Cephalic Carnage
Xenosapien

Gradually becoming less atypical and challenging, yet equally unpredictable and hysterical, Cephalic Carnage maintain their more than respectable place within today’s extreme scene. Their technical and experimental death/grind, stained with sludge-doom slowdowns and vibrant jazz-fusion passages, has become a unique trademark, a standard that no one has yet managed to surpass. "Xenosapien", their fifth studio album, does not betray expectations, continuing in the same vein as its predecessor (equally excellent) "Anomalies".

The first two tracks on the list, "Endless Cycle Of Violence" and "Divination & Violation", present us with the same old Cephalic Carnage: down-tuned guitars as heavy as rocks, lightning-fast drums that change from one tempo to another as inhumanly as naturally, without making the transitions forced or impossible to digest, torrential blastbeats (probably among the fastest ever performed by the group), dissonant riffs, and Lenzig’s classic deep and dark growl.

As you go through the tracklist, you encounter more direct and less convoluted songs, some of which imprint themselves on your mind due to the almost melodic line that pervades them: try listening to "Touched By An Angel" and tell me if the verses, as fast as they are assimilable, don’t stick with you; another example is "Molting", with its seemingly more regular pace, but broken up here and there by blastbeats that explode like firecrackers.

Also noteworthy is "Let them hate so long as they fear", a minute and a bit of grind violence, "Vaporized", with its almost thrash-like start, and the cadenced and doomy "G.lobal O.verhaul D.evice" (embellished with sax solos) and the concluding track.

"Megacosm Of The Aquaphobics" brings us back to the atmospheres present in "Lucid Interval": the dissonant bridge halfway through, to say the least, hallucinatory, can be compared to compositions that have now become classics of the group like "Pseudo", which testifies that the lysergic and disorienting component that has always made this group unique in its genre is far from vanished, but is administered with more maturity and skill compared to the past.

Therefore, a violent, unpredictable, and dissonant album, but also compact, homogeneous, and, at times, almost melodic: all characteristics that make "Xenosapien" the most assimilable chapter of their career. Those who loved the psychotic deliriums of their early records may be a bit disappointed, but if, on the contrary, you enjoyed the previous album, then dive into listening to this new work, less disorienting than "Anomalies" but equally of excellent quality.