Review Summary: Solid enough, but without any of the band's real career highlights to encourage repeat listens
Titans of death metal Cannibal Corpse need very little introduction, having been providing their blood-soaked carnage for getting on four decades now. Like what feels to be the vast majority of long-enduring artists, the band has had a number of ups and downs, yet their overall consistency retains a higher bar than the average band's weaker moments, and this can be said for 2017's Red Before Black. Following the excellent A Skeletal Doman, and preceding the equally great Violence Unimagined, this can be considered the "red-haired stepchild," if you will.
The riffing is all that we have come to expect from modern Cannibal Corpse, with a variety of chunky power chord-driven riffs interspersed between tremolo-picked fury and flurries of palm-muted low-end notes. The technicality of albums such as Kill is retained, with Remaimed serving as a glorious reminder of the complexities the guitarists of this band, and they are also capable of slower and more ominous and atmospheric moments, like those found in Shedding My Human Skin and the intro to the anthemic Code of the Slashers. The drumming is the same thrash beats and blasts that one has come to expect from the band, and the audible and frantic bass work from Alex is as memorable as ever, with Scavenger Consuming Death providing some incredible playing. George's vocals, whilst not having the same unhinged dynamics of his earlier efforts such as Vile, offer a cavernous low roar to convey the graphic imagery of the lyrics.
So, if all is well in the individual performances, and the songs are memorable enough, where does it fall short of their best works? Simply put, this album doesn't have any watershed moments for the band like Kill Or Become from A Skeletal Doman or Inhumane Harvest from Violence Unimagined. It's fine, and there can be little doubt about that, but it is hard to recommend this one over their stronger outings. Each song here is solid, with none that stand out as offensive, but it blends into one long slog by the end of it. The production doesn't feel as razor sharp as some of their other recent efforts, and this contributes to its lack of replay value. This is still a good album, however, and one that fans should check out.
