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"Wizard Bloody Wizard" is like the lifting of a thick fog. From the off there's a feel of a dense weight being lifted from the band's signature occult/stoner blend of doom. By the time I get to track two "Necromania" things almost seem like a dark cock-rock affair which is odd. The over-arching feel though is of a band who have gone off the boil somewhat. Despite the aforementioned lifting of the heavy atmosphere "Wizard Bloody Wizard" seems more of ground out effort made under some duress resulting in the album being robbed in the main of any feel. The stoner riff that opens "Hear The Sirens Scream" gets the attention but by the time Jus' vocals kick in it is already starting to grate like when your washer stays on spin for fucking ages. Instead of being a great hook for the track in becomes a centre-pin that loops unnecessarily throughout. The vocals almost sound too laid back here also, like they are almost too much trouble to have to do. When combined with the one dimensional structure of the song it all just starts to sound more than a bit forced. As a result the track completely outstays its welcome even managing to make near 9 minutes feel like 15. It's like your nagging aunt phoning for a "quick chat" only to spend an hour of your life hearing whose died recently and why. The creepy organ keys of "The Reaper" don't actually fit the riff structure at all. The attempt at perhaps a drug infused chaos just sounds a clumsy and unnecessary 3 minutes of filler on a record that's only 6 tracks long anyway. "Wicked Caresses" offers the only hope for an actual bonafide EW track on the whole album, buzzing with hazy stoner riffs and solid plodding rhythm throughout but bubbling over with atmosphere to hold the interest better than anything before it. The vocals actually sound like they are being delivered with thought and meaning as opposed to a disinterested teenager delivering a presentation at school on "Geographical Inertia" done with minimal research and planning to ever hope of not getting to stand in the corner with a big pointy "D" hat on. Unfortunately closing track "Mourning of Magicians" is delivered with about as much enthusiasm as the current Brexit deal and I just don't understand why? "Time to Die" wasn't flawless but at least it was alive - it had meaning and purpose, direction even - whereas the cold dead eyes of "Wizard Bloody Wizard" offer no icy spark of creativity or artistic merit. It is one of the most tired sounding things I have ever heard. I spoke to my Gran this morning, she's 91 and can barely walk anymore and currently has a cold and she still sounded more exuberant than all six of these tracks put together. My noodles at lunch had more kick to them, etc, etc... I could go on for hours about how much I dislike this.

Whether you love or hate Cannibal Corpse, their penchant for churning out accessible, fun and consistent DM can't be denied. Yes when they suck they really do suck (Gallery of Suicide), but even if technically never more complicated than most Kinder egg toys there's always a familiarity to CC albums that appeals. I get those that hate that familiarity. If you prefer to become lost in a Portalesque vortex when enjoying your extreme metal then the obvious churn of CC won't be for you. However, for every complex and archaic DM record in my collection I like to have a fair amount of surety too (someone will be along in a minute to replace "surety" with "safety" no doubt) and "Red Before Black" is as familiar to me after a few listens as most of the band's previous outpyt. "Red Before Black" reinvents no wheels, either in terms of DM in general or the CC specific brand. It is naive to say it has no variety as this simply isn't true, the pace of "Remaimed" for example goes from a slight itch to a raging STD style of a rash. Opening track "Only One Will Die" comes for you like a deranged serial killer, devoid of any bizarre macabre master plan to use your body in some horrific piece of death art, just driven instead by the need to rip your head off and shit down your neck. "Firestorm Vengeance" starts like a thrash track, chopping away at the bars like a lumberjack on LSD defacing a tree. The mastery of "Scavenger Consuming Death" is undeniable as it chugs away sitting imperiously glaring at you like some cocksure domestic pet who just shat in your sock drawer! Sonically, the album seems a little more developed than usual without ever dissolving into the territory of "guitar wankery". My only instrumentation grumble is the slightly soft edge to the drum sound which taps along instead pummelling in unison with the rest of the activity on display here. Whilst still being relevant (and it has achieved this without becoming "core" orientated either) and it staying in my head a lot better than the last two Suffocation records (for example) it sets nothing alight. As solid a DM record as this is my face isn't torn off at any point, my ears aren't battered and my neck doesn't get sore due to some over-exuberant headbanging session. Most tracks do dip away unfortunately. Let's take nothing away from the effort though. To not be producing shit metal at this stage in your career is an achievement in itself, I just start to question if motions are starting to just be gone through?