While the band's trademark blistering paced music is there from the start, Cannibalised shows more of a melodic side with some of the songs on here. "Breathing Silence" is a more slow paced track utilizing acoustic guitars most of the time, branching off into a heavier track with a blistering solo that continues up through the climax of the track. "Consumed" also falls in this category, as having a heavy, yet rather eerie musical tone, especially during the normal verses. And, let's not forget "Through Hatred Arise," which really feels like this band's vocalist had teamed up with Dimmu Borgir to write some sort of twisted ballad.

But aside the aforementioned songs, and a few really light song outros, like the one on "Reborn In Damnation" that bleeds into "Through Hatred Arise," pretty much all the songs follow the same guidelines. You have the echoed screaming vocals that are often overlayed by the same or different lyric line to sound edgier, as well as unrelentingly fast music with even faster guitar solos. While this really isn't a bad thing, and brings a well oiled machine feel to the mix, it may very well end up boring you after a while, or it can just be obnoxious, like the brief noise segment that appears prior to the guitar solo in "Cannibalised."

Lyrically the album is pretty well thought out. Some will argue that they were written more for shock value, and at times they would be correct, but much of the album's lyrical material is actually rather bland and can be confused with that style of writing. The tracks "Slow The Poison" and "Reborn In Damnation" seem to have the most shock value based lyrics, but that's about it.

Cannibalised, while a great album, definitely has its flaws. What really stands out on this release would be the first half of the album. After "Predatory" the album seems to have a filler feel to it, closing with the rather unimpressive track "Violent Descent." After a few listens, you'll begin to notice some repetitiveness, and you'll notice a lot of studio looped vocal tracks, as well as background vocals that just abruptly cut off. But, regardless of these flaws, Cannibalised is still one release you simply must listen to this year.

written by Jason Thomas Weiss

Playing time: 47:13