Album Review: Cancer – Inverted World (Peaceville)

‘Inverted World’ is the long-awaited seventh studio album by the masterful death metal icons, Cancer. Out on April 25th, 2025, via Peaceville.

Crushing minds, bodies, and spirits for over thirty-five years, Cancer shouldn’t need an introduction, but just in case you’ve been living under a rock, they play death metal. Death metal in its purest and most primordial state, furiously and aggressively focused, and their debut album ‘To the Gory End’ is one of the great releases of the extreme scene.

Death metal never dies, and though the year is now 2025, Cancer return with a consummate display of ugly and heavy noise proving that time is but a number and age only sharpens the metal senses.

Beginning in explosive fashion, Cancer don’t hang about, exposing the garish and graphic innards of their harsh sound with the mighty head banger that is Enter the Gates. The bar has been set, and it’s a bloody one, but it’s a bar that Cancer consistently meet with pulverising efforts like the following Until They Died and the twisted sound of Inverted World. The first part of the album, alongside sinewy efforts like 39 Bodies and the manic Test Site, proves that vocalist/guitarist/songwriter John Walker was on a bit of a creative tear when it came to working on this record.

Of course, the riffs are strong, and the vocals are mean sounding, but there is a unified sound here overall, even with a revamped band. A lot of that unification comes from the fact that the album explores the dark and murky world of manipulation and barbarity both past and present. Showcasing this in varied forms and ideas, such as brainwashing.

The second half of album doesn’t change up the winning formula and Amputate arrives with a cacophony of drums and guitars, before Walker’s trademark growl adds a whole new darker level to things. It’s then followed by some of the sharpest and most devastating tracks of all, namely When Killing isn’t Murder, Covert Operations, and Jesus for Eugenics. Some of Cancer’s best work in the modern day all because you can feel the ion in each. This isn’t death metal for dummies, even if the heavy approach might seem brainless at times. It’s death metal with nuance, and each of these tracks has something about it that stands out in positive way.

Finally, it’s Corrosive to close out the album, and Cancer giving long term listeners a bit of a treat as they resurrects the tale of the acid bath murderer for a mind-melting blast of death metal ferocity.

Chances are you’ll already know if this is for you or not, especially as it’s not ground-breaking in any way. It’s just Cancer doing what Cancer do so well and kicking some serious ass with their intensive take on death metal. It just so happens that their take is one of the most defining of the genre.

Cancer – Inverted World Track Listing:

1. Enter the Gates
2. Until They Died
3. Inverted World
4. 39 Bodies
5. Test Site
6. Amputate
7. When Killing isn’t Murder
8. Covert Operations
9. Jesus for Eugenics
10. Corrosive

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