Wikipedia

Tomb of the Mutilated

Tomb of the Mutilated is the third studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse, released on September 22, 1992, by Metal Blade Records.

Tomb of the Mutilated
Two corpses, one male and one female, engage in cunnilingus.
Studio album by
Cannibal Corpse
ReleasedSeptember 22, 1992
RecordedJune 1–15, 1992 at Morrisound Recording, Tampa, Florida
GenreDeath metal
Length35:11
LabelMetal Blade
ProducerScott Burns
Cannibal Corpse chronology
Butchered at Birth
(1991) 		Tomb of the Mutilated
(1992) 		Hammer Smashed Face
(1993)
Alternate cover
Censored version

It is the last record to feature the band's original lineup, as founding guitarist Bob Rusay was fired after the album's release.

Background and recording

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The album was recorded at Morrisound Recording studios in Tampa in Feburary 1992. The material on Tomb of the Mutilated is considered to be faster and more complex than its predecessors.[1] Bassist Alex Webster recalled that the band's increasingly technical approach to songwriting made the album's sessions the most challenging they had endured at that point, saying:

I think when you listen to the album, and compare it with the first two, you can hear the progression. The songs on "Tomb..." were the fastest and most technical we had done at that time [...] but was this technical push and the challenging music it created that made "Tomb" a fan favorite.[2]

Tomb was also the band's first album in which they had the budget to work longer hours in the studio with producer Scott Burns. Webster commented further, "Many fans have told me that "Tomb..." is their favorite album because the production is so heavy. There is no doubt that Scott helped Cannibal Corpse a great deal with the excellent production work he did on this album."[3]

Vocalist Chris Barnes single-handedly penned all of the album's lyrics, with Webster recalling that the band "placed no limits" on him throughout the process. "He’d come to us with the most vile, repugnant stuff and we’d be like, ‘Sure! Why not?’ We were trying to make the most extreme and aggressive music we could, so why not have the most antagonistic lyrics too?"[4] Because the liner notes on Butchered at Birth feature quotations from American serial killer Albert Fish, he is often incorrectly credited with being the voice at the beginning of "Addicted to Vaginal Skin". However, the taped confession heard at the beginning of the song most likely belongs to the "Genesee River Killer" Arthur Shawcross.[5]

Reception and legacy

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic      link
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal8/10[6]
Rock Hard8.5/10[7]

Tomb of the Mutilated has received positive reviews from critics, both contemporarily and retrospectively. Heavy metal webzine Kicked in the Face praised the album's musicianship but criticized the tone of Barnes' vocals and Scott Burns' production.[8] Metal Storm praised the album's songwriting, production and progression over its predecessor, but criticized the one-dimensional nature of the album's lyrics.[9]

Following the release of the album, the opening track "Hammer Smashed Face" quickly became the band's signature song. The track was featured during the band's cameo appearance in the 1994 comedy film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,[10] as well as downloadable content for the video game Rock Band video game series. The song "I Cum Blood" is also featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned.[citation needed]

In a retrospective review of the album, Vincent Jefferies of Allmusic wrote "listeners unfamiliar with the belching vocal style and pummeling drum and guitar attack typical of death metal probably won't understand what separates this or any other record that adheres so stringently to the genre's formula, but learned fans have come to appreciate Tomb of the Mutilated as a solid, if not important, offering [...] Cannibal Corpse somehow managed to outlast many of their more critically accepted contemporaries due in no small part to early career efforts like Tomb of the Mutilated, with its powerful musical focus."[11] Dom Lawson of Metal hammer wrote that the album is "bulging with moments of stomach-churning horror, ranging from the cross-your-legs revulsion of I Cum Blood through to the provocatively over- the-top Entrails Ripped From A Virgin’s Cunt.[12]

In 2005, Tomb of the Mutilated was ranked number 278 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[13]

Track listing

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All lyrics written by Chris Barnes. All music written by Cannibal Corpse.

No.TitleLength
1."Hammer Smashed Face"4:02
2."I Cum Blood"3:40
3."Addicted to Vaginal Skin"3:29
4."Split Wide Open"3:01
5."Necropedophile"4:05
6."The Cryptic Stench"3:57
7."Entrails Ripped from a Virgin's Cunt"4:14
8."Post Mortal Ejaculation"3:35
9."Beyond the Cemetery"4:52
Total length:35:11
Bonus track
No.TitleLength
10."I Cum Blood (live)"4:13
Total length:39:24

Personnel

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Cannibal Corpse

Additional musicians

Production

References

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  1. ^ "Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the Mutilated review".
  2. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20210729153225/https://tombofthemutilated.net/Alex-Webster-Tomb-Of-The-Mutilated.html [bare URL]
  3. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20210729153225/https://tombofthemutilated.net/Alex-Webster-Tomb-Of-The-Mutilated.html [bare URL]
  4. ^ "Blood, guts and Jim Carrey: How Cannibal Corpse became death metal's first million selling band". March 13, 2024.
  5. ^ Cannibal Corpse FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions
  6. ^ Popoff, Martin (2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
  7. ^ Albrecht, Frank. "Rock Hard review". Rock Hard. Retrieved June 1, 2013.
  8. ^ Cannibal Corpse – Tomb Of The Mutilated review Archived November 1, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ "Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the Mutilated review".
  10. ^ "Blood, guts and Jim Carrey: How Cannibal Corpse became death metal's first million selling band". March 13, 2024.
  11. ^ "Tomb of the Mutilated - Cannibal Corpse | Album | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  12. ^ "Blood, guts and Jim Carrey: How Cannibal Corpse became death metal's first million selling band". March 13, 2024.
  13. ^ Best of Rock & Metal - Die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten (in German). Rock Hard. 2005. p. 103. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
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