Six Feet Under
Commandment
Metal Blade/Stomp


Listen to enough metal, and you come to learn that there are certain bands who can always be relied upon to put out releases that hold no surprises, good or bad, whatsoever. Incantation and Bolt Thrower are two such groups that spring readily to mind, as are Cannibal Corpse and Malevolent Creation (at least with pretty much everything they've released in the last decade or so). And then there's Six Feet Under...

Now well into its second decade of existence, ex-Cannibal Corpse front-man Chris Barnes' hideously deformed (and no doubt undead) baby has returned with yet another great, festering slab of darkness and misery in the form of 'Commandment'. Yes folks, there's absolutely nothing remotely unexpected here: just ten more of the aforementioned Barnes' murderous masturbatory fantasies, packaged into easily-digestible songs bearing such groundbreaking titles as The Edge Of The Hatchet, As The Blade Turns, Resurrection Of The Rotten (snigger) and Zombie Executioner (snigger again).

Permeated throughout by the usual atmosphere of darkness and dread, the material here is pretty monotonous (if at times catchy in certain formulaic ways). Sometimes it speeds up a bit, sometimes it slows down, but for the most part it just rumbles along, dominated by mid-paced drumming that, if nothing else, will probably have you tapping your foot in time to it. The occasional guitar solo adds a bit of variety to proceedings, while Chris Barnes' dulcet vocals (mainly growls, with the odd hideous screech thrown in for good measure) will carry you off to a magical world of marauding, cannibalistic zombies; flesh-slicing, soul-raping psychopaths; and... well, you get the idea.

From all of the above, you may surmise that 'Commandment' left me as cold as the corpses that feature prominently in its songs. Not at all! Seriously, I love this shit! It's not remotely challenging, but for me that's all just part of its appeal - something nice and dumb to have going away in the background while I play some equally violent first person shooter to further satisfy my lust for gore...

James Brazel