Cannibal Corpse - Inhumane Harvest

Key Facts

Country: 🇺🇸

Genre: Death Metal

Release Date: 2nd February 2021

Record Label(s): Metal Blade Records

Band Memebers

Alex Webster - Bass

Paul Mazurkiewicz - Drums

Rob Barrett - Guitars

George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher - Vocals

Erik Rutan - Guitars

Cannibal Corpse - Inhumane Harvest

Review

Rating (out of 5🤘): 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

Death metal monoliths Cannibal Corpse are back! After the crazy album that was Red Before Black ( which is also one of the earliest reviews on Fjordhammer), it's been quite a transitional period for the band. The most notable change being the recruitment of Erik Rutan to replace Pat O'Brein after he was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon and burglary of an occupied dwelling with assault or battery back in 2018. Whilst it is bittersweet, as O'Brein was such an integral part fo Cannibal Corpse it comes as no surprise, the song however will slap the pandemic boredom out of your brain. Erik's involvement brings something fresh to the Cannibal Corpse sound as the band begins the next era of destruction. 

Inhumane Harvest is a song packed to the brim with classic Cannibal Corpse aggression and energy, firing groove filled death metal riffs at you at a significant speed. However, straight from the get go, there is something different about this song, something fresh and invigorating. While Corpse have stuck to a fairly distinct and structure sound, they've always experimented with various grooves and rhythms to spice up the brutality of their music. Inhumane Harvest is a perfect example of this, moving in and out of half time beats to full throttle blasts effortlessly, demonstrating a precise and calculated use of dynamics to deliver a song that delivers maximum death metal impact. Whilst the band's lyrics remain wholly fictional, just looking at the lyrics from the first verse is a good indication that this is about the harvesting of human body parts for the black market;

"Twisted criminal underground

Subjugation of the victim for complete control

Reaping vital body parts

Surgical precision taking all that will be sold" - Cannibal Corpse, 2021

Never failing to serve up a gruesome and grisly image with well written and articulated language, and  Inhuman Harvest is no different, a visceral and gory song that just makes you want to thrash around the room, annihilating anything and anyone in your path. Corpsegrinder's exceptional vocal delivery just sounds better and better with every release and still makes him stand out as one of the few that doesn't sound like a gurgling toilet bowl. The bruising guitar rhythms support the powerful imagery in the lyrics whilst chainsaw lead passages speed through your skull at an alarming rate of knots. The solo although brief is executed to perfection, sweeping over the chaotic rhythms as quickly as a guillotine blow to the neck. Overall the song is, as many leading singles from Cannibal Corpse are, an absolutely dominating reminder why these guys are at the top of the death metal pyramid. It shall be interesting to see how the song works in the context of the entire album, but it won't be one that you'll forget in a hurry. 

The production carries on much of what was established in the aforementioned 2017's Red Before Black a cleaner, more sharpened approach, which allows the tightness of the band's performance to really shine through. Even so, it still contains some of that ridiculously raw edge that the band possesses, simultaneously folding in the energy and chaos of a Corpse live show. The rhythm guitar tones are thick and bruising, boosted by the distorted rumble of Alex Webster's bass, so the impact of the chugging riffs hit you like a truck. The kick drives through the song with a sickening thump whilst the snare sounds like the shot from a machine gun. The lead guitars go from sounding like frantic and crazed bees in the intro to buzzing chainsaws throughout the rest of the song, sawing through the mix effortlessly. Overall the band continually evolve the scale of their production, and in the case of Inhumane Harvest, the production really shows off how tight the band are in terms of performance. 

Cannibal Corpse have returned to crush skulls in 2021, and if you value your skull, it is recommended that you give Inhumane Harvest a listen!

Cannibal Corpse - Inhumane Harvest