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CANNIBAL CORPSE Release 15th Studio Album ‘Violence Unimagined’
April 16th, 2021

Tampa, Florida-based death metal band Cannibal Corpse issued 15th full-length studio album Violence Unimagined on April 16th, 2021 through Metal Blade Records.

The outing can be streamed in its entirety via YouTube below.

Regarding the new album, bassist and founding member Alex Webster said: “It really follows the path we’ve been going down for a few years now. I think we approach the writing in a similar way most every time: each of us try to write the heaviest, most memorable songs we can. We want each song to have its own identifiable character. Showing my age, I like to say you can ‘drop the needle’ on any point of one of our albums and quickly tell which song you’re listening to.”

The one substantial change to Cannibal Corpse is the addition of guitarist Erik Rutan, who replaces Pat O’Brien. Known for his roles in Morbid Angel, Ripping Corpse and most notably fronting Hate Eternal, Rutan has long established himself as one of the most dynamic forces in contemporary death metal. Simultaneously, he has built up a reputation as one of the most in demand producers in metal, having previously produced four Cannibal Corpse albums – Kill (March 2006), Evisceration Plague (February 2009), Torture (March 2012) and Red Before Black (November 2017) – as well as this latest effort. Filling in live on guitar since 2019, in 2020 Rutan became a full member, contributing to the writing process.

Webster commented: “I think the most noticeable difference on this record will be the addition of Erik to the band. He wrote three full songs for the record, music and lyrics, and his song writing and guitar playing have added something new, and I think his musical style integrated into ours very well.

“He’s a great friend of ours, so on a personal level, he’s been a perfect fit, as we knew he would be. Beyond that, he’s one of the hardest working people I know, in music or otherwise, and he maintains a high energy, positive demeanor in challenging situations where other people might go in a negative direction. This energy and great attitude rubs off on the rest of us as well. That’s really a perfect situation to have when you add someone to a band, or any kind of team: someone who’s great at what they do, and also inspires the people around them.

“I think we all pushed ourselves a bit technically on this one, with Paul [Mazurkiewicz, drums] probably pushing the hardest. This album is probably the most drum-intense album we’ve done yet. Part of that could be a result of Erik joining the band. His song writing style often features technically challenging drumming, probably owing to his years of experience in high speed death metal.”

With Rutan in the band, having him produce the record was a no-brainer at Mana Recording in St. Petersburg, Florida – his central base of operation. However, their plans to record the album entirely together were interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, with Webster forced to record his bass tracks in his home studio.

“I live on the other side of the country now, and that hadn’t been an issue prior to the pandemic, I was still able to go to Florida whenever I needed to,” said Webster. “So, I was scheduled to fly down for the recording in early April 2020, and of course that was at the very beginning of all of the lockdowns and travel restrictions in the USA, so I didn’t go.

“Fortunately I have a lot of experience recording bass tracks at home, so it didn’t affect the sound of the album at all. I stayed in close contact with Erik and the other guys throughout the process, and it actually wound up being quite smooth. Of course I’m looking forward to tracking in the big studio with the guys for the next album, but I’m glad this option worked well for us.”

Cover artwork was once again created by Vincent Locke, which will be available in two versions.

The original cover features a mother eating her own baby, although due to censorship reasons Locke was asked to produce an alternative piece that was more widely released.

The track listing is as follows:

01. ‘Murderous Rampage’
02. ‘Necrogenic Resurrection’
03. ‘Inhumane Harvest’
04. ‘Condemnation Contagion’
05. ‘Surround, Kill, Devour’
06. ‘Ritual Annihilation’
07. ‘Follow The Blood’
08. ‘Bound And Burned’
09. ‘Slowly Sawn’
10. ‘Overtorture’
11. ‘Cerements Of The Flayed’

Cannibal Corpse’s line-up is as follows:

George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher (vocals)
Rob Barrett (guitar)
Erik Rutan (guitar)
Alex Webster (bass)
Paul Mazurkiewicz (drums)

Directed by David Brodsky for MyGoodEye, music videos were filmed for the track ‘Inhumane Harvest’ and ‘Necrogenic Resurrection’. In addition, an official guitar playthrough video was released for the song ‘Condemnation Contagion’. Both clips can also be viewed below.

Fourteenth studio record Red Before Black was released in November 2017 via Metal Blade Records.

Promotional photograph by Alex Morgan.

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