It’s been awhile since I’ve personally checked in with Cannabis Corpse. Back when I reviewed Tube of the Resinated, they were exactly what they appeared to be: a Cannibal Corpse clone with a weed fetish. The album cover looked like them; the music sounded like them; the song titles were punny takes on theirs. Apparently that shtick grew tiresome and they started harvesting other death metal stalwarts for inspiration. The fields of Morbid Angel, Deicide, and Death all became ripe fodder for Cannabis Corpse to further their addiction.
Label: Season of Mist.
Musically I can’t say much on what has changed, other than that since the beginning, they’ve grown a bit from pure Cannibal Corpse clones to a style more their own. I can’t really say “unique” because it sounds more like a hybrid, a collective if you will, of all things death metal. Or maybe that’s just what Cannibal Corpse is; there are still a lot of similarities, but the overall presentation isn’t as obvious. Whatever the case is just fine with me. I don’t know if I could stand an album that sounded like Bolt Thrower one minute, Entombed the next, and Nile the next.
Your tolerance for Cannabis Corpse at this stage is going to depend heavily on how much you love the leaf. If you read the track listing and think it’s just the funniest, wittiest, handsomest thing (“The 420th Crusade”, “In Dank Purity”, “Effigy of the Forgetful”), come on down to the Left Hand Pass and get your fix. If you find it all rather juvenile, maybe you can save your cash for the next Blut Aus Nord joint.
Then again, I enjoy the album and band and neither partake of the herb or find much humor in Harold and Kumar Get Half Baked on Friday. I do like to put on music that is loud, rhythmic, and riffy and tune out my surroundings. Woah…it’s like…aural cannabis. Far out. Does that make me an audio stoner? I hope they can’t check for that on a pee test. Dave’s not here, man.
Maybe I’ve been listening to that new Pyrrhon album too much……but I am really enjoying this fun, dumb record.