Cannabis Corpse

Helmed by the Hall brothers, Municipal Waste bassist Phil "Landphil" and drummer Josh "HallHammer," metal mavens Cannabis Corpse release their third full-length, Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise. Now focusing their energetic humour upon Deicide and Morbid Angel (at least nominally), the Richmond, VA-based band have become much less of a Cannibal Corpse parody, coming into their own as a death metal band with a sense of hash-fuelled humour. Though "Lunatic of Pot's Creation" and "Dead by Bong" honour Deicide's "Lunatic of God's Creation" and "Dead by Dawn" in title only, their specific densities mirror that of Glen Benton and co., injecting each cut with maximum blast beats, high- and low-pitched screams, and razor-sharp riffage. While "Blaze of Torment" and "Chapel of Bowls" mirror the breakneck speed of Morbid Angel's "Maze of Torment" and "Chapel of Ghouls," "Where the Kind Lives" also invokes the slower pace of Morbid's famous "Where the Slime Lives" in its guitar bridge. "Slave to the Chron" is arguably the best track, featuring technical chordage, fluid soloing and metronomic drumming. When the band play live, their Gwar-esque mascot (a totemic, man-sized reefer bud) stokes the mosh pit, swinging his leafy arms like ivy-covered windmills. As death metal's one-upmanship to be the brutalest band has become utterly laughable, Cannabis Corpse are playing to that faction of fans that appreciate a little levity with their metal.