UMUR
"Cannibal Corpse" is the eponymously titled first demo release by US, Buffalo, New York based death metal act Cannibal Corpse. The demo was independently released in May 1989. Cannibal Corpse was formed in December 1988 by three members of Tirant Sin and two members of Beyond Death. Both contemporary Buffalo thrash metal acts. It´s the only demo by Cannibal Corpse before they were signed to Metal Blade Records for the release of their debut full-length studio album "Eaten Back to Life" (August 1990).
The demo features five tracks and a total playing time of 11:52 minutes. All tracks were re-recorded and included on "Eaten Back to Life". Although tracks like "A Skull Full of Maggots" and "Scattered Remains, Splattered Brains" are easily recognisable, these demo versions are quite different from the studio versions which would appear on "Eaten Back to Life". First and foremost as a result of Chris Barnes vocals, which are raw thrash metal shouting. There are very few growling vocals and a few higher pitched screams here, which could be labelled death metal vocals. So to my ears this demo isn´t really a death metal demo, but more a death/thrash metal hybrid release. The instrumental part of the music could also be mistaken for really brutal thrash metal (Dark Angel and Devastation are for example not much less brutal than this). I imagine that fans of this demo who subsequently purchased and listened to "Eaten Back to Life" must have been in shock at what they heard.
The sound production is of a pretty good quality considering that this is a demo, but it´s not like this demo could have been released as an official studio release. For that it´s too raw and unpolished. Upon conclusion it´s a good quality first demo release by Cannibal Corpse, but don´t expect a fully matured Cannibal Corpse on this release...don´t even expect this to be a fully fledged death metal release. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.