…
Cannibal Corpse are back at it with their umpteenth release… Violence Unimagined. What can one say about Cannibal that hasn’t already been said? This time, they teamed up with producer extraordinaire Erik Rutan, and the result is well… killer. A LOT of death metal bands would be stagnant as beak at this point in their career, but Cannibal manage to keep their music brutal, extreme and fresh. The songs here are heavy and memorable, and really move without feeling scattered at all. Mana Studios did an EXCELLENT job on production, tight, aggressive, but not sterile at all. What sticks out to me is Corpsegrinder’s vocals on this. His rasp is ever present, but the delivery is great, not just sticking to the riff. It’s super refreshing to this birdbrain to see a band, this far along in their career still putting out SUPER relevant jams. Kudos. 9 Fucking Pecks!
Bewitcher comes at us a little out of left field with Cursed by Thy Kingdom. Known for a more traditional speed metal approach, Bewitcher changes things up a little on this one. Melodic and catchy, and with one foot planted firmly in the “blackened” territory, this is a NWOTHM record through and through. That’s not to say that it doesn’t sound like Bewitcher, because it does, just a lot of the “speed” here has been exchanged for melody and a lot of the thrasher aspects of the band have been switched for songwriting. Hold up… I’m not saying this is bad, because it isn’t at all. This is a SOLID heavy metal record with all the tracks being anthemic and bangers, but I do miss some of the speedier, Venom worshiping moments the band has been known for. All in all, this is a good record, but in my feathered opine, this would be a FANTASTIC record if the speed metal era and this current sound met. Then we’re talking. Still, a good record though. 7 Fucking Pecks.
This next one is so in my “birdhouse.” Your boy, Waldo here, I’m an original, but where there’s success, there’s bound to be biters (literally in this case.) The feline-fronted four-piece Cattera has released a track Hunger of the Beast and well… it’s cool. All proceeds from this track go to Whiskers-a-GoGo, a no profit cat rescue. So, what about this? This is cool, heavy riffs with a cat screeching, mewling and all but purring on this. Probably this isn’t for everyone, but hey, lighten up, have some, fun why dontcha? I like this sort of thing, and well, if you can’t take a joke, go shit in a litter box. This isn’t purrrfect (I know, I had too), but is definitely a fun way to raise some loot for a good cause. Check it out here: https://cattera.bandcamp.com/
And no April Fools’ jokes… until next time… Waldo out!
