Cephalic Carnage
Exploiting The Dysfunctional
Relapse
Cephalic Carnage! They like pot! A whole lot! And they’re not afraid to sing about it! But not in the manner of Cypress Hill! If they did they’d get Relapse sued for copyright infringement! So they don’t! What they do is that they start Hybrid off with an amazing slice of off-kilter grind weirdness, and just as you’re reaching maximum headbangosity, they stop (bastards!) and noodle off into some spoken word courtesy of Jawsch. But then they start again, and it’s okay! There’s even a solo break that’s kind of Carcass-y circa Necroticism, so we now have our album of the month! Cephalic Carnage! They mention Scientology! Can’t remember why! They sample GoodFellas! Grind, grind, grind! “Driven To Insanity” is beautiful because it just fucking stops at the point where its gathering up its strength for a final blistering charge and reverts into static-y toy noises. A band that requires patience and listener engagement, who woulda thunk it! During “Rehab,” Jawsh screams out the names of like twenty reasons for rehab! “Manic Depressive Psychosis?/Overactive Sex Drives?/Anorexia Nervosa?/Control Freaks?” – what a wonderful pseudo chorus! There’s some more of that random noise! Answering machine pranks! Don’t try this at home! Did Jawsh just say “Hoping I won’t defecate” in “Cryptosporidium”? That’s sort of funny, but the song is just sooo Suffocation-tastically good that it drowns out my giggling! I wonder if that guy on the answering machine is gonna throw a brick through their window? Holy shit! I got the Brujeria joke in “Molestandos Plantas Muertas” and then I pissed myself laughing! Will you? Is there really a song about Tom Forcade in there? Was he as important as L. Ron Hubbard? Cephalic Carnage is smarter AND funnier than the Naked City! Plug: This is THE hidden gem of the Relapse roster. Sell your stash, buy the record, and listen to it with headphones constantly.
Relapse, P.O. Box 2060, Upper Derby, PA 19082; http://www.relapse.com
