Cannibal Corpse - The most violent death Metal Band

"If vomit were a movie, this would be the soundtrack," wrote one critic of Cannibal Corpse's music, some of the most extreme, violent death metal sounds and subject matter ever committed to tape. Reveling in splatter-horror imagery in their often indecipherable lyrics, the group's graphic album artwork and song titles like "Meat Hook Sodomy," "Entrails Ripped from a Virgin's Cunt," "Fucked with a Knife," and so on, have -- not surprisingly -- attracted a fair amount of controversy and sometimes resulted in their albums being banned. However, their over-the-top extremity has won them a rabid cult following and made them one of the most popular death metal bands of the '90s; sticking with what works, the band didn't alter or develop its style much over the decade, although fans didn't seem to mind.



Cannibal Corpse was formed in Buffalo, NY, in 1988, their lineup composed mostly of musically active scenesters: vocalist Chris Barnes, guitarists Bob Rusay and Jack Owen, bassist Alex Webster, and drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz. Musically, they were closest to Slayer, although more extreme metal bands like Death also played a role in their sound. A 1989 demo helped the band secure a contract with Metal Blade Records, which released their debut album, Eaten Back to Life, in 1990. A cult following began to build behind the group with albums like 1991's Butchered at Birth and 1992's Tomb of the Mutilated. Bob Rusay was fired in 1993 and replaced with ex-Malevolent Creation guitarist Rob Barrett, who joined the group in time to appear as a club band in the Jim Carrey film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

Barrett debuted on record with 1994's (relatively) more accessible The Bleeding, which proved to be Barnes' final album; 1996's Vile featured ex-Monstrosity vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher. Cannibal Corpse soldiered on through the decade, returning in 1998 with Gallery of Suicide. Bloodthirst followed a year later, and in 2000 the band issued both a video and CD titled Live Cannibalism (their second concert video but first official live album). Gore Obsessed arrived in 2002, followed by the obsessively packaged box set/DVD 15 Year Killing Spree. Their ninth album of all new material, Wretched Spawn, was released in 2004, followed by Kill in 2006. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide


DISCOGRAPHY:

"Eaten Back To Life" (1990)
"Butchered At Birth" (1991)
"Tomb Of The Mutilated" (1992)
"Hammer Smashed Face" (1993 EP)
"The Bleeding" (1994)
"Vile" (1996)
"Gallery Of Suicide" (1998)
"Bloodthirst" (1999)
"Live Cannibalism" (2000)
"Gore Obsessed" (2002)
"Worm Infested" (2002 MCD)
"The Wretched Spawn" (2004)
"Kill" (2006)
"Evisceration Plague" (2009)


Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band from Buffalo, New York, formed in 1988, most famous for its cover of Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl," and their appearance in "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective." The band has released eleven studio albums, one boxed set, one live album and a comic book thats goes along with their latest CD. Although Cannibal Corpse has had little radio or television exposure, a cult following began to build behind the group with albums such as 1991's Butchered at Birth and 1992's Tomb of the Mutilated. Cannibal Corpse reached over one-million in record sales worldwide in 2003,[1] including 558,929 in the United States, making them the top-selling death metal band of all time.
The members of Cannibal Corpse were originally inspired by thrash metal bands like Slayer, Kreator, and Sodom, as well as other death metal bands like Morbid Angel and Death.[3] The band's lyrics and album art, which draw heavily on horror fiction and horror films, are highly controversial. At different times, several countries have banned Cannibal Corpse from performing within their borders, or have banned the sale and display of uncensored Cannibal Corpse albums.

Members
• George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher – lead vocals (1995-present)
• Rob Barrett – guitar (1993–1997, 2005-present)
• Pat O'Brien – guitar (1997-present)
• Alex Webster – bass (1988-present)
• Paul Mazurkiewicz – drums, percussion (1988-present)

Former members
• Bob Rusay – guitar (1988–1993)
• Chris Barnes – vocals (1988–1995)
• Jack Owen – guitar (1988–2004)
• Jeremy Turner – guitar (2004–2005)


Biography

Cannibal Corpse was made up of members from three earlier Buffalo-area death metal bands, Beyond Death (Webster, Owen), Leviathan (Barnes), and Tirant Sin (Barnes, Rusay, Mazurkiewicz). The band played their first show at Buffalo's River Rock Cafe in April 1989, shortly after recording a five-song demo tape, Cannibal Corpse. Within a year of that first gig, the band was signed to Metal Blade Records, apparently after the label had seen a videotape of a live show, and their full-length debut album, Eaten Back to Life, was released in August 1990. A move from Buffalo to Tampa, Florida occurred right before the recording of their third album Tomb of the Mutilated.
The band has had many line-up changes over the years. In 1993, founding member and guitarist Bob Rusay was dismissed from the group (after which he became a golf instructor) and was ultimately replaced by Malevolent Creation guitarist Rob Barrett. In 1995, singer Chris Barnes was dismissed and was replaced by Monstrosity singer George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher. Barnes went on to perform with the band Six Feet Under, and later Torture Killer.
In 1997, Barrett, who had originally replaced Rusay on guitar, left Cannibal Corpse to rejoin his previous band Malevolent Creation. After Barrett left, he was replaced by guitarist Pat O’Brien, who first appeared on Cannibal Corpse's 1998 release Gallery of Suicide. Founding member and guitarist Jack Owen left Cannibal Corpse in 2004 to spend more time on his second band, Adrift. He joined Deicide in late 2005. Jeremy Turner of Origin briefly replaced him as second guitarist on 2004's Tour of the Wretched. Barrett rejoined the band in 2005 and was first featured on the album Kill, released in March 2006.
Writing for the next album began in November 2007, as presaged in an interview with bassist Alex Webster. Evisceration Plague, Cannibal Corpse's eleventh studio album was released February 3, 2009, to a highly positive response from fans. The band will tour in support of the album in the spring of 2009. Recently, bassist Alex Webster said, "We have never thought of being together for 20 years so we certainly don't plan to break up in the next 5 years, 10 years, or even 15 years."

Controversy and publicity

Australia:
For more details on this topic, see Censorship in Australia.
As of October 23, 1996, the sale of any Cannibal Corpse audio recording then available was banned in Australia and all copies of such had been removed from music shops. At the time, the Australian Recording Industry Association and the Australian Music Retailers Association were implementing a system for identifying potentially offensive records, known as the "labelling code of practice."
As a result, until April 1, 2006, only one Cannibal Corpse album, Gallery of Suicide, was listed in even the most explicit class of records allowed to be sold in Australia, and even that one disappeared from all legal classification after 2001. Thus, from at least April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2006, it was illegal for Australian music retailers to sell any audio recording produced by Cannibal Corpse. However, from April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007, it became legal to sell all ten of the studio albums that the band had recorded by then, as well as the live album Live Cannibalism, the boxed set 15 Year Killing Spree, the EP Worm Infested, and the single "Hammer Smashed Face."

Germany:

All Cannibal Corpse albums up to and including Tomb of the Mutilated were banned upon release from being sold or displayed in Germany due to their graphic cover art and disturbing lyrics; the band was also forbidden to play any songs from those albums while touring in Germany. This prohibition was not lifted until June 2006. In a 2004 interview, George Fisher attempted to recall what originally provoked the ban:
“A woman saw someone wearing one of our shirts, I think she is a schoolteacher, and she just caused this big stink about it. So [now] we can’t play anything from the first three records. And it really sucks because kids come up and they want us to play all the old songs — and we would — but they know the deal. We can’t play 'Born In a Casket' but can play 'Dismembered and Molested”

United States:

In May 1995, then-US Senator Bob Dole accused Cannibal Corpse—along with hip hop acts like the Geto Boys and 2 Live Crew—of undermining the national character of the United States.[19] A year later, the band came under fire again, this time as part of a campaign by conservative activist William Bennett, Senator Joe Lieberman, then-Senator Sam Nunn, and National Congress of Black Women chair C. Delores Tucker to get major record labels—including Time Warner, Sony, Thorn-EMI, PolyGram and Bertelsmann—to "dump 20 recording groups...responsible for the most offensive lyrics."
Cannibal Corpse also paradoxically enjoyed a brief cameo in the 1994 Jim Carrey film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, performing an abridged version of their song "Hammer Smashed Face." Carrey is apparently a death metal fan and insisted that they perform in the movie

Responses to critics:

Cannibal Corpse prides itself on overtly violent and sexual songs and album artwork as nothing more than an extreme form of over-the-top entertainment. In the film Metal: A Headbangers Journey, George Fisher said death metal is best viewed "as art," and mentioned far more violent art can be found at the Vatican, as such depictions actually happened. Some of Cannibal Corpse's most controversial song titles include "Meat Hook Sodomy," "Necropedophile," and "Fucked With A Knife."
The band's members have a rather lackadaisical approach toward those who criticize their sometimes violent lyrics: "We don't sing about politics. We don't sing about religion...All our songs are short stories that, if anyone would so choose they could convert it into a horror movie. Really, that's all it is. We like gruesome, scary movies, and we want the lyrics to be like that. Yeah, it's about killing people, but it's not promoting it at all. Basically these are fictional stories, and that's it. And anyone who gets upset about it is ridiculous."

In response to accusations his band's music desensitizes people to violence, Alex Webster argued death metal fans enjoy the music only because they know the violence depicted in its lyrics is not real:
“I think people probably aren’t that desensitized to it, you know including myself, like you know, we sing about all this stuff and you watch a movie where you know it’s not real and it’s no big deal, but if you really saw someone get their brains bashed in right in front of you, I think it would have a pretty dramatic impact on any human being you know what I mean? Or some terrible, gross act of violence or whatever done right in front of you, I mean you’d react to it, no matter how many movies you’ve watched or how much gore metal you’ve listened to or whatever, I’m sure it’s a completely different thing when it’s right in front of you. Even though we’ve got crazy entertainment now, our social realities are actually a bit more civilized than they were back then, I mean we’re not hanging people or whipping them in the street and I think that’s positive improvement for any society in my opinion”
He also believes the violent lyrics can have positive values: "It’s good to have anger music as a release."

George Fisher said in their songs "there’s nothing ever serious. We’re not thinking of anybody in particular that we’re trying to kill, or harm or anything...How can you say we’re promoting violence with imaginary creatures? The people doing the killing in our songs are zombies."