Cannibal Corpse

Cannibal Corpse are arguably the most prominent and commercially successful brutal death metal band. It was formed in Buffalo in 1998 on the ashes of the local extreme groups Tyrant Sin, and Beyond Death. The beginning lineup included Chris Barnes, Alex Webster, Jack Owen, Bob Rusay and Paul Mazurkievicz. One demo was enough for these experienced and skilled musicians and vocalist with an inhuman singing manner to seal cooperation with the big label Metal Blade Records. The group worked hard on the material for their debut album. Eaten Back To Life, released in 1990, marked the emergence of a new extreme music monster, Cannibal Corpse. This release was a symbol of the band’s radical approach as it featured aggressive and incredibly heavy guitars and Barnes’s beast-like roaring with his own sadistic lyrics about the most abhorrent and obscene one could ever imagine. The colorful artwork perfectly depicted what kind of stuff you could hear. The musicians followed exactly the same way doing the next album. The only difference between the first effort and the follow-up Butchered At Birth was that the latter demonstrated the obvious improved musical skills of the performers.

Playing within the precise limitations of the genre, where there was no much space for experiments, Cannibal Corpse avoided self-copying. Tomb Of The Mutilated (1993) appeared a beautiful ending of the first stage in the band’s history. It united the best features of the two previous works, yet its music was more melodic and proficient. That was the time when Cannibals first faced the censorship troubles. Some of the European countries banned their performances while the albums were released in two versions, with an original, traditionally brutal artwork, or with an alternative cover. At that moment, Rob Barrett replaced Bob Rusay to take on the bass guitar. Shortly after, the renewed Cannibal Corpse gave their first concert in Russia. 1994 saw them release the new album, The Bleeding. This effort clearly showed the team’s quest for new ideas and solutions with the focus shifted from the heaviness and aggressiveness to the musical components.

Right at the moment of glory, when Cannibal Corpse were featured on the magazine covers, invited to the biggest metal festivals and shot in the well know comedy Ace Ventura, Chris Barnes quit the group. He did not like it when the other members expressed their dissatisfaction with a new portion of lyrics. The mike went to another famed extreme scene singer, George Fisher. Barnes was a living god to the band’s supporters who did not acknowledge his replacement for a long time. This affected significantly the sales of the fresh album Vile (1996). Musically, this was a reconstruction of the group’s old style. The preparation of the next log player involved a new member, Pat O’Brien. Called Gallery of Suicide, the album saw light in 1998 and opened a new part in the life of Cannibal Corpse.

From then on, Cannibal Corpse has released a number of CDs, distributed well enough thank to the logo of the band on their covers, the content being less important. The Americans could no longer surprise the audience with new music ideas as they had squeezed all they could out of the conservative and doomed to death genre. They remained excellent musicians, yet whatever they released later was close to what they played a decade before. At the turn of the century, Cannibal Corpse reached the status of the style veterans and masters who would always be granted with an overcrowded concert. At the same time, listeners never thought twice to pay for anything new their favorite band would offer. Apparently, the last-to-date studio work by Cannibal Corpse, Evisceration Plaque, released early in 2009, will definitely find its consumers.