Cannibal Corpse

Cannibal Corpse

Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal group from Buffalo, United States, formed in 1988 and later based in Tampa, Florida. The band forms in December 1988 from members of the Buffalo-area death metal groups Beyond Death and Tirant Sin, with Alex Webster suggesting the name. Its core, long-term members are drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz and bassist Alex Webster, while the wider membership has included vocalists Chris Barnes and George Fisher, guitarists Bob Rusay, Jack Owen, Rob Barrett, Pat O’Brien and Erik Rutan.

Early history and releases

The group records a five-song demo known as A Skull Full of Maggots and plays its first show in March 1989 at the River Rock Cafe in Buffalo. Early concerts include support slots with Dark Angel, Bloodfeast, The Accüsed, Death and Kreator. Cannibal Corpse signs to Metal Blade Records in July 1989 and releases its debut album, Eaten Back to Life, in 1990.

Its second album, Butchered at Birth (1991), and third album, Tomb of the Mutilated (1992), help build a dedicated following despite limited radio and television exposure. The band then tours in Europe and North America. Its fourth album, The Bleeding, follows in 1994.

Line-up changes

Founding guitarist Bob Rusay leaves in 1993 and is replaced by Rob Barrett. During the recording of Vile (1996), original singer Chris Barnes is dismissed and replaced by George Fisher, formerly of Monstrosity. Jack Owen leaves in 2004 and Pat O’Brien later joins on guitar. After O’Brien’s arrest in 2018, Erik Rutan fills in for touring and later becomes a full-time member.

Recorded output and later career

Cannibal Corpse releases sixteen studio albums, two box sets, four video albums and two live albums. Its studio albums include Gallery of Suicide (1998), Bloodthirst (1999), Gore Obsessed (2002), The Wretched Spawn (2004), Kill (2006), Evisceration Plague (2009), Torture (2012), A Skeletal Domain (2014), Red Before Black (2017), Violence Unimagined (2021) and Chaos Horrific (2023).

Violence Unimagined gives the band its first Top 10 placement on the Billboard Top Album Sales Chart, entering at number six. By 2015, the group has sold approximately two million albums worldwide. It also appears in the film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective in 1994, performing an abbreviated version of Hammer Smashed Face.

Touring and associations

The band tours internationally and appears alongside acts including Misfits, Anthrax, Life of Agony, Behemoth, In Flames, Dying Fetus, Children of Bodom, Slayer, Lamb of God, Amon Amarth, Thy Art Is Murder, Whitechapel, Revocation, Dark Funeral, Immolation, Black Anvil, Meshuggah and Carcass.

Style

Cannibal Corpse is known as an American death metal band, with associations to brutal death metal and grindcore in wider genre tagging.