A Skeletal Domain (Phd Exclusive)＜White Vinyl＞

Cannibal Corpse get right to the point on "High Velocity Impact Splatter," the opening cut on the venerable death metal outfit's 13th long player, the predictably vile and antagonistic, Metal Blade-issued A Skeletal Domain. After a slow fade-in of caustic feedback, the band tears the bandaid off in a fit of atonal riffing and punishing percussion, revealing a festering wound that dutifully sets the tone for what's to come. True to its name, "High Velocity Impact Splatter" serves up a sizeable body count ("At the site of shredded innards, brains exploded"), and its esoteric (and on the nose) subject matter and appetite for sonic destruction will only shock those who haven't yet spent time dining with the pioneering gore-metal unit. In fact, outside of the drums being a tad beefier and more upfront, there isn't much on the 12-track collection to differentiate it from 2012's Torture, which for most Cannibal Corpse fans isn't really a problem, as "if it ain't broke don't fix it" has been the band's M.O. since its inception in 1988. Still, it's impressive that a group approaching its third decade can still bring the noise, so to speak, and songs like the muscular title cut, the frenetic "Icepick Lobotomy," and the lurching and doomy "Kill or Become" deliver their dark wares with the subtlety of a morning star to the head. A Skeletal Domain may not move Cannibal Corpse forward, but it does nothing to hold them back. ~ James Christopher Monger