Cephalic Carnage - Misled by Certainty [2010]

Ugh, off to a really disappointing start. Things finally get interesting around 2min in to "The Incorrigible Flame", but it doesn't last long at all. "Abraxas of Filth" FINALLY shows a little creativity and carefully crafted songwriting. God damn, this album really drags on. It truly feels like time is moving slower as a result of listening to this album. There's very little creativity at all and I'm still missing the dichotomy of the older albums a lot. This album has declined in quite a few ways from Xenosapien. There are some catchy parts, but most of it feels bland to me. Production quality is ok, but the overall bass seems to have been cut a bit.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.myspace.com/cephaliccarnage

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Cephalic Carnage - Xenosapien [2007]

The brutality is still there in spades. In fact, this is a much more brutal album than Anomalies. Even farther than that, this album is better in every way. The songs are catchy, brutal, heavy, and creative. However, while they are using pretty creative riffs throughout the songs, I am missing the other kind of creativity that came in the form of the more "stoner-music" and druggy-atmospheric feel that was crammed to great effect in the earlier albums. There's hardly any of that anymore in the music. The production is the heaviest and best yet. Because of the lack of the extreme creativity that was in the older albums, I'm inclined to give it lower marks, but thanks to the increase in song quality I think it's better than Anomalies.

Rating: 8

http://www.myspace.com/cephaliccarnage

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Cephalic Carnage - Lucid Interval [2002]

There's a lot more mid-range in the guitar production this time. "Scolopendra Cingulata" is an extremely slow intro to the CD, with "Fortuitous Oddity" picking things up with a scathing grind. There's a lot more short-tracks that break up the longer songs on this album. I'm really not a fan of the really slow stuff in "Anthro-Emesis". "The Isle of California" brings in some really cool and creative use of guitar harmonics. "Pseudo" really grabs your attention from the onset with an awesomely technical riff. Overall, this album doesn't really feel as chaotic as Exploiting Dysfunction, and that may be partly due to the production quality. However, the creativity carries through the entire album at a high level this time, which keeps things more than interesting.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.myspace.com/cephaliccarnage

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Cephalic Carnage - Anomalies [2005]

Starts off very strong. Good production. Some really cool riffs. There's some crazy ideas that are very different for Death Metal. Good creativity and awesome technicality. So far, there's some really cool songs, but there's been a few flops and I really just don't know what to think of "Piecemaker" at all. "Enviovore" picks back up with a killer heavy riff. Gets a little melodic in "Dying Will Be The Death of Me". Killer fucking chorus, but it's only played once in the damn song… definitely a bad choice. "Inside is Out" starts off really really cool and creepy with the clean guitars. "Kill for Weed" is pretty fucking chaotic and cool once it gets going. Cool ending to "Litany of Failure" that blends right into the final track. Overall, it's a good album with some creativity. Nothing too insane, though, and certainly not as good as some of their other stuff.

Rating: 7

http://www.myspace.com/cephaliccarnage

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Cephalic Carnage - Exploiting Dysfunction [2000]

"Hybrid" really starts on the right note (lawls!). Punch-in-the-face opening and then directly into a trippy riff to really let the listener know what they are getting into. The production is one of my favorite types for Grindcore: punchy, heavy, overly-compressed (but not too distracting), and all-around brutal. There is some amazing creativity on this album mixed in with the thick brutality, insane speeds, catchy riffs, and awesome technicality. The songs are extremely varied within themselves, but to add to that is how varied the album is in its mixture of tracks. Some of the tracks toward the end slow it down quite a bit for the beginnings of songs. Overall, this is a great album with great Grindcore production. However, some of the creativity drops off towards the end of the album as does the energy.

Rating: 9

http://www.myspace.com/cephaliccarnage

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Cryptopsy - The Unspoken King [2008]

First track is fucking cool. Definitely a punch in the face. Seems like Flo actually managed to get faster, fuck. Missing the creativity that was found on "Once Was Not", but we'll see how the rest of the album is. Second track and I'm actually beginning to miss Lord Worm. It's punchy, but still missing the creativity that I'm used to. Close to the end of the cd and I can say that I'm really not impressed at all. It's cool that they deviated from what they have previously done, but the change was not an improvement at all. I fucking hate the vocalist, especially his horrid clean vox. Virtually no creativity on this album. There are a few parts towards the beginning that are insanely technical on guitar, but that doesn't carry all the way through. This is a sub-par album for Cryptopsy.

Rating: 4

http://www.myspace.com/cryptopsy

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Cryptopsy - Once Was Not [2005]

Beautiful opening track. Brutal and heavy. Blazingly fast track 3. All in all, there's some extremely creative guitar riffs for Grindcore. A lot of jazz influence in the drumming. The technicality is fucking staggering. Every once-in-a-while there are even keys in the later tracks. Very good album with a lot of creativity. Definitely doesn't sound like anything else out there. The production is pretty damn good, too. Lord Worm isn't my favorite vocalist, that's for sure, but he's way better than the fag that replaced him.

Rating: 8

http://www.myspace.com/cryptopsy

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.