You know you wish you’d thought of it. A band devoted to nothing less than the joys of smoking weed and listening to Cannibal Corpse... it might sound like a joke that’s only funny for ten minutes, but surprisingly the Virginia-based five-piece (the brainchild of Municipal Waste’s Philip ‘Landphil’ Hall, here on guitar and bass) are now on their second album, and Tube Of The Resinated has proved itself worthy of many plays indeed. How? Well, as fun as the band name and song titles are, and more on that in a second, the music itself is pretty damn good. Cannabis Corpse may only play a style of Death Metal that’s been made infamous by their namesakes, but it’s done very well indeed. From the crushing riffs and technical basslines (audible bass alert!) to the blasting drums and growls, Tube Of The Resinated is nothing if not a tribute to the legends, nine songs of kickass old-school Death Metal without a ‘Core breakdown in sight.

Where Tube Of The Resinated really earns itself marks is in the songtitle and lyrics book. Opener Chronolith bursts forth: ‘STONED! As stoned as the builders of this bud-bastion must have been! HIGH! So high, high above the summit, calm green clouds!’ and it just gets better from there. Mummified In Bong Water, Disposal Of The Baggy (let’s just say it would be a mistake to sell these guys bad weed), Every Bud Smoken... not to mention my personal favourite and surely one of the best song titles ever thought up: Addicted To Hash In A Tin.

However, the songs could all be untitled and anyone with a taste for the ‘Corpse will fall in love instantly. Hopefully Corpsegrinder and co will have a new, awesome album out in the coming months, but even if they fail us and produce a stinker, then Tube Of The Resinated will provide much consolation. It’s hard to pick out the good songs, because they’re all excellent – catchy, blunted blasts that twist and turn, keeping both your focus sharpened and your neck muscles healthy. Melodious as well as brutal riffs, drums capable of blasts and more complex little beats... of course, this is Death Metal first and foremost, but who’s complaining?

The genre’s over twenty years old, after all, and whilst the little subgenres have made great steps in their own rights, the original and best is still going strong – and really, no-one wants it any other way. We Death Metalheads may be swayed by the experimental and leftfield, but at the end of the day nothing calls us home like some good old classic ‘Corpse, unashamedly brutal, unashamedly catchy. Above all, Cannabis Corpse prove that they’re proud of the battered old genre, and that is another of many reasons to love them. You’ve heard it before, of course, but when you need a Death Metal fix little else will suffice, and even after the high, Tube Of The Resinated makes the wait for the next Cannibal Corpse opus bearable whilst being an album of surprising depth and quality in its own right.