Cannibal Corpse - Eaten Back to Life (1990)

Cannibal Corpse is a name that's synonymous with death metal and as one of the founders and now most well known and successful names in the genre you'd think the band would actually have more than a few great records behind them after nearly twenty five years of existence. You're opinion may differ on this matter, but personally the bands 1990 debut, 'Eaten Back to Life' is the only Cannibal Corpse record that I can honestly say I fuckin' love.

Without question when it comes to death metal I prefer the records from the late 80's and early 90's over everything else that's been released, and the basic reason for this is because most of those old records have that underlining thrash metal characteristic to them mixed with death metal. This then means that the music actually has a soul and substance, or in other words; bad ass riffs, the occasional solo and a fair amount of energy and drive behind the songs, whereas by the mid 90's and onwards death metal became a contest to see who could play the fastest and growl the lowest.

'Eaten Back to Life' has everything I mentioned above plus the guttural bellows of front man, Chris Barnes and his sickening lyrics, which for the time probably raised an eyebrow or two, even if Carcass and Repulsion had gore lyrics years before them. Nevertheless, I like the way many of the songs actually tell a story, such is the case with, 'Shredded Humans;'

"The father of three was impaled on the wheel, as his skull became a part of the dash, His eyeballs ejected his sight uneffected, he saw his own organs collapse, His seatbelt was useless for holding him back, it simply cut him in two, Legs were crushed, out leaked pus as his spinal cord took off and flew, The mother took flight through the glass, and ended up impaled on a sign, Her intestines stretched from the car down the road for a quarter of a mile.

Of course, very little of the lyrics are actually discernible through Chris' roars, but that's fine, this is freakin' death metal after all! In the end its the songs that are important and these are really Cannibal Corpse's finest. The aforementioned, 'Shredded Humans' kicks off the album flawlessly, pummeling the listener into submission within the short instrumental and as soon as those vocals kick in, fuck man, watch out, because things get insane quickly. The short but awesome, 'Put them to Death' has always been a favorite of mine and the part where Chris screams, "Fuck you" is beyond killer! 'Mangled' & 'A Skull Full of Maggots' are actually catchy and feature backing vocals from Glen Benton (Deicide) and Francis Howard (Incubus... umm, the thrash metal one!). A few others that have always stuck out for me are, 'Rotting Head' & 'The Undead Will Feast,' but really what matters is that the whole album is a mauling and brutal affair with tons of killer riffs, relentless endurance and a few clever solos and a strange sort of catchiness you just simply don't see in death metal anymore. Oh, and I enjoy drinking beer and headbanging to this motherfucker too.

This debut is generally overlooked in favor of the bands following creations, 'Butchered at Birth' & 'Tomb of the Mutilated' and while I agree they are good records I just never found myself enjoying Chris' far more guttural vocal approach as well the production is awful on those albums, while here it just sounds like a natural vintage metal record instead of a complete fuck up there. Honestly I'm not much of a fan of Cannibal Corpse past the fourth album and I've heard everything through, 'Gore Obsessed' too. Sure, someone might say I'm missing something with the new records, but then again the new records don't even have shocking twisted blood drenched artwork anymore. Have you seen the cover to, 'Kill?' Yeah, need I say more.

Some would say this isn't a death metal classic, but I'll proudly hold my middle finger in those peoples faces and say quite the opposite. 'Eaten Back to Life' is indeed a classic and undeniably the best product released under the Cannibal Corpse banner.