Chris Barnes (born December 29, 1966) is an American singer, best known as being a death metal vocalist and lyricist known for his very low guttural vocals and as the vocalist and lyricist (from 1988-1995) of death metal band Cannibal Corpse, for his subsequent work as part of Six Feet Under and featured in Finnish death metal band Torture Killer's second album Swarm!.
"Chris Barnes had started his extreme metal career at the age of 19. Primarily Barnes's first band was a Death/Thrash band called Tirant Sin, which had formed in 1986 in Chris's hometown of Buffalo. Other members of Tirant Sin member included drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz, guitarists Bob Rusay, Cam V and Joe Morelli, and bassist Rich Ziegler. Also in 1986, Chris quit Tirant Sin to join yet another New York based Death/Thrash metal band named Leviathan who would record a four track demo entitled "Legions of the Undead" in 1987. This demo would one day be available on the 2005 Six Feet Under boxed set entitled A Decade in the Grave.
Tirant Sin recorded three demos. The first was entitled "Desecration of the Graves" and would privately be self released in February 1987. Tirant Sin's second demo entitled "Chaotic Destruction" would be self released in the fall of 1987, Dennis John on vocals. And finally Tirant Sin's third demo entitled "Mutant Supremacy" would be self released in 1988. Barnes only appeared on the 3rd demo, when he rejoined Tirant Sin in January 1988.
In Cannibal Corpse: 1988-1995
Barnes wrote all of the lyrics on the albums Butchered at Birth through The Bleeding, and wrote the lyrics on Eaten Back to Life with the rest of the band helping.
When asked in an interview what his favorite Cannibal Corpse album that he worked on was, he commented "I love them all, I really do. I really enjoyed them all". In the same interview when he was asked about his time with the band, he responded "I look back on it with a lot of fond memories. It was pretty much my starting point - it wasn't exactly my starting point, but it was as a professional musician. I think that I really helped bring about a certain style of music, and with that band I really outlined what most people think death metal vocals sound like - I'm part of that. I'm really proud of the imagery, and the lyrical stories that I put together on all those albums. We set out to conquer the world though, and I think we did as far as our corner of the world was concerned."
Barnes was fired from Cannibal Corpse because of personal differences with the rest of the band members. Barnes was then able to devote his full attention to the band Six Feet Under, which had been his side project since 1992. Barnes has commented that he is "very proud of what I've done with them."
"Being booted out of Cannibal Corpse was pretty memorable but in a good way. I didn't feel I was able to write the way I wanted to so it was a good transition for me." There have been some rumors about Barnes returning to Cannibal Corpse, which were denied by Alex Webster: "We have no plans to do anything with Chris Barnes ever again. It's not something any of us are interested in doing."it's nothing against him, but we prefer to move forward rather than live in the past"
1995-present: Six Feet Under
In 1996, Chris married his wife Leila Firouzi-Barnes, a California-based Architect. Chris and Leila have since set up a property developing business together.
In 2005, Six Feet Under released 13, their 6th full length album, an album that Chris also produced.
In the same year Six Feet Under released A Decade in the Grave, a box set highlighting the past 10 years of Six Feet Under.
With the success of two death metal bands already under his belt (Cannibal Corpse and Six Feet Under), Chris Barnes joined the Finnish death metal band Torture Killer in the fall of 2005. At the time, Barnes said he was fully committed to the band, and appeared on the band's debut album Swarm!, which was released on February 24, 2006. However, he left the band in January 2008.
Six Feet Under released the album Commandment on April 17, 2007 to highly positive views. Chris Barnes has stated "Commandment" is his favorite album, claiming to have received over 5,000 messages in support, many fans cite it as their favorite Six Feet Under release since 2003's Bringer of Blood.
In November 11, 2008 Six Feet Under released their newest album Death Rituals. It saw the band returning to Morrisound studios in Tampa, FL with Chris Carroll at the helm with mixing duties being handled by Toby Wright (Slayer, Korn, In Flames, Fear Factory, etc…) and the return old friend Bill Metoyer, who recorded the bands CD Warpath, helping out with recording of the drums. The album includes 13 songs such as the Mötley Crüe cover Bastard and an ambient song entitled Crossroads To Armageddon.
In December 2008, Chris relocated to Beverly Hills, California.
Death metal Vocal styles:
Barnes is known for his rather extreme vocal style, which consists of low and snarled death grunts that have been described by as "thunderous" and "like Satan on a diet of razor blades and paint thinner"[8]. He has also been praised for the fact that his famous grunts have never been manipulated or enhanced by a recording studio. Some have speculated that Barnes can get such low vocals because he is a known marijuana smoker, although this has never been confirmed or denied by Barnes. He also seems skilled at raspy screams, exemplified in the songs "Hammer Smashed Face", "I Cum Blood", "Post Mortal Ejaculation", "Pulverized", and "Stripped, Raped and Strangled". Ironically, in interviews he is known for having a very soft voice and for being very mellow.
Chris's vocals on "Tomb of The Mutilated" were so inhumanly guttural, that inside the booklet of the album there is a message that states "Electronic Harmonizer was not used to create any vocals on Tomb of the Mutilated".[1]
In an interview, he said the following about his early singing aspirations: "I was really enamored with Gene Simmons from Kiss and the whole visual idea of a demon being a singer in a band, which kind of stuck with me in a way. When I saw Kiss in 1978, 1979 for the first time as an eleven or twelve year old kid, I was really enthralled. I felt “Wow! This is a live performance”, and I really loved Simmons and what he was doing. At another level I kept listening to music and it got more and more heavy, and then at one point as a teenager I said “Well I love this music so much, so I think maybe I could do that also”. At that point, I started singing along to my favorite albums by Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Venom and so on. I'd sing along to the tape, and I'd try to sing like those guys would in those bands. It just progressed from there really. When I was in my first year at college in the university, I was in a band at that point writing original music. It was the most fun in my life, and being in school I didn't really know what I wanted to do so I wasn't really sure of my place. I just thought to myself one day when I was in school, I said “I don't want to be here”. As a result, I got up, walked out, got in my car, and then cranked it up. I drove up to rehearsal and said “This is what I want to do”."
Personality:
While on the set of Ace Ventura, Chris admitted to Jim Carrey that the way his neck contorted while doing "Fire Marshall Bill" grossed him out. To which Carrey responded, "What? This? This grosses you out? All that shit you write and that little thing grosses you out?
"I like a well told story, something that's directed well in a different way, anything, even commercials. It doesn’t have to be underground or horror films, lately I've been getting into more horror stuff but I’ve kind of eased off and been watching different types of films, you know, back into that. I like all sorts of stuff; it just has to be a well told story, like everything coming from the writers look. I mean, special effects and that type of stuff doesn’t impress me that much more subtle effects do, I mean, I know of the editing process and that doesn’t really do anything for me, you know, the magic's taken out. I just like a well written story with something that just looks really direct.
"I never was one for fashion or trying to impress people. I just wanted to do the best I could and feel good about what I do and be proud of the time that I put into my art and that’s how I feel about it. When it stops becoming fun for me and when it starts becoming upsetting to see where it goes is the day that I just put it aside and let my bodies of works speak for me. Hopefully that day doesn’t come too soon but we’ll see what happens. I think that I'm just a normal guy. I’m not a super hero or a character in a magazine, I’m just a regular person and I think that’s the biggest thing. I don’t know if that would surprise anybody but I hope that it would kind of give some people some insight. I’m not a monster." "I’ve always been kind of mellow so I think that does surprise people when they speak to me or hang out with me or something, he’s not crazy! I just enjoy life, I enjoy doing what I do and I’m not a character in a book or in a movie. So that’s it, I’m a real person and I’m here. I think a lot of people have pre-conceived notions of what I’m like because they’ve read a bunch of crazy lyrics over the years. Those are my thoughts but I don’t live that way in everyday life. I think I’d be in jail for 25 years now if I would have.
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