Cannibal Corpse - Vile
Metal Blade
Death Metal/Gore Grind
11 songs (37:32)
Release year: 1996
Cannibal Corpse, Metal Blade
Reviewed by Phil
Archive review

Way back in 1996, it was Cannibal Corpse that needed reanimating. Sure, the festering, hungering monster had staggered around the world a few times. Still, the corpse was learning that it wasn’t immune to brain-gorging maggots. Ended up, the diseased head of the band desperately needed amputation. Thankfully, this didn’t pose too much of a problem. The musical mad scientists quickly pulled out a rusty chainsaw and decapitated the band. But before the reeking bag of pus could feel any pain, Cannibal Corpse had stitched on a new carnivorous chew hole.

That’s right kids…cue the trumpets. Vile marked the arrival of George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher – and more importantly George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher’s neck – to the ranks of Cannibal Corpse. When this album first burst onto the scene, fans quickly realized that Corpsegrinder was the vocalist they’d always dreamed about. Instead of the monotonous grunt-grunt-grunt of the old guy, Corpsegrinder could mix his grunt-grunt-grunt with an occasional screech-screech-screech. What a glorious new dimension of sound this introduced!

This new vocal style is apparent from the opening seconds of Devoured By Vermin. Corspegrinder’s shriek starts the first song with style. Song wise, the chaotic verse gives way to a grunt-along chorus. Try not to gurgle along as the blast beat slows and Corsegrinder emotes, “Devoured!” A slowed-down section around the two-minute mark is particularly crushing, and another scream wraps up the slow part wonderfully. Mummified in Barbwire is a choppy song with plenty of interesting little gristly bits. The song has an album worth of time changes in its first 30 seconds. My favorite part is the circular, swirling chorus riff and the cymbal tap breakdown. Disfigured is a grumpy little track with discordant riffing. The song barely kicks into first gear. It’s almost like a doom flavored death metal song, and it’s all the more effective for it. Puncture Wound Massacre is aptly titled; it’s a stabbing swarm of drums, guitars and screeching. Much like a bloody shiv, the song is short, sharp and lethal.

Relentless Beating is a blood-soaked instrumental that is just over two minutes long. I’m not a death metal fiend by any means, but it’s one of the few death metal instrumentals I can remember. Eaten From Inside has an intro that features a ton of clicking drums. The next section slows, and there’s even something of a guitar lead over the grungy riff. Again, there’s time changes galore, and the tune has the entire prerequisite of Corpsegrinder howls and grunts. Orgasm Through Torture is a bona fide keeper with its squeaky opening riff and drum blitzkrieg. Thinking about the lyrics, I wonder if this tune gained the band any new groupies. “She regurgitates, I’m covered in my bloody chunks.” Ahhh what a banquet of sensations this song describes. Monolith is, surprise, another speedy track. A finger-blistering guitar lead carries the song. Even so, a groove riff kicks in around the one-minute mark and keeps the song from getting too monotonous.

So there it is, my first death metal autopsy for metalreviews.com. Overall, I think Vile holds up pretty well under intense scrutiny. The album’s production seems a mite clearer then the bands previous albums, and the addition Corpsegrinder seemed to reinvigorate the band. It was also the first death metal album to chart on the Billboard 200 in the U.S. This steaming pile of viscera and waste is definitely worthy of the popularity.

Killing Songs :
Orgasm Through Torture, Devoured By Vermin, Disfigured
Phil quoted 90 / 100
Other albums by Cannibal Corpse that we have reviewed:
Cannibal Corpse - Chaos Horrific reviewed by Goat and quoted 75 / 100
Cannibal Corpse - Violence Unimagined reviewed by Goat and quoted 84 / 100
Cannibal Corpse - A Skeletal Domain reviewed by Goat and quoted 70 / 100
Cannibal Corpse - Torture reviewed by Tony and quoted 100 / 100
Cannibal Corpse - Bloodthirst reviewed by Tony and quoted 83 / 100
To see all 14 reviews click here
2 readers voted
Average:
 65
You did not vote yet.
Vote now

There are 3 replies to this review. Last one on Tue Oct 06, 2009 2:12 pm
View and Post comments