If any death metal band is a household name these days, it’s Cannibal Corpse. While Cannibal Corpses 1988 formation came a few years after the genre began to take shape folowing bands like Possessed and Death, they are nevertheless a quintessential death metal band. Their down-tuned riffs, growling vocals, and horror-film-obsessed lyrics provide a blueprint for American death metal. Theres also a lot of interesting stories surrounding the band. Here are a few ‘fun’ facts.
Cannibal Corpse are the top selling death metal band in history (according to the records of Soundscan) They are the first death metal group to have platinum status in the world.
Because of various complaints from teachers and parents who claimed Cannibal Corpse would be dangerous to children due to their cover art and lyrical content the band were not allowed to play any song from the first three albums live in Germany until 2007.
The song “Hammer Smashed Face” was written by Alex Webster and Paul Mazurkiewicz, after one of their countless fights with their vocalist, Chris Barnes.
In the 2003 film School of Rock, a large Cannibal Corpse sticker is visible in Dewey Finn’s sleeping area.
Comedian Andrew Hansen of ABC’s Chaser’s War on Everything made a lounge jazz arrangement of Cannibal Corpse’s song “Rancid Amputation” after the Australian government banned the band’s touring of the country.
In May 1995, then-United States Senator Bob Dole mentioned the band by name and accused them of violating human decency.
Cannibal Corpse NEVER did a “duet” with Tori Amos on “Stripped, Raped, and Strangled”. This was a rumor started by filesharing. The “Stripped, Raped, and Strangled” Tori Amos mix is a joke that someone uploaded to filesharing networks after overdubbing Cannibal Corpse’s song with anti-rape comments made by Tori Amos.
George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher is an active player of the MMORPG World of Warcraft, claiming that aside from his family it is probably his strongest passion. In the liner notes of the booklet for Cannibal Corpse’s 2006 album ‘Kill’ he goes so far as to write “Fuck The Alliance!” – referencing the rival clan to his Horde character in the game.
George Fisher does guest appearances in the animated series Metalocalypse where he voices the Metal Masked Assassin. He was also the inspiration for the character Nathan Explosion, the lead vocalist for Dethklok. Nathan shares a similar physical appearance to George, headbangs in a windmill fashion, and was also born in Florida, although Fisher was born in Baltimore and moved to Florida later in life.
Blizzard Entertainment implemented a non-player character named “Gorge the Corpsegrinder” into World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King after George Fisher’s interest in the game was revealed in interviews.
George Fisher is a fan of the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Cowboys.
The band’s 2009 release, Evisceration Plague, cracked the Billboard Top 100, peaking at #66. It also reached #6 on the Top Independent Albums chart, making for three sixes.
Before joining, Corpsegrinder was the original vocalist for Monstrosity, performing on their first two records, Imperial Doom and Millennium, the latter of which was released just a few months after Vile. He also has done numerous guest appearances for other extreme metal bands, and is a member of the deathrash supergroup Voodoo Gods and a former member of melodeath band Paths of Possession.
Pat O’Brien was actually a promoted fanboy. He was a huge fan of Cannibal Corpse well before he joined.
The physical releases of Violence Unimagined feature a dedication note to Mazurkiewicz’s father, Paul Mazurkiewicz Sr., who had died two years before the album’s release.
Jim Carrey has a favourite Cannibal Corpse song. Cannibal Corpse hit the big screen in 1994, with a surprising guest cameo in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Turns out Jim Carrey is a fan; the band play “Hammer Smashed Face” in the flick (look closely to see the guys from Malevolent Creation in the audience during the clip). “I remember when we met Jim Carrey, he was talking about “Rancid Amputation” [off Butchered at Birth],” says drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz. “To this day, for us, it’s like, ‘Man, did that happen?’ Surreal.” As mentioned in the band’s Centuries of Torment DVD, Jim Carrey is also a fan of the bands AC/DC, Deicide, Napalm Death, and Pantera.
When Pat O’Brien was investigated following an arrest police found multiple firearms and human skulls in his home.
December of this year George Corpse grinder Fischer played the role of Santa scoring a plethora of stuffed animals from the Walmart claw game to donate to charity. Along with photos of him with armfuls of plush toys, the singer wrote, “The last two trips to my local Walmart … have been very productive!
