The Classic Metal Album Reviews:
Title: Tomb of the Mutilated
Artist: Cannibal Corpse
Label: Metal Blade
Release Date: 1992

Rating: 3 Skulls
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    • Reviewed by L.S. Bhan:
    Cannibal Corpse. That infamous gore metal band that is quite possibly the most well known of any death metal band. The band that everyone either loves to hate, hates to love, gets confused by, or simply loves or hates. The band that has the old folk crying for the youth of today, the kindergartners staring blankly into the face of Satan, and the concerned parents and political jackasses screaming and running for the nearest copy of the Bible. The band that intrigues the hell out of some of us.

    A long time ago, I had thought about buying Tomb after hearing an mp3 of "Hammer Smashed Face" live. I decided not to, for whatever reason. At that point, I actually was figuring that the chance I'd ever get a Cannibal Corpse album was close to zero. Ask me whether I was going to buy any CC album any more recently and I still would have said I probably wouldn't. But within the past few days, in the midst of what has become one of my favorite past-times (browsing the "metal zone" shelves of the local used CD store), Tomb of the Mutilated caught my eye. Not only was it the album that had "Hammer Smashed Face" on it, but also, this copy was the version with the uncensored artwork (which I much prefer to the alternative). Thinking that I'd only ever find the censored version otherwise, I decided to pick up the album for the few bucks it cost ($8.47, to be exact, tax included - what a price!). I'm glad I did.

    If you're looking for a blast of pure death metal carnage, Cannibal Corpse deliver the goods on this album. The songs are played at inhuman tempos, Chris Barnes' vocals are completely unintelligible (unless the lyric sheet is right in front of you), the cover art is gruesome as hell - all the key components are in place for one great album. But that's not entirely the case here.

    Believe me when I say Tomb of the Mutilated is a good album. There are some great moments on this disc. A few songs in particular catch my attention, including opener "Hammer Smashed Face", "Addicted to Vaginal Skin", "Entrails Ripped from a Virgin's Cunt", and "Post Mortal Ejaculation"...sound just like the titles of some greatly epic romantic poems, don't they? But there are a few things about the album that make me lower its score.

    First off, the sound-alike factor. Most of these tracks are different enough that someone wouldn't mistake one for the other, but that is certainly not the case for "Split Wide Open" and "Necropedophile", the beginnings of which sound almost identical (in this instance, you can take "almost" to mean as fucking close as is possible without being purely alike). "The Cryptic Stench" also fits into the sound-alike category, although not nearly as much so as the latter two tracks.

    Secondly, while even the best songs on this album are...well, good songs, they are made to look far much better when you read the lyrics along with Barnes' grunts (his vocals also tend to start sounding a bit similar after a while). The fact that you have to actually read the lyrics (which are some of the sickest fucking lyrics I've seen) at the same time to achieve the desired effect of the song brings the album's score down a little also.

    Thirdly and finally, the one other major complaint I have about this album is that after awhile, the drumming starts to sound a bit too similar on some of the songs. Also, the solos are a bit out of place at times, although not overwhelmingly so.

    If I had a massive number of other death metal classics in my collection, chances are I'd judge this album in comparison to those, too. But seeing as how this is only the second pure death album I have in a small and slowly growing collection of about 50 CDs (the other being Nile's Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka - an excellent album, I might add), I can't make that comparison. In the long run, that might be beneficial to Tomb of the Mutilated as I decide its final score. If it weren't for those few annoyances, I'd likely be inclined to grant a much higher rating. But those little setbacks are in place here, so the skulls must be taken away. This is an example of what could have been a great album marred by a few major problems. As much as I like it - three skulls.
    3 out of 5

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