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There's no denying that these guys can play their instruments. "Cephalic Carnage" has always been about pushing boundaries to the limit and not giving a shit about what they should or shouldn't do. "Anomalies" is their 4th full length album and they're still creating some serious havoc. For the unaware, this is grindcore. But it's not just grindcore. Cephalic Carnage have dabbled their hands into all sorts of styles over the years, even releasing a single doom track EP a few years ago. They play around with jazz, experiment with vocal techniques, and generally bash the shit out of things. Whatever tickles their fancy at the time! Throughout all this random madness, there is some serious fretboard athletics going on and absolutely inhuman drumming. But can they create something relevant or interesting out of all this chaos? Well…kind of.
I guess this isn't really my thing. I should point that out before you take my opinion on "Anomalies". I much prefer a more serious output from my metal, without the immature lyrics about drug taking or whatever. Songs such as "Kill For Weed" just don't do it for me, and lyrics such as "Dying Will be the Death of Me" are just plain silly. But then again, there are heaps of fans out there that prefer metal that doesn't take itself too seriously, so it's just a matter of opinion really. That crosses over to the music as well. I can hear so many great sections in the majority of tracks on Cephalic Carnage releases and can't help but think that they could really make a beast of an album if they put their mind to it. "The Will or the Way" is a case in point. It's a truly great grind track that even has Barney from Napalm Death guesting on vocals. An album like that would be awesome! And the final 10 minute "Onotogony of Behavior" shows that these guys can create a good, well constructed song, but there are just a few too many moments where they are either completely playing around or adding parts that intentionally don't really fit.
But credit where credit is due and Cephalic Carnage have made an entertaining album with "Anomalies". Fans of the band will absolutely love this and grindcore fans in general should check them out for their musicianship alone, and for some breathtaking blasting sections. I'm sure they'd be something else entirely live as well, but I'm not sure how anyone could play this stuff while stoned, which these guys apparently do.
I guess I'm not a huge fan of Cephalic Carnage, but there's no denying that this is a good album from a talented bunch of freaks.
Best tracks : "Scientific Remote Viewing", "The Will or the Way" and "Ontogony of Behavior".
The Metal Matrix result : At the time of writing this review, the album has a rating of 82.59 after 67 reviews. This places the album into the category of "Metal Matrix Credit".
"Anomalies" has done very well with the critics. It's character and extravagantly immature yet creative nature seem to have won listeners over. One day these guys could release an album of higher merit, but then they seem to like playing around too much to concentrate long enough. A good result.
The Trickster has spoken (18 August 2005) thetrickster@themetalmatrix.com
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Lords of Metal - "Mandatory heart stopper, sandyish thaumaturgy of ocherous helminths. Lumbering rainstorms, pasteboard injections manage recession. Hieroglyphic fitting rooms, allurement of heckled euphuism. Clearance order!" 83/100
Metal Review - "They're like a large angry toddler with a sense of humor - stealing your toys and gluing them together. While some people might be initially displeased, eventually they'll realize that He-Man's head really does look better attached to Predator's left arm, with his legs replaced by Legos. While definitely not a new direction for Cephalic Carnage, they're taking the entire realm of metal by storm once again by borrowing from everyone, destroying and perverting everything, and apologizing to no one. As heavy as it is uncommonly excellent, Anomalies proves that there's still at least one band capable of doing everything almost perfectly." 6/6
Antenna - "To be honest, I’m in two minds about this record, as I think the performance and the production is near flawless, and I like bands which like to push musical boundaries, but somehow this record doesn’t move a muscle or emotion in me, and I don’t sit back with the feeling of wanting to explore the songs further. This is a shame as the last thing we want to hear is another band that sounds like a tortured cliché, so I’m drawn towards two extremes in my grading of this album, and these are the main reflections that lie behind the mediocre grade that I have given." 3/6
Chronicles of Chaos - "For a genre that just a few years ago was about as exciting and innovative as a trip to the dentist, it's great to see the fires of creativity burning so brightly once again in the grindcore camp. But for all its Nasums and Pig Destroyers, _Anomalies_ is proof that when it comes to truly experimental extremity, Cephalic Carnage are simply in a class all of their own." 9/10
Metal Invader - "CEPHALIC CARNAGE is a world-class act and no one can deny their immense potential, musical and technical skills, first-rate structures and all these strange feelings that conquer one when listening to their albums. Here’s to ultimate perversion, here’s to CEPHALIC CARNAGE!" 5/6
Pivotal Rage - "This band not only supports your habit, but makes music that apparently is good for getting high. For people like me who aren’t on drugs but are fans of death metal, Cephalic Carnage is good music to just head bang to. I recommend checking out the songs “The Will or the Way” and “Litany of Failure”." 4/5
Metal Observer - "Above and beyond the best release that CEPHALIC CARNAGE has managed to piece together, now hopefully they can get back to work and complete the “Halls Of Amenti” trilogy." 9/10
The Darkest Hours - "A violent tornado could be a perfect description cause this album is a brutal assault that make no compromises! Extremely tight, a powerfull production with guitar that sounds heavy as hell and a low guttural vocal that fits perfectly with the music of those twisted minds! Also an agressive 'normal' voice can be heard. Blending genre together makes them sound special. This is sick but man this is good!!" 90%
Metal Rules - "This is truly what distances the band from peers—they branch out, weird out, and smoke up as much as any Prog or Post-Death band…but they never lost their brutality along the way." 3.5/5
Pitfather - "Almost stoner rock passages combined with grind is something you don’t see every day. For me the highlight on the album is the song ‘Dying will be the death of me’. Not only is the title brilliant of course, but the heavy metal vocals and the awesome guitarsolo’s in this song make it just worth to blow up your stereo." 4.5/5
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