Cannibal Corpse Get Historic

07/08/08 1:01pm

by Keith Carman (CHARTattack)

Gore metal godfathers Cannibal Corpse are celebrating 20 years of inarticulate bellowing, inhumanly fast drum beats and shredding guitars on Centuries Of Torment: The First 20 Years, a retrospective DVD extending to seven hours over three discs.

Revered as death metal's biggest and probably most controversial/influential act, Cannibal Corpse (guitarists Pat O'Brien and Rob Barrett, bassist Alex Webster, vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher and drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz) are renowned for such infamous and definitive albums as Butchered At Birth, Eaten Back To Life and Gallery Of Suicide.

Naturally, the Tampa, Fla. band are proud of Centuries Of Torment. It's beautifully — well, as "beautiful" as an embossed image of a zombie strapped to a chair of rotting flesh can be — packaged and features live renditions of such timeless classics as "Devoured By Vermin," "Dormant Bodies Bursting" and "Mummified In Barbed Wire." It's packed with live performances, a three-hour documentary and introspective features on everything from being banned in multiple countries to the group's shocking merchandise.

"We did work hard on both the documentary and DVD itself," Webster notes. "I know it seems long at first, but once you're watching it, you realize how hard it is to pare down 20 years of history — shows, albums, tours and everything else — into a couple of hours.

"You can only give so much attention to everything, and these great moments end up getting cut. But we're confident that what made it into the documentary will be entertaining to our fans."

While Webster is clearly stoked about Centuries Of Torment, he figures the most interesting element is that the documentary features original vocalist Chris Barnes, who resigned heatedly in 1995 due to friction with his bandmates.

"It is great that we even have Chris talking about the band in it. Most people thought we'd either skip over that or he'd want no part of it, but he was all for it. I think that because we ensured he's a part of things, fans will really appreciate the effort we put forth."

Webster is adamant that fans not see Centuries Of Torment as the group's swan song. On the contrary, he says it's a doorway between chapters in the Cannibal Corpse saga. Apparently the world still needs more songs about decapitation and mutilation.

"This DVD is more of a celebration of what we've accomplished so far as opposed to saying, 'That's all we have,'" he says. "This is by no means the end of Cannibal Corpse's prolific output.

"We're working with [Hate Eternal singer/guitarist] Erik Rutan on our next album that we hope to have out in a few months. This is a celebration of two decades of Cannibal Corpse. Hopefully the next two decades will be just as interesting."