Wednesday, August 1, 2012

HEAVY T.O. 2012: Cannibal Corpse

I was fortunate enough to hit up the 2011 edition of HEAVY T.O. and even purchased the tickets before the band were announced.  For some reason, I had a feeling it was going to be a good year :-)

One of the most controversial bands that I will be covering for this series rests on the helm of Buffalo's good ol CANNIBAL CORPSE.  These guys have been consistently the forefront of blood, gore, torture and macabre with their over the top album artwork and (sometimes disturbing) lyrical content.  Now keep in mind, these guys seem to do it all in good fun and to release built up energy.  Even lead vocalist George Fisher has mentioned "There’s nothing ever serious. We’re not thinking of anybody in particular that we’re trying to kill, or harm or anything."

Now, for these articles, I usually throw around some opinions and constructive criticisms.  I'm going to keep all feelings aside and just report on some need to know facts about these bands to make your experience at the festival a little more enjoyable.  If you know of someone going to the festival, pass the articles along and get them just as stoked as we are!  For today, AFGM brings you CANNIBAL CORPSE!



Formed in 1988, Buffalo born/Tampa raised Cannibal Corpse helped found, manipulate and transcend the very boundaries of death metal beginning with the scandalously controversial debut, Eaten Back To Life. Raising the eyebrows of inquisitive metalheads and incensed parents and politicians, the record - produced by Scott Burns at the now renowned Morrisound Studios - was more extreme and confrontational than anything the metal genre had ever known. As a result of the band's brilliantly gruesome cover art, grisly lyrics and song titles like 'Hammer Smashed Face,' 'Meat Hook Sodomy' and 'Addicted To Vaginal Skin,' follow-up records Butchered At Birth (1991) and Tomb Of The Mutilated (1992) were met with further contempt by the likes of such organized censorship leagues as the PMRC. In just three years, the sale of Cannibal Corpse merchandise was (temporarily) prohibited in Australia, Korea and New Zealand (in fact, the sale of Butchered At Birth and the performance of those three records is still forbidden in Germany). But dissuaded they were not.



Cannibal Corpse consists of:

Alex Webster - Bass | Paul Mazurkiewicz - Drums | Pat O'Brien - Guitar | George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher - Vocals | Rob Barrett - Guitar

Proving technical dexterity, diabolic vocal grunts and a penchant for serial killers, zombies and gore of all shapes, sizes and textures, Cannibal Corpse won over the hearts of many a metal extremist and have since become a harrowing household name. Since the bands inception they have sold millions of albums world wide and show no sign of slowing or bowing down to the ever changing metal genre. Massive tours throughout the U.S. and Europe as well as Australia and South America only underscored the band's staying power…and all this with zero commercial radio presence and minimal video play (although the band did appear in the Hollywood blockbuster, Ace Ventura - Pet Detective).

The momentum continued with the 1996 release of Vile, the first Cannibal record to feature former Monstrosity throat George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher following the departure of Chris Barnes. Any skepticism over the new voice behind the mighty Corpse was quickly put to rest. Simply put, Vile slayed from beginning to end and became the first ever death metal record to enter the prestigious Billboard charts. Over the next few years, relentlessly touring, bolstered musicianship and progressively more potent recordings saw the band increase in popularity within the underground and beyond.

After the mass success of 2004's The Wretched Spawn and some personnel changes (longtime guitarist Jack Owen fled the band in 2004 to carry on his commitments with his rock project, Adrift. Origin axe-master Jeremy Turner filled in for the band during their remaining tours that year before Malevolent Creation/Hate Plow/Solstice guitarist Rob Barrett, who played on Cannibal Corpse's infamous releases The Bleeding and Vile records, rejoined the band as a fulltime member.), Cannibal Corpse has returned to the Death Metal frontlines with the pungently eloquent majesty that is Kill.



Simply titled but meticulously assembled, Kill was recorded with producer Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal/ex-Morbid Angel) at Mana Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida. The tenth record of their storied career, each track basks in its own claustrophobic abrasiveness and maniacal subject matter. From the onset of the fiery 'The Time To Kill Is Now,' guitarists Barrett and Pat O'Brien, vocalist George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher, bassist Alex Webster and drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz pummel with a renewed sense of urgency. Fast, furious and scrupulously timed, the tune is a palpable reminder that Cannibal remains a force to be reckoned. 'Make Them Suffer' sears with an old school Possessed vibe (a band to whom Cannibal has paid homage to on several occasions), while 'Necrosadistic Warning,' replete with a barrage of blistering solo work by O'Brien whose guitar deftness is often underestimated, comes riddled with visions of zombies sexually gratifying themselves with the body parts of the beings they've slain. Other tracks like the telling 'Five Nails Through The Neck,' 'Death Walking Terror,' 'Brain Removal Device' and instrumental closer 'Infinite Misery' see the five-piece at their most cogent, both lyrically and musically.

Older, wiser, and as malevolent as ever before, the time to Kill is now!


Cannibal Corpse will be touring in support of basically everything they have done over the last 24+ years, but specifically in support of their latest release "Torture", which was released March 13th, 2012 via long time label Metal Blade Records.  At various time throughout their career, Cannibal Corpse have been hit with bans from politicians and countries from selling their albums in stores, even as far as refusing them entry into the country to perform (such as Germany, Australia and an attempt in their home country of the USA).

"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." -Alex Webster


1. Demented Aggression
2. Sarcophagic Frenzy
3. Scourge of Iron
4. Encased in Concrete
5. As Deep as the Knife Will Go
6. Intestinal Crank
7. Followed Home Then Killed
8. The Strangulation Chair
9. Caged… Contorted
10. Crucifier Avenged
11. Rabid
12. Torn Through
13. Death Walking Terror (live)  (German edition bonus track)
14. Make Them Suffer (live)  (German edition bonus track)
15. Disfigured (live) (German edition bonus track)

"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." -George Fisher



This current line-up has been steady for years now, and guitarist Rob Barrett has found comfort in standing alongside Pat O'Brien in making a formable guitar duo. Their wah pedals get good use during the solos, most notably on 'Encased In Concrete.' With better production comes another opportunity for Alex Webster to further his legacy as one of the best bassists in death metal. Webster lets out some technical leads on 'The Strangulation Chair' and 'Rabid,' but is exciting to listen to even when plucking away in the background.

Cannibal Corpse have no reason to try anything other than pummeling death metal, and Torture continues the hot streak the band has been on since 2006's Kill. Most people know what they are getting themselves into by submitting to Cannibal Corpse's wickedness, and Torture is another strong group of songs that show the band still have life left in them. It's not something that will shake the very core of the genre, but nobody expects Cannibal Corpse to do that after almost 25 years together. -Lambgoat

***

"Perhaps it’s down to the relentless gore and guts of their lyrics and imagery, but Cannibal Corpse seem to be sometimes thought of as the knucklehead death metal band, which couldn’t be more inaccurate, short of calling them “synth-pop”. The music is as intricate and technical as you could hope for – it’s simply delivered so naturally that it beats your chin into dripping shards rather than stroking it. Check out the rhythms in the eerie riff that open ‘Intestinal Crank‘ and ‘Followed Home Then Killed‘, or the solo in the latter song. Then check out Alex Webster’s insane, brilliant lightspeed bass solo in ‘The Strangulation Chair‘. Now try and call it knucklehead. While you’re at it, try and argue that they could write something that ear-bleedingly brilliant 20 years ago. Because they couldn’t.

Torture is Cannibal Corpse doing what they’ve always done – make really fucking heavy, blood-drenched death metal. Only they’re doing it with more impact, more viciousness and more depth (“depth” not being some pretentious critical thing, simply meaning “there’s fuckloads of things you notice more on repeated listens that keep you coming back for more”) than they did in the era that made them legendary." -Thrash Hits

***


"Instead, the band adapts to a 2012 world, molests it a little, and even winds up leaning more into sinister Slayer territory, while maintaining an ideology that listeners don’t require that your voice be coherent, just raw and sincere. On opening track 'Demented Aggression', George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher spits and writhes like a decapitated snake wearing a Lamb of God t-shirt. 'Sarcophagic Frenzy' places guitarists Rob Barrett and Patrick O’Brien in a shadowy tomb to better destroy us all with riffs and echoes. 'Scourge of Iron' and 'Followed Home Then Killed' feel borderline doom one minute, roaring with deadly musical machinations and fast-paced double-bass the next, keeping listeners on their battered toes in the imaginary mosh before socking them in the jaw with classically-tinged 'The Strangulation Chair' or virtually anything working up to closer 'Torn Through'.

The sounds on Torture are pretty much identical to what you hear on every other record by Cannibal Corpse: If it ain’t broke, they aren’t fixing it. The production here is as clean as it’s been since 2006′s Kill; so, thick bass is thicker, loudness is louder, and we love every split second. Care for a row, boys and ghouls? See you at the show." -Consequence of Sound

***

"Overall musicianship has been very consistent throughout Cannibal Corpse’s career. The guitar work can not be described with words. Riffs with occasional solos bring their horror motif to life. Bass guitar is nowhere near lost in the mix. Erik Rutan, (producer), had done an incredible amount of justice for the bass. Webster’s playing is a vital factor that gives Cannibal Corpse their heavy and sometimes very sludgy sound. The bass solo in 'The Strangulation Chair' made me reminisce about the bass solo in one of Cannibal Corpse’s most famous songs, 'Hammer Smashed Face'. Their musicality is near impeccable for the genre, with twenty some years of experience to back them up. Fisher has still got the very low guttural vocal style with a pinch of shrieks. I felt as if the vocals could have maybe been a little bit more dominant in this production. Some of their previous albums really show off the vocals, while I didn’t feel I got as much as I wanted to on 'Torture'.

The album art is nowhere near as vile as some of their previous covers, yet it feels as if the artist kind of 'played it safe' with it. One should not judge an album by it’s cover, especially Cannibal Corpse’s. If you are a fan of Deicide, Monstrosity, and/or Six Feet Under then Cannibal Corpse is a band that should be immediately added to your library, if they are not already. Songs like 'Demented Aggression', 'Scourge of Iron', 'Followed Home Then Killed', and “The Strangulation Chair” are my the songs that I found I put on repeat the most often.

'Torture' delivers an absolute heavy dosage of modern death metal. Although nothing will ever compare to their oldest recordings, 'Torture' makes a valiant effort to please old and new fans respectively. Cannibal Corpse have earned a near perfection score of 9.5/10. The only torture one would be experiencing is if they would be foolish enough to not pick up 'Torture'." -Real Metal Reviews

***

And who can forget one of their earliest cameos in a movie!  Cannibal Corpse got themselves a great shot in a large film, "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective"...



For more info (and gore) on these guys, be sure to follow them at any of their official links:

- www.twitter.com/CorpseOfficial
- www.jsrdirect.com/bands/cannibalcorpse
- www.myspace.com/cannibalcorpse
- www.cannibalcorpse.net
- www.facebook.com/cannibalcorpse



*CANNIBAL CORPSE WILL BE PERFORMING ON SUNDAY (THE 12TH) AT THE JAGERMEISTER WEST STAGE FROM 17:00-18:00*

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