Chris Barnes has a great deal to prove here, as his vocals on "Nightmares of the Decomposed" were weak as hell. I can appreciate that Chris Barnes speaks his mind in this bizarro world where metal was once considered to be a genre where poseurs were called out, there is now a trend to discourage gatekeeping. But that means you gotta back it up and walk the walk you are talking about. Thanks to production choices that find his voice heavily distorted with a filter of high gain, it's hard to tell if he is bringing it or not. The band is certainly invigorated and in your face.
This works for the first two songs, but things start to take on a uniform sound by the time we get to "Ascension". Barnes' work with Cannibal Corpse is classic and has been long emulated after, but these days it's hard not to wonder if Corpsegrinder is not outperforming him. They certainly made the right production choices here as it is ripping the last album a new asshole. He sounds like he is getting back closer to his old growling power on "When the Moon Goes Down in Blood" . The riffing is more intricate without getting too technical for my tastes.
"Hostility Against Mankind" is more deliberate. Articulation has never been his strong suit but here the gurgle makes it harder for him to get the message across. But the feeling of the song seems to convey it. The song breaks down to an expected groove thanks to the gritty bass line. More rock n roll than what most death metal bands are doing, but there is nothing wrong with that. "Compulsive" is more straightforward, but in the method-out speed fest manner that "Fit of Carnage" is. Which is almost a punk extreme. "Neanderthal" proves a deliberate attack is always heavier than relying upon speed. The counterpoint to this argument can be heard in "Judgement Day" which shows if you are going to play at least sound like Slayer when you are doing so.
The album's moments of filler come when they get bogged down in sounding like generic death metal. This trend is not broken until they close the album with a cover of Nazereth's "Hair of the Dog" which musical does not venture far from the original with Barne's growled vocals the main thing setting it apart. I will give this album an 8, at times it is one-dimensional, but there are fans of just the death metal basics. It does find them in better form than the previous album.
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