CANNIBAL CORPSE — Eaten Back to Life (review)

CANNIBAL CORPSE — Eaten Back to Life album cover

Album · 1990 · Death Metal

3/5 · 2011-11-01
J-Man

Back in 1990, Eaten Back to Life by Cannibal Corpse was the epitome of what it truly meant to be 'extreme' in the world of heavy metal music. A bloody cover laden with zombies and collapsing intestines is the first thing anybody will notice when taking a look at the album; open up the CD booklet, and you'll then read a kind little message that states “this album is dedicated to the memory of Alfred Packer, the first American cannibal (R.I.P.)”. But that's not all, folks - you also have song titles like “Edible Autopsy”, “Born in a Casket”, “The Undead Will Feast”, “A Skull Full of Maggots”, along with many other un-family friendly tunes. Factor in the gore movie-styled lyrics and it suddenly becomes a bit clearer why this generated so much controversy when it was released - Germany and a few other countries even went as far as to downright ban Eaten Back to Life with no censored alternative. Even though this may not seem quite as brutal today as it did over twenty years ago, Eaten Back to Life still stands as one of the most definitive and extreme examples of early brutal death metal. Cannibal Corpse's debut is flawed in many key aspects, but it is still a must-have for all death metal addicts.

The music on Eaten Back to Life is brutal death metal just like we're used to from Cannibal Corpse, albeit a bit more raw and unpolished than some of their following efforts. Calling this album 'primitive' death metal also wouldn't be too out of the question - most of the riffs are pretty fast paced and simple, the growled vocals are hardly decipherable, and the drumming is quick and energetic. The rather sloppy musicianship and thin production also serve as evidence that this is death metal in its most primitive form. Variation is seldom found on Eaten Back to Life, but Cannibal Corpse does manage to change up tempos every now and again to keep things interesting. Even though the music is very one-dimensional and not all that interesting, I always find myself having a great times when tracks like “Edible Autopsy”, “Mangled”, or “A Skull Full of Maggots” come on.

This short, thirty six minute album is pretty fun and enjoyable when it's on, but I do have an issue with its general lack of memorability. No matter how much fun I have when Eaten Back to Life is in the CD player, I have a tough time remembering more than a handful of riffs when the album ends; this is ultimately Eaten Back to Life's fatal flaw. Of course, I wasn't expecting any melodic hooks or catchy choruses, but a large chunk of the riffs just aren't interesting enough to keep my attention for too long. Cannibal Corpse still hadn't sharpened their songwriting skills at this point in their career, and hopefully this is something they improved over the course of their next few albums.

Eaten Back to Life is a shocking, disgusting, and pretty damn fun debut album from Cannibal Corpse, and every old school death metal fan should definitely label this as a 'classic'. I can't say that this album impressed me all that much, but there's enough quality material here to justify a 3 star rating. This is a seminal brutal death metal album, though, and I can fully understand why many people are willing to praise this much more than I am. This is just too one-dimensional to get more than a passive recommendation from me.

more than 2 years ago
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J-Man wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I intend on reviewing Cannibal Corpse's full discography in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for more reviews! :-)

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I completely agree. A must have for fans of early death metal and a "classic" but flawed and actually a bit hard to sit through in it´s entirety. Times were different back then though and I used to worship this album.