Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the Mutilated (1992)

This is the album where everything seemed to perfectly align for Cannibal Corpse. The band's songwriting chops were vastly improving while they sacrificed absolutely none of the brutality or carnage found on their sophomore LP, 'Butchered at Birth', and while I still feel that that album's cover can never be topped in terms of offensiveness and shock value, Vincent Locke did his best to outdo it with his rendition of necro-cunnilingus.

The thing about early CC that many fail to recognize or remember, for that matter, is that there was a sincere creepiness about their music coupled with the ultra-lecherous vibe of Chris Barnes' lyrical content and his rather deadpan vocal delivery (yeah, yeah, yeah, they were low and "gurgly" and all that good shit, but there was something disturbingly lifeless about his particular approach on this album). Sure, 'Entrails Ripped from a Virgin's Cunt' or 'Addicted to Vaginal Skin' are sure to catch everyone's attention but it's the absolutely horrific and ultra-skeevy title 'Necropedophile' that is the true rotten gem, complete with a sound bite of children frolicking about in a playground, fading into darkness. I mean, ugh! You need a brillo pad and a bottle of bleach in order to scrub your brain clean of that experience. For all the Devourment's, Disgorge's and whoever the fuck else out there, Cannibal Corpse was the first and the worst in terms of horrendously offensive lyrical content and once Chris Barnes "pissed in her maggot filled asshole', that was it. Everyone can go home now.

Cannibal hadn't quite reached the pinnacle of every musician's delusions, which is the quest to enhance one's technical prowess (The tried and true killer of vibes) so there is no shortage of filth and grime to wash down each and every sordid utterance to come dripping through the microphone. Sure, all of the "musicians" out there will continue to piss and moan about the lack of arpeggios and "breathtaking" leads, but fuck 'em, I mean, how "advanced" and melodic is a band called Cannibal Corpse supposed to sound, eh? Nah, CC delivered with 'Tomb...', big time!

Unfortunately, 'Tomb...' would be the last of its kind as much of the blood and semen encrusted on this album would be wiped clean on the band's next outing, 'The Bleeding', a rather neutered affair that seen the band moving further away from their grimy roots.