examples were released as the pioneers of the sub- genre were defining both the sound and the look of one of music’s most extreme forms. So much for the natural escalation of evil! No other band has courted controversy quite like
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Cannibal Corpse. Virtually its entire catalogue fea- tures cover illustrations by artist Vincent Locke, best known for his Deadworld comic book series. Like the comics, almost all of the albums present outrageous zombie grue, which has led to censored covers and the band’s records being banned from sale in Ger- many and Australia for a number of years. Arguably, CC’s most obscene album is its third outing, Tomb of the Mutilated. Released in 1992, it was the final album featuring
the original lineup, and ironically the one that briefly thrust them into the mainstream. The opening track, “Hammer Smashed Face,” appeared on the sound- track ofAce Ventura: Pet Detective, and the band had a cameo in the film. But anyone curious about Can- nibal Corpse after seeing that family movie was prob- ably scarred for life after seeing album art featuring a carved and disembowelled female corpse having her vulva eaten by a skeletal zombie. (It included such ditties as “I Cum Blood,” “Addicted to Vaginal Skin” and “Entrails Ripped From a Virgin’s Cunt.”) Cannibal Corpse wasn’t the first death metal band
to draw the ire of record retailers and government authorities for album packaging, though. Goregrind
ince death metal is splatter for your ears, it has frequently (and fittingly) been dressed in album art that suitably reflects its over-the- top lyrics. Interestingly, some of the goriest
pioneers Carcass put out Reek of Putrefaction in 1988, two years before the first Cannibal Corpse record materialized. The revolting lyrics of songs such as “Vomited Anal Tract,” “Ex- creted Alive” and “Microwaved Uterogesta- tion” were matched by a cover emblazoned with a vomit-inducing collage of genuine au- topsy and crime scene photos (pictured, below left), perversely arranged by bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker. Stores wouldn’t stock the record, and after the office of the band’s record label was raided by Her Majesty’s Customs in 1991, the cover was banned in the UK. Tampa, Florida, is regarded as the early front
of American death metal, but one of the first and most influential bands came from San Francisco, California. After leaving the band Death, drummer Chris Reifert formed Autopsy, whose 1989 debut album, Severed Survival, features an ingenious illustration by Kent Mathieu of a man being pierced by strange metal blades and pulled apart by hooks in his torso, tongue and scalp. Gore, murder and self-cannibalism are prominent themes in the witty lyrics for cuts such as “Charred Remains,” “Disembowel” and the title track, making it highly appropriate that the band’s logo is spelled out in meat-covered bones. Chicagoans Broken Hope have the distinction of
being the first death metal band to be recorded, mixed and mastered digitally, or “DDD” as it was denoted on CDs back in 1991, when its first album, Swamped in Gore, was released independently. Metal Blade Records signed the band in 1993 for its second effort, Bowels of Repugnance, and re-issued the first disc in 1995 with new and gnarlier cover art. The artist is not credited, but it’s a delightfully grotesque illustration of an armless, half-rotted male torso with a sword shoved through the skull and reappearing out an eye
socket, with the eye dangling below. The band delivered the gore in its lyrics as well.
Take the following verse from “Gobbling the Guts:” “I consume innards / Chase them down with blood / Swallowing mouthfuls of the nauseating swill / Sauteed lungs, barbecued stomachs / Cooked and raw organs / I’ll eat my fill,” and any number of sim- ilar gastrointestinal atrocities in “Dismembered Car- cass” and the title track – rendered all the more grotesque once gurgled to pummelling, mid-paced riffs. Broken Hope released four more albums before disbanding in 2002. While in talks in 2010 to reform the band, vocalist
Joe Ptacek committed suicide, but guitarist Jeremy Wagner pressed ahead with a reunion. Broken Hope is on tour this month with Obituary, a show I highly suggest you take in should it roll anywhere near your stomping grounds. Now that’s my idea of a moveable feast!