Yesterday August 16th 2025, Buffalo’s own Cannibal Corpse released their debut album in 1990 “Eaten Back To Life”. One of death metal’s most revered debuts is almost as old as me. Holy shit. Personally, the debut will always be one of my favorite CC albums. It’s not technical, but heavy and disgusting. Also: bands weren’t doing obscene album covers. This was one of many influential moments CC eventually ended up having on death metal let alone the metal genre as a whole. The band name alone at the time was crazy as hell. And the songwriting well….zombies, cannibals, death, gore and other touching subjects. A classic, influential logo many bands tried to emulate….but there’s only one Cannibal Corpse. Yes there were other bands around the nation creating this new style of metal as well. Songwriting wise, many bands tried to up the ante as much as these guys did. Vocalist Chris Barnes (the only Barnes material I’ve truly enjoyed) was at the forefront of that lyrically speaking.
Musically, this album was insane in 1990. Thrash metal was huge then, and many bands got into that style. Song titles such as “A Skull Full Of Maggots”, “Scattered Remains, Splattered Brains”, “Born In A Casket” and many others made people’s skin crawl at the time. The album art is a timeless, treasured piece of gore soaked death metal history. You have a cannibalistic zombie missing plenty of organs going to town eating flesh. This debut started a huge movement (especially the band) of insanely brutal album covers. The genre was in its infancy and CC was doing things many metal bands weren’t at the time. People wanted a heavier, faster genre than thrash metal. Cannibal Corpse was at the front of that, along with other bands that helped create death metal.
If you’re a fan of the genre, you’ve most definitely heard this release. 36 minutes of relentless old school death metal brutality. “Eaten Back To Life” offers a lot of speed and grooves hard at times too. It’s a timeless classic that was a part of a substantially large movement. Ironically enough, death metal has been surging lately the last handful of years. There were other bands in Buffalo in the early 90’s putting out grotesque death metal. Malevolent Creation, Grotesque Infection, Immortal Terror, Eternal Torment and tons of other bands. Cannibal Corpse came from members in past bands such as Tirant Sin, Leviathan and Beyond Death. Hundreds of people would flock to shows here when the guys played live.
Like many bands at the time, Cannibal Corpse moved to Florida to record at Morrisound. That studio was (now it’s physically gone but the albums recorded there aren’t) responsible for recording some of death metal’s most revered acts. Even if they moved, the guys still consider our city home. 2 original members Alex (bass) and Paul (drums) are still in the band, and longtime guitarist Rob has since 2005 (his first run from 1993-1997 as well). Bob and Jack (who went on to be in other bands like Deicide and Six Feet Under) rounded out the album lineup along with Chris.
This proves how timeless music is. No matter the genre, the music will always remain somehow someway. Cannibal Corpse left their mark many ways sparking the death metal genre. The band was firing on all cylinders and to this day in 2025 still is. Eaten Back To Life was created for all of us twisted death metal fanatics, written by twisted death metal fanatics. Did they know they would become so relevant so quickly? Maybe, maybe not. Shit, they even got on tours and hit up Europe pushing this album. Getting signed to Metal Blade Records was huge in their transformation. Their work ethic was unparalleled (and still is) constantly writing new music and playing shows. Corpse started a metal revolution and still influence countless bands. Some say bands “peaked” or “fizzled out” but in this instance they got even BETTER. It’s a gory testament to the long standing genre of nearly 4 decades. Our little city of Buffalo was a huge hot spot for death metal for years. Cannibal Corpse was leading the charge and always will. The guys aren’t getting any younger and will be a sad yet celebratory day when they hang it up. While they’re still out there making music, enjoy these legends. Younger generations such as mine need to carry the torch. CC lit that fire and needs to stay lit forever.
35 years of Cannibal Corpse’s “Eaten Back To Life”- A Memoir
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