Cephalic Carnage – Misled By Certainty

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It pays to be popular. Cephalic Carnage are just that, but I’m not sure why. Sure, they’ve released some pretty good grindcore albums, and they’ve ventured into other genre’s (like with their epic EP Halls of Amenti) but it seems that on their latest release Misled By Certainty, they just churned out a record with no heart in it. There may be some parts on the album that show the band still has fun at what they do, but a band with their status and history in the extreme metal scene deserves something better for their sixth album in eighteen years. The biggest factor that contributes to the overall mediocrity of this album is that this sound has already been perfected by other bands, such as Dying Fetus, Origin and Misery Index. Cephalic Carnage really don’t bring anything new to the table on most of these tracks. There are some tracks that are completely off-the-wall random, but instead of being jazzy and coalescing into a great sound, it just seems lazy and phoned in. There are a few tracks on this album that are your standard, short, to-the-point grind songs, but in other songs, it seems they’ve de-tuned the guitars and have relapsed into nu-metal territory. Does Cephalic Carnage want to be the next Soulfly? I’d hope not. In the end, Misled By Certainty is pretty much what you’d expect from Cephalic Carnage after their last few average albums: average grindcore with some wacky elements thrown in to try and catch listeners off-guard. But take one listen to the multitude of artists in the exciting current worldwide grindcore scene, and you’ll see that Cephalic Carnage need a prayer to regain what ground they lost with this release.

Written by Jackson May
More: 2010, Albums, Black Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Cephalic Carnage