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intothewellsabyss
Nov 3, 20223 min read

Cannibal Corpse - Red Before Black (2017)

FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…



On November 3, 2017, Cannibal Corpse released their fourteenth full-length studio album Red Before Black via Metal Blade Records.


This is the band's final album to feature guitarist Pat O'Brien before producer Erik Rutan officially replaced him in 2021.


Background:

The band started to write the album in 2016 after the last run of touring for their previous album, A Skeletal Domain. When interviewed in 2017 drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz stated that the band never go by any specific blueprints when they start writing for an album, pointing out that this was also the case with Red Before Black. However the idea of utilizing some slower Doom elements was discussed beforehand. This manifested in a couple of songs, while they mostly remained true to their Death Metal sound and Thrash Metal roots.


Mazurkiewicz came up with the album title while sleeping in the middle of the night, making him wake up. Further down the road of creating the album he said about the title "... I really pushed for it because I felt it was very strong and something very different than our previous titles. It’s simple, but effective".


After hearing the song Only One Will Die, penned by bassist Alex Webster, all members of the band thought it should be the first track of the album. The first song they worked on was Red Before Black. It started out as an unnamed piece written by guitarist Pat O'Brien with Mazurkiewicz contributing with a title and the lyrics later.


Choosing to work with Erik Rutan as a producer again after working with Mark Lewis on the previous album was partly because of convenience, enabling the band to stay focused during the recording process, although Rutan's previous work with the band was also a deciding factor.


Critical Reception:

In his review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek stated;

“Just shy of their 30th birthday, Cannibal Corpse, the original progenitors of gore-drenched death metal, are back with album number 14. In terms of production, Red Before Black steps away from the relative polish of 2014's Mark Lewis-produced “Skeletal Domain”. Erik Rutan is back in the engineer and mixing chairs, restoring the muddier sound of records including Torture, “Evisceration Plague”, and “Kill”. “
Jurek continued; “The first two-thirds of this set are classic-sounding sick and twisted extreme death metal with lyrics drenched in gore, hate, murder, and necrophilia. While it would initially seem that any metal band whose scope is deliberately limited would fall into a creative rut and end up irrelevant, Cannibal Corpse, as always, prove the exception. That said, a hint of complacency does rear its hideous little head during the last few cuts, making them almost indistinguishable from one another. The first nine of these 12 tracks are potent, infectious, and punishing. Opener Only One Will Die was written by Alex Webster, whose bass is much more prevalent on this date than it has been in years. It shreds from the jump with drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz's unrelenting, blindingly quick rhythmic shifts behind the punishing, razored riffs of guitarists Pat O'Brien and Rob Barrett, who create the intended menace and aggression.
The title track opens with angular, almost atonal guitar and bass riffs before blasting into overdrive with George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher's guttural pipes spitting and roaring out the usual mayhem about torture, murder, and all inglorious forms of death as a way of life. That angularity also introduces Shedding My Human Skin, and the pummel and crack of Mazurkiewicz's drums and Webster's bassline create a serrated groove. Scavenger Consuming Death is a highlight, specifically for the way in which Webster creates a sub-low end, sinister groove as the band and Fisher roil around him. Heads Shoveled Off has a knotty, driving riff and almost incessant swinging blastbeats underscoring and running counter to Fisher's staccato growling. In fact, he seems to syncopate as well, almost singing in counterpoint directly against the music. The guitar breaks are positively unhinged, blurring keys and scales with technically sublime aggression. The last three tracks don't run out of steam; they all contain a sheer peel-your-face-off sense of menace, but there is little in the way of imagination to make them memorable. They won't prompt you to shut off the deck -- at least not the first time or two -- but you may find yourself wishing Red Before Black was a tad shorter than 43 minutes. That complaint aside, the remainder is essential Cannibal Corpse.”

Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells


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