Written By Chris Norris
If any death metal band can make a Hollywood cameo, alarm a politician and still leave us talking about stuffed animals, it’s Cannibal Corpse. The riffs are monstrous, the song titles are a public-relations department’s nightmare, and the stories behind the band are frequently stranger than the gore.
These Cannibal Corpse facts revisit the peculiar corners of their history: movie appearances, censorship battles, cartoon connections and George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher’s surprisingly wholesome arcade habit. The point is to enjoy the weirdness without mistaking every well-travelled internet anecdote for a fact.
Cannibal Corpse facts: from Buffalo to Billboard
Cannibal Corpse formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1988. They didn’t invent death metal, but their combination of precision, guttural vocals and horror imagery made them one of its defining bands. Exclaim!’s history of the band traces those beginnings and the upheavals that followed.
Their sales reputation has a real foundation, but it needs a date and a boundary. A November 2003 report using Nielsen SoundScan figures placed them ahead of the death metal bands surveyed in U.S. sales during the SoundScan era. The totals included video releases where applicable and excluded sales before tracking began in 1991. That supports a specific historical distinction, not an unqualified worldwide record for all time. Combined catalogue sales should not be confused with a certified platinum album.
There is, however, some wonderfully convenient chart arithmetic. In 2009, Evisceration Plague debuted at No. 66 on the Billboard 200, while the contemporary chart announcement also listed it at No. 6 among independent-label current albums. Put the numbers together and there are your three sixes.
Hammer Smashed Face goes to Hollywood
Before “Hammer Smashed Face” became a calling card, it emerged from a brief rupture inside the band. Paul Mazurkiewicz recalled that he and Alex Webster briefly quit and worked on the song during that separation, with Webster doing most of the initial writing. A short-lived split left behind a very durable racket.
Then came Ace Ventura: Pet Detective in 1994. Cannibal Corpse appeared performing “Hammer Smashed Face,” a gloriously unlikely collision of death metal and mainstream comedy. In Mazurkiewicz’s account to Exclaim!, Jim Carrey knew “Rancid Amputation” well enough to bring it up when they met. Apparently, a song that unappetising was perfectly good conversation material. Exclaim! also notes members of Malevolent Creation in the scene’s audience.
There is a quieter film connection, too: a Cannibal Corpse sticker appears among the musical clutter in Dewey Finn’s room in School of Rock (2003). Adam Marx’s illustrated catalogue of the film’s references identifies it. No surprise performance this time; just death metal keeping an eye on the furniture.
Censorship, politicians and lounge music
On May 31, 1995, Senator Bob Dole named Cannibal Corpse alongside Geto Boys and 2 Live Crew in a speech attacking violent entertainment. The reference is right there in the transcript: underground death metal had made it into a major politician’s argument about American culture.
Germany’s restrictions made life considerably more complicated than a politician’s disapproval. In a 2009 interview with Alex Webster, he described local differences: the band could generally play its material, yet authorities in places such as Bavaria could still require songs to be cut. The history involved restrictions on older releases and inconsistent live enforcement, rather than one neat nationwide end date.
Australia supplied the strangest musical response. In July 2006, The Chaser performed a lounge version of “Rancid Amputation” on television amid calls to ban an upcoming Perth show. The joke was the collision between genteel delivery and thoroughly ungenteel material. Death metal had acquired a lounge act, surely one of censorship’s less predictable side effects.
Corpsegrinder: death metal, cartoons and Warcraft
George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher had already recorded with Monstrosity before becoming Cannibal Corpse’s singer. Monstrosity’s official history identifies his vocals on Imperial Doom and Millennium. His recorded work also includes Paths of Possession, documented in Exclaim!’s band history. For more of the scene surrounding these bands, follow Metal Lair’s Road Riffs: Florida Edition.
Fisher voiced the Metal Masked Assassin in Metalocalypse, while Nathan Explosion’s appearance drew on him. The distinction matters: creator Brendon Small explained that Nathan’s look and frontman presence took inspiration from Fisher, not that the character’s foolish behaviour was a portrait of the man. Looking like a cartoon death metal titan does not oblige you to think like one.
The World of Warcraft connection is equally real. In a 2021 Kerrang! interview, Fisher described years of playing, friendships made through the game and his astonishment at encountering an orc named Gorge the Corpsegrinder. Few people get to meet their own fantasy-game tribute while doing a quest.
That story needs its later footnote: the character was renamed Annihilator Grek’lor in 2021 after controversy over Fisher’s earlier derogatory comments about rival players. The original tribute belongs in the history, but presenting its old name as current would leave that history incomplete.
Claw machines and a very metal Christmas
In December 2022, just before this feature was first published, Fisher shared photographs of armfuls of stuffed animals won at Walmart claw machines and said the prizes were for donation. Contemporary coverage reproduced his posts, including his festive encounter with Santa. The toys were real, and so was the stated intention to give them away.
It is a satisfying final image: the voice behind all that musical carnage, patiently extracting another plush toy from a glass box. Cannibal Corpse’s oddest stories work because the people behind the horror are capable of being funny, nerdy and generous. The music can remain a nightmare; the afternoon’s haul can go to a good cause.
Still in the mood to rummage? Explore Deep Cuts: Metal’s Hidden Gems for more journeys into metal’s stranger corners.
Archive restoration note: Originally published December 31, 2022, by Chris Norris. This feature has been fact-checked and edited, with sources added. Unsupported details about a Tori Amos filesharing “duet,” a claimed album dedication and other minor anecdotes were removed. The original description of skulls found at Pat O’Brien’s home as “human” was not established by the reporting reviewed; that aside has also been removed.