With every new release, CEPHALIC CARNAGE turn into a more solid unit, cementing their status as Grindcore's resident alien invaders. CEPHALIC CARNAGE may very well be the quintessential "Hybrid" Metal band; one of the few bands who manages to tastefully blend all of their influences without forgetting why they’re here; to split your skull in two.

Picking up where 2005's "Anomalies" left off, "Xenosapien" finds CEPHALIC CARNAGE further settling into their unique style, a refined, mad scientist of a niche they've been carving for themselves since they began. That is not to say that the Grind/Metal powerhouse is settling down, they're just growing comfortable with the loopy brilliance of their material. For all the noodly psychosis illustrated in songs like "Divination & Volition", the songs never feel congested or overwrought. There is an amazing sense of movement within CEPHALIC CARNAGE. They know how to let a song breathe without dumbing it down for the less-than-patient music fan out there.

As for the album itself, it comes across as an intellectual and stylistic sequel to "Anomalies". "Touched By An Angel" could be the cousin to "Anomalies" number "Dying Will Be The Death Of Me", with its too-damn-good-to-be-a-piss-take melodies designed to mock the innumerable amount of bland Metallic Hardcore out there. "Vaporized" is a crushing medium-paced hammerblow worthy of BRUTAL TRUTH, leading into "Heptarchy", which mixes elements of the previous track with some John-Zorn-From-Hell Jazz-Metal and twisted Stoner Rock slam. After that one-two punch of Deathgrind madness, we head into "G.lobal O.verhaul D.evice", a haunting, almost DEATHSPELL OMEGA sounding slab of mid-paced blackened Death Metal, complete with ghostly background vocals and a NEUROSIS-esque interlude to further illuminate the graveyard of the subconscious. This leads us by the hand into "Let Them Hate So Long As They Fear", the album’s fastest, shortest, most Grindcore sounding track.

Few bands are this intelligent/interesting while still retaining their (allegedly) innate sense of brutality. "Xenosapien" will once again find CEPHALIC CARNAGE resting on many End Of The Year lists for best record of 2007. It's one of the most solid, well written, immaculately constructed albums of the first half of 2007; just the right amount of kooky experimentation mixed in with the Heavier-Than-All-Outdoors Metal/Grind. It never overstays its welcome and leaves the listener more satisfied than a mental patient discovering that the mystery of life is something only the insane will ever understand. In fact, "Xenosapien" may be the voice in that mental patient's head.