Kill

There is a point in many bands' life when you're tempted to ask, "Wait - is this even the same band anymore?" For Pink Floyd, it came with the firing of Richard Wright before The Final Cut. For The Ramones, it came with Dee Dee's resignation after Brain Drain. For Napalm Death, it came when they replaced the entire band between side one and side two of their first album. Well... I'm afraid to say it, but for Cannibal Corpse, that time is now.

Okay, it passed.

Nevertheless, that time a few seconds ago marked the point when founding guitarist Jack Owen said, "I'm sick of all your smelly, hairy asses" and left the band for parts unknown (his own project, Adrift). The surviving Corpses tried to keep it 'all in the family' by rehiring old The Bleeding/Vile guitarist Rob Barrett, but that doesn't mask the fact that the rhythm section is all that remains of the magical line-up responsible for Eaten Back To Life, Butchered At Birth and Tomb Of The Mutilated.

And it doesn't help that Kill is one of their most frustrating records yet. After kicking off with three mean-as-nails, fast-as-dirt instant speed/thrash/death classics, it suddenly retreats into an endless stream of negligible riffs buried under oppressive, irritating downbeats and blastbeats. Ugly dual-guitar harmonies are again trotted out to no positive end, slow passages drag every song out far past its deserved length, and the whole point of the record seems to be to annoy you to death.

The unexpectedly hypnotic trudger "Death Walking Terror" and delightfully chunky instrumental closer "Infinite Misery" provide brief respites from the skull-pounding, but it's not enough. It's never enough. I don't stand a chance to fill your sweet loving cup. Hi, I'm Micky Dolenz and those were some terrible lyrics I wrote for the terrible Monkees reunion album Justus. Other awful lyrics I penned for the terrible album include "You're dyin' of a broken heart/It really wasn't very smart/I lived through Nixon and a drug or two/Just to get your due" and "You wanna hit the big time, yeah you wanna strike it rich/I think you're gonna end up bakin' burgers for some bitch." For more of my abominable musings, visit http://www.myspace.com/144970278 for a guy pretending to be me!

This album is appropriate listening for children of all ages, as most of the songs are about a magical cow and his friends in the barnyard.