Review by Allan on December 16, 2002.

Abscess is one of those band’s that’s career is enough to make your head spin and to tie your thoughts in a nice little mess. They’re a reincarnation of Autopsy, this member left, that member left, he rejoined, they recorded this 7”, that 7”, countless demos, switched record labels a few times, and just about everything else that goes with that. If you put all the mess aside, you’ll realize that Abscess and their third album “Through The Cracks Of Death” is a powerful slab of solid death metal.

Abscess is in the vein of classic, or traditional death metal (like Autopsy). However, Abscess has this unique way of approaching their music. They don’t stay strictly in line with what death metal is, or isn’t. For example, on “Through The Cracks Of Death” there is very little usage of double bass or blast beats. It turns out well, usually holding enough energy to keep Abscess’ music moving without turning to overused drum techniques. Much of Abscess’ music has a very rock ‘n’ roll feel to it. The riffs cross both the death metal and rock barriers, and the solos just have a touch of that classic 70’s feel to them. Abscess also brings a doom influence into their music, which can be found in nearly every song. All three of these elements, when used well together as Abscess clearly do, end up creating a refreshing piece of death metal.

I’m sure Abscess will never get as much attention as Autopsy, for various reasons, but they still deserve more attention than what they’re receiving right now. Vocalist Chris Reifert sounds as sick, if not sicker than he did in his Autopsy days, and the rest of the members do just as well. Try not to think of Abscess as a reincarnation of Autopsy, but more as a band that is coming from the same place and have a similar vision.

Bottom Line: Abscess may do death metal in vein of the early days, but their unique approach to their music makes “Through The Cracks Of Death” twice as interesting as what you usually hear from modern death metal acts these days.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 7
Atmosphere: 8
Originality: 7
Production: 7
Overall: 7

Rating: 7.2 out of 10

Review by Krys on February 22, 2002.

This is getting ridiculous. How, out of 11 tracks, do I get to review the album based on 3 full-length songs from which one barely hits a 2-minute mark (the remainding 8 fade out after 1 minute)? Well, maybe I wouldn’t be so pissed if the best stuff didn’t actually start after first 3 songs.

Let’s back it up a little. Opener ‘Hatchet To The Head’ opens with such aggression that only Cannibals and a handful of today’s bands can pull off and while I didn’t expect drastic changes I hoped for a little more innovation in song structures after their latest more or less average releases. Surprisingly enough I didn’t have to wait long to change my mind and with ‘Pit Of Zombies’ the Cannibals proved the Corpse is not rotten yet and there are plenty of fresh ideas for crunchy riffs and dynamic rhythms left in them.

In case you forget what these guys are all about, ‘Dormant Bodies Bursting’ kicks in with crushing blast beats and twisted riffs mixed with a slower middle part where George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher growls and screams his balls off to pit-friendly guitar work.

I guess I should end this right here because we don’t review 1 min. samples but what I’ve heard is so thrilling and incomparable to their previous work that I would be committing a sin not giving you at least a glimpse of what’s to come. While it might sound a little strange, Cannibal Corpse feels a little more accessible to the listener and while it’s not melodic death and speed is still the main component, most of the tracks seem to be very well balanced between gore-filled onslaughts and slower groove sections. While ‘Hung and Bled’ must be one of the best songs they’ve ever written, ‘When Death Replaces Life’ marks first Cannibal’s ‘ballad’. That’s of course based on 1-min. samples so I’d better shut up before I say something I might regret later on.

Bottom Line: Definitely the best Cannibal Corpse album in years and while “Gore Obsessed” doesn’t bring anything new, aggression and a will to destroy seemed to find its way back to what looked like slowly degenerating corpse.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 9
Originality: 7
Overall: 8

Rating: 8.2 out of 10