Search - Cephalic Carnage :: Anomalies

Ooh...me likey!

A. Stutheit | Denver, CO USA | 03/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This Denver-based five piece blend jazz influence with death metal and grindcore, making them one of the most unique extreme music bands of the Nineties. While some of the songs (i.e. "Sleeprace" and "Kill For Weed") echo Deicide, most of the songs on "Anomalies" sound like Hatebreed or Slayer meets Cradle of Filth. The riffs are dark and ultra-heavy, Lenzig's vocals alternate from shrill, high pitched yells to low, death metal bellows, and the drummer (John Merryman) is excellent. As is the case with many death metal bands nowadays, John can bring the noise; he plays insanely fast and precise drum patterns (as highlighted by the fourth track, "The Will Or The Way").



The album opens with a scorcher, "Scientific Remote Viewing," but the second track, "Wraith," which features buzzsaw guitars and an insane, propulsive blast beat, is my personal favorite song on here. Other highlights include "Counting The Days" which is slower, but it features a few Dillinger Escape Plan-style tempo changes; the wailing, clean backing vocals and two careening guitar solos on "Dying Will Be The Death Of Me"; and "Inside Is Out" and "Litany Of Failure" are monstrous, with thunderous, pounding riffs and walloping, machine gun double bass drumming. Lastly, "Ontogeny Of Behavior" begins slowly, but it gains speed and density and it gradually becomes almost blindingly fast.



Even though I don't really see how anyone can call it "experimental" (because I don't hear the jazz influence), this is still a pretty ingenious record! Cephalic Carnage are very fast, deft, nimble, and versatile, and they are more than deserving of being checked out by you if you're into hard or grindcore. They sure got my attention!"

Great Stuff

General Zombie | the West | 02/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've only got 2 Cephalic Carnage albums. I thought 'Lucid Interval' was pretty good, but too random and jokey overall. 'Anomalies' is definitely better, still very unique and often unpredictable but it's got a more solid core sound and just stronger riff and songwriting overall. Anyway, 'Anomalies' was one of the best albums of 2005.



About half of this album is almost sorta slightly normal, just the trademark Cephalic Carnage mix of jazzy tech-death-grind with some doom or stoner riffs thrown in at intervals. Its all got fantastic, pristine production and utterly precision muscianship. Very good stuff, particularly the freaky, very techy 'Wraith' and the ominous, wild 'Inside if Out' with its piercing, jazzy licks. All the relatively (emphasis on relatively) straight forward stuff is very good but the stranger, material stands out more. 'Piecemaker' is the first major deviation on the album, and magnificently heavy southern metal stomper with some great vox. 'Dying Will Be the Dead of Me' is a very funny melo-deathified metalcore parody, with amusing, intentionally overwrought lyrics. It rocks pretty hard to, though I don't even know if we're supposed to enjoy it on a musical level. But I do, so whatever. 'Sleeprace' is another particularly stonery song though it's still got a lotta grind stuff thrown. 'Kill for Weed' is another particularly jokey track, but it comes together musically nicely enough, with amusing lyrics and vox. 'Ontogeny of Behavior' is probably the most unexpected thing here, very slow and moody with distorted spoken word vox. Unusual, but it's got more great vocals and some very memorable riffs when it really gets going.



Yeah, I'm done. Cephalic Carnage aren't gonna be to everyone's taste, but they're definitely one of the more unusual tech-death type bands out there. Check it out."

Cephalus in wonderland

animate ~ | Fayetteville, NC | 03/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Cephalic Carnage do many things well. They craft great, sometimes catchy songs. They have a strong fanbase and great musicianship as well. But for me, the thing that stands out the most with this group is it's sense of humor. Humor is something I don't see enough of in metal, and Cephalic Carnage is a welcomed breath of fresh air in that department. It's not overly cheesey, or campy (a la Gwar - who I love, of course) and it's often not even looked at because of the serious tone the music gives.



This CD in particulary is why Cephalic Carnage are some of the best in the metal scene right now. From Electric Wizard influenced southern style sludge metal ("Piecemaker"), all the way to technical death metal ("Dying Will Be the Death of Me"), with the usual grindcore and a plathora of vocal ranges thrown in, this CD is solid; track-to-track. There's only two on the album I don't listen to regularly, and even they're not bad by the standards some of the bands associated with Cephalic Carnage have set.



I've listened to this band for a few years, and of all their albums I feel this is the strongest. Not to mention they have fun, and don't take themselves seriously. Tie that in with their sometimes (but not always) subtle sense of humor and great musicianship (their drummer is a machine, and their vocalist sounds inhuman) and you've got an album that keeps on giving.



Not everyone can "get" death metal (hell, some of this bands fans don't even understand the message here), but this album is so well-rounded that I recommend it to anyone into hard rock. I see nothing but good things for this band in the future (as long as they don't replace too many more members).



Crowpath's new album aside, this is the best of the genre(s) for 2005."