Reviews
Cancer: Death shall rise
09/07/10 || InquisitorGeneralis
Early Morning, October 15th 1066: In the forest near Senlac Hill, England
The survivors of Harold’s army rested in the shade of the trees. Their king was dead, and with most of the army dead on the hill there was nothing left to stop the Norman invaders from marching on London. William would certainly seize the throne. They wondered why God had been so cruel to them? It was not enough to destroy the pagan Vikings at Stamford Bridge? The battle there had been glorious, hundreds of years of rape, plunder, and terror repaid on the sharp edges of the Housecarls battleaxes. The bastard Normans had landed in the south while they were repelling the Norsemen. Harold had immediately marched to face William, maybe too swiftly. The battle had seen many “Gruesome tasks” with limbs cut off, stomachs ripped open, and much blood spilled. When an arrow pierced Harold through the eye, defeat was certain. Now, the few who remained pondered an unknown fate.
Suddenly, a noise was heard from the forest. Surely, the Normans would come and finish of the survivors. A young Briton, hate burning in his eyes as blood trickled from his wounds, decried God and cursed destruction on the coming Normans. He prayed to Lucifer that his brothers would come “Back from the dead”. He wanted to see the treacherous Normans “Hung, drawn, and quartered”, hung on a rope, and stabbed in the chest. The others derided him, fearing God’s wrath against his blasphemy. Suddenly, a “burning casket” emerged from the earth and opened to reveal the body of the fallen king. Harold called in a ghostly voice “My body is now gone, to the hell where it belongs”. He raised his fist and an eerie light shot from his hands into the souls of the surviving soldiers. They became engulfed in “Corpse fire” as the forest air became thick with the burning stench of skin and bone. “Death shall rise” proclaimed the fallen king, “now the time has come to show them what we have become…”
The Norman knight burst through the thick underbrush expected to find the last stragglers of Harold’s army but only silence greeted him as he paused his horse before the steep ground that led deeper into the woods. Suddenly, the ground trembled below and dozens of ghostly figures emerged from the forest floor. He slashed at one fiend, severing its rotting head from its decayed corpse, but another pulled him from this horse. He heard the screams and cries of his comrades as the zombies of the English soldiers torn them apart and corrupted their souls, causing “Internal decay” and abysmal torture. As the undead British fiends dragged his soul to hell, the Norman prayed for salvation from this English Cancer. None was given…
Oh, and Cancer play some kickass, old-school death metal with hints of thrash on “Death shall rise” that fans of Obituary, Grave, Morbid Angel, and Death need to check the fuck out. You get some cool breakdowns, low and heavy riffs, and decent early 90’s production. Check out the title track and “Internal decay” to see what this record is all about. This is classic death metal from Jolly Old England and I can’t believe I am just now getting into it. Fucken awesome cover here too. Check it out homos, you will not be disappointed. Now watch out for those zombie, ok?
- Information
- Released: 1991
- Label: Vinyl Solution/Restless
- Website: Cancer MySpace
- Band
- John Walker: guitars, vocals
- James Murphy: guitars
- Ian Buchanan: bass
- Carl Stokes: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Hung, Drawn And Quartered
- 02. Tasteless Incest
- 03. Burning Casket
- 04. Death Shall Rise
- 05. Back From The Dead
- 06. Gruesome Tasks
- 07. Corpse Fire
- 08. Internal Decay
