Cannibal Corpse - Gore Obsessed [2002]

Another push on the production quality makes this the heaviest CC album by far. There's a lot of good stuff here. There's more catchiness and blasting, too. While all of the songs have very good riffs, a worrying amount have filler riffs blended in as well. So, it's a bit uninspiring at times, but awesome at others.

Rating: 7.75

http://www.cannibalcorpse.net/

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Cannibal Corpse - Bloodthirst [1999]

New production quality isn't as warm as Gallery, but it is a bit heavier much more clear. The overall level of excellence for this album is much higher than anything CC had done before. It's more brutal, more active, more technical, and more focused. Very good album. It has everything that I love about the new style of CC and it's all well-executed.

Rating: 8

http://www.cannibalcorpse.net/

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Cannibal Corpse - Gallery of Suicide [1998]

After the thrashy "I Will Kill You" and the incredibly catchy and brutal "Disposal of the Body", "Sentenced to Burn" dives into the more mid-tempo and chunky side of Death Metal. "Blood Drenched Execution" has a few catchy parts, but most of it feels pretty weak compared to the previous songs. "Gallery of Suicide" drops into the slow-tempo'd style for the first bit. It's not all that catchy or gripping, but it does have an evil twinge to it. It even feels like Black Metal at a few points. "Dismembered and Molested" picks things up on all fronts. Then, there's "From Skin to Liquid", an epic and purely evil opus that can easily get every hair on my neck to stand straight up. "Unite the Dead" is a heavy romp that brings more catchiness to the CC sound. It's a tiny bit gimmicky, though. "Stabbed in the Throat" largely passes by unnoticed. "Centuries of Torment" brings that low pitch evil guitaring that I love back to the album. Overall, it's got good production quality and some good writing. There are a decent number of standouts as well and it's always heavy.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.cannibalcorpse.net/

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Cannibal Corpse - Vile [1996]

Kick in the nuts start to the album. "Devoured by Vermin" really seems to set the stage for the newly evolved CC to push the brutality and complexity of the music to a level far beyond what they've done before. Admittedly, I don't like the flow breaking sections in songs like "Mummified in Barbed Wire" and "Perverse Suffering". All seems to be redeemed by the awesomeness of "Disfigured". "Bloodlands" initially takes the dark, doomy, and evil CC style before breaking out with an explosion of thrash and technical guitaring. There are a lot more stand-outs in this album than the previous one. "Devoured by Vermin", "Disfigured", "Puncture Wound Massacre", "Relentless Beating", "Absolute Hatred", and "Monolith" stand out in my ears.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.cannibalcorpse.net/

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Cannibal Corpse - The Bleeding [1994]

Right from the start, it feels a bit more like the passionate brutality that CC is known for. Hopefully it will last through the whole album. I'm a bit worried that they may have front-loaded this album with good songs... I mean, shit, they just keep coming one after another: "Staring Through the Eyes of the Dead", "Fucked with a Knife", "Stripped, Raped and Strangled". It's hard to imagine that they can keep such a level of song writing throughout the rest of the album. I must say, Chris' vocals are starting to fucking annoy me, especially his high-pitched screams that sound like a five-year-old is yelling while holding his nose. For the most part, the material does actually stay pretty strong through the rest of the album. However, there aren't really any standouts like the first three songs of the album.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.cannibalcorpse.net/

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Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the Mutilated [1992]

Off to a catchy, heavy, and grinding start with "Hammer Smashed Face". It doesn't have the excitement of their later works overall. I'm not sure if it's the dead production quality or the filler riffs, but it just doesn't feel as exciting. There are a few tracks on here that will get my blood pumping: "Hammer Smashed Face", "Addicted to Vaginal Skin", and "The Cryptic Stench".

Rating: 6.5

http://www.cannibalcorpse.net/

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Cannibal Corpse - Butchered At Birth [1991]

There's a lot more doom to this album. There are also places where the album drags quite a lot. It feels like the writing for this one isn't quite as strong and forceful as Eaten. There are definitely a few classics like "Meat Hook Sodomy", and "Covered With Sores".

Rating: 6.75

http://www.cannibalcorpse.net/

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Cannibal Corpse - Eaten Back to Life [1990]

Heavy writing. It's a lot more thrash inspired than CC's later stuff, but the classic CC style is still buried in the music for those who know. It's not down-right catchy, but it's invigorating and energetic. The production quality is surprisingly clear and clean for being the first album. Pretty good distortion on the guitars as well. It's still mixed in that early Death Metal style. So, the guitars could stand to be higher in the mix and contain more punch. It's still a good album, even by today's standard.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.cannibalcorpse.net/

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Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness [1989]

This whole album is full of great old-school Death Metal. It's hella-energetic and even pretty damn modern in some ways. The production is typical of under-ground bands of this period. There's obviously a lot of Slayer influence throughout the album. Lots of thrashing around and plenty of blasting. There isn't much in the way of variation at all, and compounding that issue is the fact that the album is over fifty minutes long. However, I never really found myself getting bored. I liked it all the way through. Didn't seem to be any fillers. That said, it wasn't mind-blowing, just solid well-written Death Metal.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.morbidangel.com/

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Hate - Morphosis [2008]

There's quite an increase in production quality. The guitars are much heavier now. "Threnody" gives me hope for the album with more complexity in the song arrangement, but the riffs aren't particularly catchy or memorable. "Immum Coeli" starts a bit more promising, but breaks up the action a bit too much. It's a bit frustrating... many of the good ideas are balanced out by bad ideas that break flow for guitar riffs that feel fluid. Not all that great overall. It doesn't really capture or move me. Quite a flop. But at least it has got heavy production.

Rating: 5.5

http://www.hate-metal.com/

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Hate - Anaclasis - A Haunting of Gospel Malice & Hatred [2005]

A much more appealing and interesting intro to the album... don't fucking let me down this time, cock-suckers. They've really taken a chapter out of Arkhon Infaustus' book of simple guitar riff with pure grind underneath. It's got a more evil feel to it as well. Problem is that the riff doesn't really change much at all until about 3 minutes in, so it feels like it has overstayed its welcome. There are some new aspects added to the formula in the form of electronic effects. It's mostly just one type of riff and song all the way up until "Malediction" which starts weak as hell, then gets really good, but then goes back to really weak again. "Razorblade" finally changes things up, if only slightly. "Fountains of Blood to Reach Heaven" is actually genuinely good in every way. The energy finally makes it all the way through to the end of one of Hate's albums. The songwriting is much better. However, they still are adding pointless and weak riffs in the middle otherwise strong songs. A few riffs are too drawn out and become boring. This album is a thousand times better than anything previously done by Hate. Finally, an album I can listen to more than once.

Rating: 7

http://www.hate-metal.com/

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Misery Index - Discordia [2006]

Feels like more clarity has been added to the production. The bass drum is still a bit of a jack-hammer when at speed, which is great. Seems like the songwriting has gotten a bit better as well. Riffs are fairly punchy and more catchy than they used to be. It really is beginning to feel like a Dying Fetus album, though. This is a more solid album all the way through than most of the previous stuff.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.facebook.com/MiseryIndex

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Misery Index - Dissent [2004]

A slower and more crushing start to this disk. Better production with a heavier guitar sound. The first two tracks are a bit more sedated than I was expecting, but the third track kicks in nice and fast. It's pretty decent overall. However, I'm not noticing any real improvement in the songwriting. The length of the disk is good, though... not too long.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.facebook.com/MiseryIndex

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Hate - Awakening of the Liar [2003]

First track is good on energy; hopefully they'll be able to keep it up throughout the album this time. "Anti-God Extremity" has a terrible introduction and, overall, the writing is quite slap-dash. "Close to the Nephilim" is a step in the correct direction, but it has its fair share of boring and pointless riffs. One of the problems this album has is the use of regular break-riffs that destroy the sense of flow within the songs. These riffs would be permissible if they weren't repeated at regular and predictable intervals. In short, it's no better than the previous one. The energy is killed by the poor writing, extremely derivative riffs, and lacking power. The fact that they haven't improved at all means a big "FUCK YOU" from me.

Rating: 3.5

http://www.hate-metal.com/

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Misery Index - Retaliate [2003]

Wow, that's not a bass drum, it's a fucking jack-hammer! There are quite a few more dull moments where they seem to have not been able to think of anything to put in the section, so they just threw something in. At the same time there are plenty of heavy, catchy, and fast parts throughout the album. The energy is still there.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.facebook.com/MiseryIndex

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Misery Index - Overthrow [2001]

For some reason I was expecting a much more "dead" recording quality. Oh well, pleasant surprise. There's definitely an element of that other great American Grindcore icon, Dying Fetus. A dash of evil mixed well with a metal spoon. It has a raw feel, but with a good structure to it. Fairly catchy riffs, nothing to throw a party about, but still enough to keep you awake. The energy feels pretty high as well.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.facebook.com/MiseryIndex

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Hate - Cain's Way [2002]

Starts off with good energy. Not horrible production and it's still punchy. However, the energy starts to drop away once the initial punch wears off and the songwriting is too stock to carry it without the energy. I am definitely looking forward to the next releases because there's potential for one hell of a brutal album here. I do LOVE the last track, though.

Rating: 5

http://www.hate-metal.com/

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Mitochondrion - Archaeaeon [2008]

"Into the Pit of Babel" is certainly what some would call "organic". Underground production, but it's not too bad. Interesting songwriting. There's a bit of sophistication to these songs. I can't really call it unique, but they've gone for longer songs with changing moods throughout. From pure Death Metal reminiscent of Gigan to clean guitar sections and even a hint of progressive. I think that this album would have been more exciting if the production didn't have such a soft touch and the edges hadn't been rounded off. Other than that, the music is pretty damn good. Sections like the ending of "Wraithlike" really feel like a wonderful massage, and others feel as satisfying as putting a baby in a blender feet-first. It doesn't feel all that creative, though, despite the clear focus on making the music deep... and even with that, it doesn't feel as deep as it was intended to be. Maybe it's just me reacting to the current trend towards "deeper" and more "introspective" songs in metal, or maybe they really didn't pull it off as well as bands like Gigan and Ulcerate. At any rate, I can't wait to hear this stuff with better production quality.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.myspace.com/mitochondrion

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Fleshcrawl - Descend into the Absurd [1992]

The intro track is not at all what I was expecting from a Death Metal band circa 1992... I would love for there to be more surprises like this scattered throughout the album. Ok, so a brisk start to "Phrenetic Tendencies" followed by extremely slow Doom Death Metal and then back to thrash. Well, they're certainly keeping me guessing, and it's only the first actual song. Damn, "Purulent Bowel Erosion" sort of explodes into a fury of blastology. Overall, the album has some good moments, but it mostly jumps between doom and thrash with fairly stock riffs... which, in all honesty, is to be expected of the period this hails from. It just doesn't really do much for me nowadays.

Rating: 6

http://www.fleshcrawl.net/

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Myrkskog - Superior Massacre [2002]

Vocals are way cooler. It's definitely more Death Metal than DM. The production is definitely more clear, but it seems to have lost a bit of that chaotic feel. So far, I'm inclined to completely pardon that small lacking part of the production because it's so fucking brutal.

Rating: 8.5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrkskog

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