Formed in 2006 from Richmond, Virginia, Cannabis Corpse not to be confused with Cannibal Corpse are a marijuana themed death metal band and have returned to record their latest and most recent album through Season of Mist titled Left Hand Pass releasing on September 8th, 2017 and is the follow-up to 2014’s From Wisdom To Baked. With this fifth full-length, Cannabis Corpse took a death metal monster with goddamned Riff- behemoth indebted to old school Floridian death metal acts such as Deicide and Morbid Angel but never again do they descend into a carbon copy or shamelessly pandering onto self-contained retro stylings currently have the Metal community tired or old dirty clutches. The release is well- written, executed properly and production values alongside mastering balance of brutality and catchiness just sorts a swift roundhouse kick in the ass Death Metal desperately needed from this Virginian outfit. They’ve also recognized importance which bands these days unfortunately crammed sweep pickings much as possible but however Cannabis Corpse has natural reinventing imaginations that simply wrote fantastic head bang, fist bumping and mosh pit anthem kind of incarnation Death Metal we know and love.
This album brings originality and differentiating tables into sense of hysterical humor in spite of the chuckled tracks including Papyrus Containing the Spell to Protect Its Possessor Against Attacks from He who Is in the Bong Water, The Fiends that come to Steal the Weed of the Deceased, In Battle There Is No Pot and Effigy of the Forgetful, are immersed with clever dominating peer point which then brings high quality Death Metal attention no matter how the cover is presented. It’s aggressive,technically catchy and songs aren’t just in your face but varied thrashy to Heavy Metal traditional songs reminiscent of Swedish Death Metal acts. Every musician display their subconscious structuring abilities so unique that these lead fills combine awesome and guaranteed lyrical content makes this release phenomenal beginning to end. For a ten track album and clocking in around 37:00 in duration, this album met my expectations simply because Cannabis Corpse doesn’t always take the music too serious but also maintaining Old School Death Metal signatures and hint of thrashy atmospherics makes the album feel creative and natural. If you enjoyed From Wisdom To Baked, Left Hand Pass is another continuation from Cannabis Corpse doing what they’re able to do best both musically, lyrically and progressively. This is another presented and very accessible album that built up greater leaps and boundaries to maintain such great potential.
Overall Score: 8.0/10
Review by Jake Butler
