My first exposure to Cephalic Carnage came during a Black Dahlia Murder show in San Francisco. As the second band on a four band lineup, Cephalic Carnage had a lot to prove, and prove it they did. For my money, the band stole the show. And as soon as their set was finished, I made my way over to the merch table to pick up their album Anomalies.

But when I stuck that album into my player, it wasn't the same band I had seen on stage. The energy onstage had been replaced with rambling riffs and incoherent song structure. Like most of their technical death metal peers, Cephalic Carnage seemed more interested in being technical than good. While a few songs on that album lived up to the praise the band would soon get, Anomalies became a huge letdown in my eyes.

Just two years later, the band have returned on the radar with Xenosapien. With it comes a more mature sound, honing in on the technical aspects of old while adopting a more thoughtful approach to composition. This is most apparent on opener "Endless Cycle of Violence," which remains as grinding as anything the band have done yet without sounding forced or unfocussed.

This more evolved sound shines throughout the album, allowing Cephalic Carnage to expand to their greatest lengths. While experimentation has always been a key to the band and their genre, tracks like "G.loabl O.veral D.evice" explicitly show a capacity for progression as the trademark grind is put on the backburner for a more atmospheric touch. And unsurprisingly, the song stands as one of the best on the album.

Yet not all problems are solved. While the "new" Cephalic Carnage dominate the album, shades of the younger, incoherent band are sprinkled throughout, most notably on "Divination and Violation.” Initially it raised a red flag (with it being so early in the running order), but as time progresses the album really takes form. While later tracks may not be as strong as "Touched by an Angel" or the opener (the two standouts), they definitely stand their ground compared to the more diverse opening. The latter pieces on the album have a more organic flow and, following in the footsteps of "G.lobal O.verhaul D.evice," range much more experimental.

My biggest issue with the band remains the uninspired vocals of Lenzig Leal. While he does show off some diversity here (as he's done previously), his growl doesn't command the respect a growl-heavy act like this needs. While vocalists like Adrian “Covan” Kowanek of Decapitated and Travis Ryan of Cattle Decapitation have a similar delivery style, they stand much stronger and command a greater presence than Leal ever does. While his screeches, clean vocals, and other experimentations serve as great interludes, his main arsenal – the growls – don't stand to par and weigh down the album as a whole.

With all that said, Xenosapien is an excellent step in the right direction for Cephalic Carnage. While some have raved about Anomalies, Xenosapien marks the first instance where the band have truly earned the praises they receive.
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Taylor Green

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 Past Constructive Criticism

Dylan G. posted the following Constructive Criticism: Well, I could sit here and bash you angrily, like I expect most people to have done, I won't. Your reviews are purely your opinion, though I do have a few things for you to reconsider. The first thing to reconsider, is your whole overlook of the band. Yes their sound sounds sloppy, and poorly put together, it's very artsy. When I say artsy, I'm thinking of the styles of cannibal corpse, they seem to have unstructured, sloppy sounds, but if you actualy pick up a guitar and play it, you find it actualy is very technical, and it seems more structured. Though to the ear it sounds sloppy, I will admitt you are right about that. My point being, this album, is C.C. in their prime! Compared to all the other albums, this album stays true to their sound, yet revolutionizes it, bringing to a higher level than ever. I guess Thy are an aquired taste. The next thing is, how you said the growls don't realy demand presence, or whatever. The vocals..realy are their own, and isen't that what Cephalic Carnage is? Their own? I found the vocals, deeper, and more pulling and suited for the music, I found lenzig to be great! All in all, I liked your review, as much as it pissed me off, I know as a Cephalic Carnage fan, and an over all death metal fan, I enjoyed this. There are so many others who love C.C. as much as I do, and you realy did not go that in depth in your review. That's just my opinion, I am no jounralist, or "reviewest", but I think perhaps you should listen to all the albums, "dying will be the death of me", will hook you, so will pretty much every cephalic carnage song, you just gotta give it a listen!