[ATTENDED: May 24, 2019] Cannibal Corpse
Cannibal Corpse formed in 1988 in Florida.
At the time they were probably the most notoriously revolting band around–taking the violent images in metal songs to a far extreme. Although perhaps most amusingly, without scanning the lyric sheet I don’t know how anyone could tell what the words are.
Cannibal Corpse are pretty legendary. They have been banned in many countries. I have never specifically wanted to see them, but I always thought it would be interesting. In fact, when they announced a show at White Eagle Hall at the end of last year, I briefly considered going. But I’m glad I didn’t because a little Cannibal Corpse goes a long way (They played 18 songs at White Eagle Hall (!)).
Cannibal Corpse is pretty much a wall of noise. Although I must admit just how well they were projected, because despite them being superbly loud, I could hear each guitar, the intense drums and the vocals (if not the words) pretty distinctly–even if they are a series of growsl)
The biggest surprise for me was that their songs were quite long. I associate super fast death metal with short bursts of aggression. Napalm Death for instance has songs that are about a minute long. But most Cannibal Corpse songs run to four minutes or more. That’s some lengthy intensity, especially for the speed of the drums and the massive intensity of Corpsegrinder’s headbanging.
One of the funnest things to say about Cannibal Corpse is that they are in Ace Ventura Pet Detective (1994). Soon after that (but apparently unrelated), lead singer Chris Barnes left and was replaced by current singer George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher. There hasn’t been very much change in the lineup for the thirty or so years they’ve been playing. 
Although in December 2018, lead guitarist Pat O’Brien was arrested for assault and battery and Morbid Angel guitarist Erik Rutan would fill in.
It’s amusing seeing a band like Cannibal Corpse in the bright sun–I couldn’t imagine sitting in the lawn for them. But it was early evening and very bright out (which meant good photos!).
But they obviously weren’t bothered by it because they came out on stage and created a noise that made me put earplugs in and not take them out all night.
I didn’t know any of their songs (although I had heard of “Hammer Smashed Face”), I didn’t even know they had FOURTEEN albums out! So, to pick six songs for this tour must have been a challenge.
They played one song from their most recent album–2017’s Red Before Black (the least offensive or violent seeming title in their discography). They skipped the previous album and then played one each from the two before that.
Corpsegrinder is known for his headbanging (in which he whips his head around in a circle rather than the old-school back and forth motion). He told the audience that he would challenge anyone to a headbanging contest. “You will lose. And that’s okay.”
I was delighted by how deadpan amusing he was.
Even introducing the song “I Cum Blood,” he said, “this is a song about shooting blood from your cock…. it’s sounds fun… until it happens to you.”
That song as well as “Hammer Smashed Face” comes from their 1992 album, Tomb of the Mutilated. They had two albums out before that.
Honestly, I couldn’t really tell any of the songs apart, but there were definitely sections to the songs. These were mostly distinguishable by drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz’s amazing playing (he’s been with the band since the beginning, as has Alex Webster on bass). Although his playing choices are somewhat limited in this style of music his energy never flagged during his double bass pounding or straight up snare slamming.
I’m glad their set was only about 30 minutes. It was plenty. And honestly they didn’t do anything outrageous, like I thought they might. Maybe if they headline? Or maybe they’re not Gwar, they just play fast and loud and do a lot of headbanging.
SETLIST
- Evisceration Plague €
- Scourge of Iron ⊗
- Red Before Black ®
- I Cum Blood ™
- Stripped, Raped and Strangled ß
- Hammer Smashed Face ™
™ = Tomb of the Mutilated (1992)
ß = The Bleeding (1994)
€ = Evisceration Plague (2009)
⊗ = Torture (2012)
® = Red Before Black (2017)
