Welcome to Cannabis Corps! As smoky a double dose of death as ever saw release, Double Dead Redux succeeds not by elaborate theatrics, fancy lighting or shows of charisma (unless watching the drool spill over Chris Barnes' beard gets your motor runnin,'), but through the production we should now expect from this veteran band -- an iteration of technically savvy, bludgeoning metal from pros in the field (although cons too will enjoy the album!) Steve Swanson on guitar, Terry Butler on bass and Greg Gall on drums form a seamless unit behind Barnes' shrieks and growls. While the set list for the two discs is virtually identical, it's still a great idea in marketing from SFU and Metal Blade, and hopefully other bands will follow suit. The live disc was recorded at the Pound in San Francisco, while the live DVD was recorded at The Lab in St. Paul, MN. As the liner notes proudly proclaim, "No overdubs were used" for either set, yet the band doesn't make any discernible blunders.

Highlights from both discs are "The Enemy Inside," "Victim of the Paranoid," and "Feasting on the Blood of the Insane," but if you're already a fan you'll have your own faves. Aside from the plentiful helpings of solid, straightforward death metal, we're treated to Barnes' proclivity for the herb. "Do I run out?" he asks rhetorically. "Yes, I do. I've even had to smoke brown weed," he says with a wry expression. A ridiculous interlude at a record store in-house features a crazed fan who wraps himself in chains and insists that Barnes sign his novelty ventriloquism LP; Barnes opens the proceedings with a bit of hilarious snuff footage, grows a giant ego and alienates his band. Special features include a history of death metal, a discography and a photo gallery. To sum up, a first-rate package from one of metal's most stoniest posses, beaming in from a world where it's always 4:20.

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