A Skeletal Domain is the thirteenth studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse. Mark Lewis produced the album at Audiohammer Studios. The album entered the US Billboard 200 at #32, selling 8,825 copies its first week. Bassist Alex Webster said, "I think it's turning out to be a dark-sounding album. Which, you know, it's a death metal album, so, of course, it should be dark and eerie sounding anyway, but I think this one a little more than normal. That was kind of the direction the songwriting went in." "Sadistic Embodiment" was officially released on the YouTube channel Read more on Last.fm.
For the longest time, Cannibal Corpse was polarizing in their consistency. If you’d heard one record, you’d heard the last. Somewhere around 2006’s Kill, possibly influenced by the resurgence of American metal (Lamb Of God, Unearth), there seemed to be a renewed fire within the bands writing, and, out of nowhere, a certain groove began to seep into the mechanics. Bassist Alex Webster became the main songwriter, generating a sound one would expect from a bass oriented vantage. This, coupled with their desire to grow, helped garner them a fresh generation of metalhead devotees, and re-established their prominence among the faithful.
On A Skeletal Domain, the band relies on their most accomplished musician, guitarist Pat O’Brien, who handles the lions share of the writing credits musically. This shift from Webster could have resulted in technical overload. Instead, almost as if channeling the bands famous worship of Slayer, O’Brien keeps the riffage lean and devastating, inserting the occasional mindbender solo when it feels right. Lyrically, the record is throwback to the “Stripped, Raped, And Strangled” days, with each member managing to one up the other in utter grotesque imagery. While not groundbreaking, or even remotely against type, the band’s gift for finding interesting approaches to a tried and true formula has never been more apparent then here. Guttural, chugging tunes pile up one after the other, assuring the masses that death metal is very much alive.