Cannibal just released another album, there sure crank em out fast nowadays it seems. Music is killer, artwork is meh like most of the later releases.

Produced by Erik Rutan of Hate Eternal / Ex morbid Angel, comes with a nifty little making of the album DVD too.

Here's my two cents on Cannibal Corpse and Death Metal in general.

I've always been a fan of heavy music, both as a listener and as a musician. When I was young and learning guitar nothing was more fun than playing something that was fast and heavy. I started listening to stuff like Nirvana and Korn and all the more mainstream stuff that was popular while I was growing up, and the heavier songs always drew me in the most. But it wasn't heavy enough, I had this feeling that it could be much heavier. I started listening to older stuff like Metallica and Slayer and it was great, but still not heavy enough. Hearing death metal for the first time was like a kick to the face. HOLY SHIT!


I think the reason that music of this genre is popular is due to a shift in human life. Throughout human history life was harsh violent and short. Music of the times tended to be the opposite, people wanted to relax after long hard day of siege warfare wanted something quiet and calming to relax to.

Nowadays most people in this hemisphere lead relatively peaceful existences, conflict in the personal lives of the population for a large part is mild to non existent. People want something to amp them up, something exciting. Extreme music provides this release in my opinion.


I also enjoy it from a musicians point of view. I've focused on really heavy metal style playing and it's freaking hard to learn and play. I can keep up a fast heavy complex riff for a song or two, but after that I'm assed out. So watching bands like Cannibal Corpse perform non stop for an hour and a half either live or footage is akin to watching your favorite football team kick ass imo.

In regards to the violent content and imagery there's a few different angles. Obviously the people writing these lyrics are fans of horror, so a simplistic answer would be it's the musical equivalent of a slasher flick. If you're in a heavy metal band that's playing brutal crazy sounding shit and you love zombie movies the lyrics and artwork are going to reflect that.

A more in depth look would show that people has always had a fascination with the macabre and gory. Despite what the modern media would like you to think this is nothing new. Old West Murder Ballads, Victorian Era broadsides illustrating gruesome shocking murders, woodcuts from older times detailing the crimes and punishment of witches and vampires and werewolves, most certainly early psychopathic criminals instead of monsters, etc. Humans have always had an interest in the base animalistic nature lurking beneath the veneer of civilized society, so gory violent shit in entertainment is nothing new.


In regards to not being able to understand the vocals I've found that many of the vocalists just mutter and it is indeed impossible to comprehend them. But I consider those vocalists cheaters. Many vocalists take the time and effort to pronounce the syllables the best they can in a growl or scream, the new singer from Cannibal being a prime example. The original one was a more guttural and sounded like he enunciated less, but he was a lot better than most of the generic growlers out there. I've listened to DM so long that I can understand some bands almost perfectly without having to peruse the lyrics. I didn't start that way though, I listened to a whole lot of it before it clicked.

In closing I'd have to say it's a lot of fun, it's powerful sounding and a rush to listen to. Check CC out live if you ever get a chance, it's like a sonic ass whooping for your ears, like the sound of a ravening horde of monsters swarming across a a valley towards you. It kind of gets into your system and makes you wanna stomp around and go Godzilla. It speaks to the inner Hulk we all harbor somewhere.

I've taken people to see CC live who don't even like metal and they could not help themselves, for example my bleach blond christian (ex) girlfriend from a few years ago HATED anything heavy. She liked Missy Eliot and Incubus and anything on the radio and hated it when I played anything remotely heavy. She referred to Death Metal as Toilet Metal because she said the growling and screaming reminded her of someone retching into the throne after a hard night's drinking.

I convinced her to go to a Cannibal Corpse show with me and I'll be damned if she wasn't headbanging and throwing up the horns (erroneously with her thumb out but that's ok) and screaming along with everyone else. It's infectious!

So in closing if you get the chance to see CC live fucking do it! Even if you don't like metal. I guarantee you'll be entertained.

I love those parody lyrics videos!

* Edit

Also keep in mind that Cannibal's early style was more gutteral and simplistic, with Chris Barnes doing all the lyrics. His lyrics focused heavily on violent sexual deviant themes. After Chris departed and Cannibal got George the entire band contributed lyrics, and there was a massive shift away from violence against women in their lyrics. There might be a song or two, but back in the day it'd be half the album.

I prefer newer Cannibal because its more diverse and a hell of a lot more technical, making it more interesting. The older stuff is classic, but it tends to get repetitive.

Check out this live clip when y our done with the parody. Note the difference between classic Cannibal and Modern Cannibal.