The veteran frontman details the recording process during the pandemic, how metal has infiltrated everywhere, and how exploring outside your comfort zone might do the world a bit of good.
Set to release their fifteenth studio album in ‘Violence Unimagined’ the pillars of death metal in Cannibal Corpse have literal decades of integrity when it comes to crafting extreme aggression.
The years worth of tenure have laid the groundwork for a stylistic signature that is unmistakable. Cannibal is definitive and with a catalog of work that all serves to reiterate their contribution to the culture of heavy music, the band continues to present something fresh all without venturing too far away from what fans have come to expect.
Discussing the band’s latest album, frontman George Corpsegrinder Fisher details what it is like to be a band that boasts extremity with it’s often times controversial content during the era of cancel culture. Emphasizing the value of entertainment, the frontman also discusses how their exaggerated celebration of gore is likely a welcomed respite from the confrontational nature of just about everything else nowadays. No politics, no soapboxing, strictly brutality – that is the metric that Cannibal Corpse has and always will gauge their music by.
Stream the complete conversation with Corpsegrinder below in which the veteran frontman shares what the recording process was like during the pandemic, how metal has infiltrated the world, and how taking the time to get familiar with something outside your comfort zone might do the world a bit of good.
:41 – Corpsegrinder broke the news that Cannibal Corpse was working on new music by posting a photo by the microphone and tagging the band.
1:10 – Detailing the back and forth of recording during a pandemic, Corpsegrinder shares that he really only saw Rob and Erik during the process of making Violence Unimagined.
2:49 – Pandemic aside, there are so many working parts to Cannibal Corpse that recording in segments with people working in different places and at different paces is probably how things would have played out anyway.
4:42 – The frontman explains why he has lived in Florida for so many years and still doesn’t back the Buccaneers.
7:00 – Cannibal Corpse keeps politics out of their music but Corpsegrinder maintains that regardless of your beliefs and affiliations, it comes down to the kind of person you are. A good person is a good person, a bad person – well, is bad. We can and should be able to co-exist despite a different of opinion.
8:21 – Combating social distance measures, Corpsegrinder has been able to get by in using technology to remain connected with his friends. Zoom and FaceTime have allowed him to stay caught up with his friends despite not being able to see them in person. He does admit though that if this were happening in 1990, we’d all be killing each other.
10:00 – Relying on good songwriting and not overthinking things, Corpsegrinder details how the band manages to remain fresh while still maintain their signature.
11:31 – Referencing Rush’s “Limelight” the frontman explains how important being fascinated with music is to being a musician. It serves as a driving force that motivates the creative side part of the brain.
12:30 – Cannibal Corpse don’t write music with album sales In mind. They write the kind of music that they want to hear and the love of what they grew up listening to in mind.
14:44 – Corpsegrinder shares that his attitude about his craft is very much about his personal preference. He is aware people will have a difference of opinion and that is fine. It’s when they try to criticize his preference that he takes issue.
17:35 – Taking inventory of their catalog, Corpsegrinder says that cliches aside, Violence Unimagined will be one of the band’s best records and at this moment, it is their best because it’s fresh.
19:25 – Referencing ‘Into The Pandemonium’ from Celtic Frost, Corpsegrinder talked about balancing fans’ expectation of a band versus experimenting a bit creatively. He recalled being disappointed initially that there were not fast parts on that record and thinks about that in relation to what fans expect when turning on a Cannibal record. In the end, who cares if it’s fast or slow – is it good?
20:03 – FYI, Corpsegrinder is a fan of The Cranberries.
21:28 – The conversation steers towards what it is like to front a death metal band with quite controversial lyrics during an era where everyone is offended by just about everything.
25:11 – There is a comfort level that Corpsegrinder has with singing other people’s lyrics because the bar for Cannibal Corpse is about brutality, there is no ideology that might conflict and nothing to overthink.
27:00 – Corpsegrinder confides that the new album cover is sure to make sure people mad. While he knows some people might think they are ;pushing an agenda, the only agenda the band has is one rooted in being as brutal as possible.
27:59 – Existing in the world of cancel culture, Cannibal Corpse is just going to continue doing what they have always done and can’t be worried about who is going to be offended.
29:54 – While he acknowledges that world definitely has problems that need to be fixed, Corpsegrinder can’t wrap his head around the lack of discourse and the kind of forced opposition that exists now. Getting in someone’s way doesn’t seem like the best way to evoke change.
31:40 – Discussing the religious groups that occasionally protest outside of their shows, Corpsegrinder admits that while the picket lines aren’t physically doing any harm, some of the heinous things they are saying seem at odds with the idea of being religious.
36:04 – The guys discuss the viral sensation of Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers listening to Cannibal Corpse and how that goes to show that the idea of a metalhead goes well beyond cliches and expectations. Metal has infiltrated all of planet earth.
39:38 – Corpsegrinder goes on to explain that the extremity of Cannibal Corpse is about entertainment and not something to be taken literally. He wishes that people on the outside of the culture would understand that and appreciate the entertainment value rather than thumb their nose at people who are into this kind of musical extremity.
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