You’re pretty much assured of quality with some bands, and that’s the case with Death Metal legends Cannibal Corpse. Love them or hate them, the band has helped to define Death Metal since their debut, 1990’s Eaten Back To Life, and whilst Evisceration Plague is admittedly not up to the high standard set by 2006’s Kill, it has all the necessary elements to be a damn good album in its own right. Apart from the artwork, of course, which I’ll get to in a second. But holy shit, the first time you stick Evisceration Plague into the CD player it’s impossible not to lose control and start flailing about like a thirteen year-old at a Jonas Brothers concert – truly classic Death Metal these days is as rare as Socialists in the Pentagon, and considering the fan reaction to Kill, Cannibal Corpse would’ve been mad not to follow in more or less the same path, considering that they’re hardly the types to throw a curveball anyways.

The downside to praising a Cannibal Corpse CD is, of course, having to try and defend the artwork, and whilst putting zombies on your album may have been a statement of originality and solid respectability way back when, in 2009 it smacks a little of pandering to your audience. Seriously; your band is called Cannibal Corpse, your latest album is called Evisceration Plague... do we really need a piece of ‘art’work that depicts annoyed-looking zombies emerging from darkness, presumably awoken from eternal sleep by the unholy racket that is this album? Part of the charm of Kill was the simplicity, the band name and that single word telling you all you need to know. Here, Cannibal Corpse are faced with that classic problem; how do you top perfection? In this case, apparently, the solution is not to even try, but to return to the state of affairs prior to that, and such is Evisceration Plague. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does make a damn nice addition to your collection of circular objects.

And so, from the drunken violence of Shatter Their Bones to the brutal beatdown of Beheading And Burning, all the usual Cannibal Corpseular elements are present and correct, from George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher’s hurried growls and random screams, to Mazurkiewicz’s capable but dull drumming – seriously, how much better would this band be with George Kollias or someone behind the kit? Still, this is meat and potatoes Death Metal, after all, and as such we’re lucky to have Alex ‘Awesome’ Webster doing his magical thing on the bass. His little frills are audible if you concentrate, and really enhance the listening experience. The chances are, of course, that you’ll be too busy headbanging to the awesome riffs that Pat O’Brien and Rob Barret pull out of their sleeve, given special power through one of the best guitar tones ever recorded. Big, thick, chunky, it’s like a hammer to the head and ensures that songs like A Cauldron Of Hate reach their full neck-crushing potential.

Ultimately, recommending Cannibal Corpse to a Death Metal fan is the dictionary definition of stating the obvious. If you like them, you’ll like this; if you’ve never appreciated them, you won’t change your mind over Evisceration Plague. It’s ultimately a solid Death Metal album, and is perfectly worthy of a long playlist life, and if you require more from a Cannibal Corpse album then you really haven’t gotten what this band are all about.