Cannibal Corpse - The Wretched Spawn [Picture Disc UK Import]

Cannibal Corpse's ninth studio album turns up as a picture disc UK import, so The Wretched Spawn's artwork is printed right on the record itself.

Released in 2004 on Metal Blade, the album caught the death metal titans in a lean, focused spell. George Corpsegrinder Fisher was several records into his tenure on vocals, Alex Webster's bass was as busy and articulate as ever, Paul Mazurkiewicz anchored the chaos, and guitarists Jack Owen and Pat O'Brien traded riffs with surgical precision. Neil Kernon produced, and the result is clear, crushing and brutally efficient.

Severed Head Stoning opens the album and sets a pummelling tone, and Decency Defied keeps the assault going. Frantic Disembowelment is every bit as frenzied as the title promises, and Rotted Body Landslide shows just how heavy this line-up could hit without ever letting up for air.

Across thirteen songs, the band keeps the gore-soaked horror imagery that made their name while tightening the arrangements, so even the most extreme passages feel locked in. Nothing outstays its welcome, and the riffs keep coming.

For death metal collectors, it is a key record from a band that has never softened, and a picture disc is a fitting way to show it off.