The Batlord

I've heard different things about why Cannibal Corpse's first vocalist, Chris Barnes, left the band: musical differences, personal issues between the band, or his deteriorating vocal abilities. Regardless of whether it was one of these, or some combination, his voice was definitely going to ****. Absolute ****. Like, god damn, get this dude out of the band.

On their debut, Eaten Back to Life, his voice was huge, OTT, and upfront, setting a new standard for what are now considered "cookie monster" vocals. He was less and less of a presence on the next two albums, however, being almost drowned by the music on Tomb of the Mutilated, but probably covering up any possible shortcomings by becoming more and more indecipherable.

Then came The Bleeding. For once, Cannibal Corpse decided to drop back a bit on the mindless brutality in order to write songs with a bit more ambition that were actually discernible from one another, and one of the things apparently on the agenda was for Chris to sing at least vaguely intelligibly again. What may have been easy to miss before, was now clear for all the metal world to hear. It was one of the strongest albums of Cannibal Corpse's career -- even considering... -- but the vocals were distractingly weak, though not for lack of chutzpah it must be said. Unsurprisingly, he would be gone by the next album, Vile, suitably replaced by George "Corpsegrinder" Fischer of Monstrosity, and the rest is history.

But inbetween The Bleeding and Vile, we have this demo. It contains versions of songs that would appear on Vile, but sung by Chris Barnes. It's pretty obvious that he wouldn't have been suited for the increasingly ambitious, more technical direction which Cannibal Corpse were going in. That being said however, I actually rather like this.

Pretty much any of CC's first three albums could be on this thread, but A.) I wanted to highlight a release that would be more unknown, and B.) the demo-quality production on Created to Kill makes it scuzzy and low rent as ****. The recording quality is actually Chris' saving grace TBH.

It's not quite black metal bad, but that same claustrophobic quality that ****ty, lo-fi, black metal production often has, wraps his voice in a warm blanket, covering up deficiencies made glaringly obvious on the more professionally-produced The Bleeding. Consequently, his deep low end actually meshes rather well with the chunky death metal on the album, which is further roughened by that production.

If you're a fan of Vile -- like me -- then you'll probably dig the music. It's not as developed as on that album, but the songs are still recognizable. They're not as good, but this is still a quality release, and a respectable last send off for Chris. Thank god for George Fischer, though.




Sidenote: There seems to be something going on with different versions of the demo. Most seem to agree on this tracklist...

1. Created to Kill
2. Bloodlands
3. Disfigured
4. To Kill Myself
5. Mummified in Barbed Wire

While others claim...

1. Devoured By Vermin
2. Mummified In Barbed Wire
3. Unburied Horror (Disfigured)
4. Bloodlands
5. Puncture Wound Massacre
6. To Kill Myself (Eaten From Inside)
7. Created to Kill (Orgasm Through Torture)

And since I've heard both versions, and know that they both exist as separate releases, but really have no idea what's up wit all dis, I'll leave you with the second version to listen to...

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