The Weeding

Cannabis Corpse might just have the greatest band idea in history. As their name would suggest, they're a death metal parody band focusing lyrically on a certain green, leafy substance that is illegal to sell in most civilized countries.

It's not uncommon for death metal bands to have a song or two dedicated to their love of marijuana, but this band takes it to new levels. Every song on this EP is a Cannibal Corpse song re-recorded to include tongue-in-cheek lyrics about pot. Best of all, those lyrics are actually pretty funny in comparison to their original Cannibal Corpse counterparts. Something just works about mixing campy zombie horror imagery with weed, especially when you're making fun of another band.

This album is meant to be a joke, but that doesn't stop it from being excellent musically. In fact, the parodies on this release often rival the original songs recorded by Cannibal Corpse. The guitars are brutal, that blast beats are magnificent, and the old school death metal influences ooze out of every track. Of course, the vocals are even better than the original Cannibal Corpse songs, which featured infamous pig-squealer Chris Barnes on vocals.

The only downside here is that the production is not exactly top-notch and the album sometimes sounds lo-fi as a result. It's not too huge of a problem, and it's still probably better than some other extreme metal EPs out there, but if you've heard any of Cannabis Corpse's older stuff, you'll probably be able to notice the difference.

Even so, this album is creative, brutal, hilarious, and a must-own for any fan of Cannibal Corpse, marijuana, or even death metal in general. Blaze a fat sack and get ready for one of the most awesomely ridiculous metal experiences that you're ever going to come across.

Essentially a death metal parody gone legit, Cannabis Corpse's previous full-length Tube of the Resinated was quite a surprise last year, chock full of quality riffing (especially for USDM). To describe the concept is not difficult: think of that 'other' death metal band, the one with the similar name, inject the dorky marijuana shtick of early Cephalic Carnage or Bongzilla, and profit. Each release spoofs a Cannibal Corpse title, in this case a play on The Bleeding.

Which leads me to the following question: what happened to Eaten Back to Life? What the hell, guys, honestly!

At any rate, The Weeding EP contains four new tracks of blunted technical death metal with the obvious influence, in addition to a little Suffocation, Morbid Angel, etc. "Shit of Pot Seeds" gallops out of the gate with a myriad of great riffs, the bass playing is also quite good which mirrors Alex Webster. "Vaporized" is excellent, with some creepy cavernous leads and brilliant moments of chugging death. "Skull Full of Bong Hits" is choppy and brutal; if you like anything from the first four Cannibal Corpse selections you'll also like this. "Sickening Photosynthesis" features more persistent, quality riffing.

You can't go wrong here if you enjoyed Tube of the Resinated. The EP has a good honest tone to it, a little lower budget than the band's idols but you can still hear everything quite clearly. The bass, drums and guitar are all impressively performed, just technical enough without going overboard. The cover art is also great. Like most good parody metal bands, they take the music seriously enough that it'd be worth listening to even without the hilarity and puns.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com