2nd chances w/: Cephalic Carnage

"rocky mountain hydro grinders"

3/4 of my closet is like this =/

So I was having lunch with an old friend of mine the other day and the conversation turned to the shirt I was wearing (cough*side photo*cough). I explained to her that they're an awesome little grind/death/WEED band from Denver. I praised their absurdly awesome live performances, wacky sense of humor, fondness of marijuana and penchant for releasing amazing albums....most of the time.

See, I was relatively disappointed with Cephalic Carnage's newest record, Mislead By Certainty. I first discovered the band when Lucid Interval came out in 02' and have stuck with them ever since. Sadly, this was the first time I was not blown away by a new Cephalic record. After reading in Decibel that their founding guitarist and primary song writer had quit the band prior to recording, it was beginning to make sense why Mislead By Certainty felt so different.

I don't know about you, but I like listening to my extreme metal while I'm working out (the transition from Metallica to Morbid Angel is easier when your doing push ups). Since my computer died last week and I was internet/iPod-less I had no choice but to actually spin relics from my CD collection. Guess what I decided to give another chance? So now I have a new stance on Cephalic's latest mind fuck grind opus. I still can't stand the 1st track "The Incorrigible Flame," just useless wankery as far as I'm concerned, but aside from the beginning, the album as a whole has really grown on me. I like it when Cephalic warp their two opposing natures, spazzy technicality & dirty sludge into singular songs, like "Raped By An Orb," for example. If I had to choose, I'd say I appreciate their slower psychedelic moments (saxophones in "Ohrwurm") but maybe that's because I'm getting old and cranky. So yeah, Misled By Certainty isn't the greatest Cephalic album (newbs might want to check out 2005's Anomalies first) but it definitely isn't horrible and honestly, better than most of the shitty metal that pollutes the modern landscape. 

Speaking of "Ohrwurm," the band released a SICK ASS video for the song available to stream exclusively  HERE. If you're into metal, gore, porn or just freaky shit in general I highly recommend you check it out. If you're a relatively normal person, I'd advise you to save your lunch/soul and forgot I ever mentioned it. Like these dudes probably wished they had: