The Bleeding is the fourth studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse, released on April 12, 1994 through Metal Blade Records.
It is the last album featuring singer and founding member Chris Barnes and is the first album featuring guitarist Rob Barrett. According to SoundScan numbers, The Bleeding is the fifth top-selling death metal LP in the United States, amassing over 98,300 copies sold. The Bleeding is also Cannibal Corpse's most successful album to date.
The Bleeding is considered by most publications to be one of the band's finest albums, and some consider it to be one of the greatest heavy metal releases of the 1990s.
Background and recording
Following the Tomb of the Mutilated album cycle, and original guitarist Bob Rusay's replacement with Rob Barrett, producer Scott Burns pushed the band to compose stronger material and be "right up there with the best death metal bands in the world," such as Morbid Angel and Death. The band composed and arranged the album's material during the winter in a haunted house. Barrett claims to have cowritten several of the album's tracks with Webster and Owen. The band members have stated that tensions were high between them during this time.
The album was recorded at Morrisound Recording in Tampa, Florida during the fall of 1993.
A video was made for the song "Staring Through the Eyes of the Dead". A re-mastered version of The Bleeding is available and features new cover art, a bonus track ("The Exorcist", a Possessed cover) and the music video of "Staring Through the Eyes of the Dead". This music video would later be featured in Beavis and Butt-Head.
Composition and lyrics
Called "the essence of Cannibal Corpse," the music on The Bleeding is generally considered to be less extreme, more mature, and more accessible than on the band's prior releases. It is noted for its advanced musicianship and refined approach to songwriting as compared to its predecessors, and according to Metal Hammer, it "added brains to the blood and gore". According to drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz, "This was the era where we started really refining our sound and it was the beginning of a more modern Cannibal style of writing." Justin Norton of Decibel said, "While Butchered at Birth and Tomb were cudgel strikes, The Bleeding is more a methodical surgeon’s cut." According to Barnes, "I think they were wanting to, in a way, prove themselves as well-skilled musicians." The album has more groove-based sections than previous releases, and is noted for the more decipherable approach to vocals by Chris Barnes. According to Greg Pratt of Exclaim, the album foreshadows the style Barnes would pursue in his work with his next project, Six Feet Under. Decibel noted that with The Bleeding, "Cannibal Corpse set to change their destiny from shock to substance". Rich Hobson of Metal Hammer wrote that the addition of Rob Barrett on guitar "brought a tightness and precision to the Cannibal Corpse sound that had been conspicuous by its absence on their earlier albums". Founding guitarist Jack Owen believed the album to be "almost a commercial evolution in death metal songwriting". The album's lead guitar parts have been likened to Slayer. Some of the album's grooves have been described as "pure filth." In addition to the macabre and sexual violence themes present on the band's previous albums, the lyrical content on The Bleeding also explores psychological horror. In a 1994 interview with MTV, Barnes said, "I think there's many faces of horror, and you can explore the different types of horror out there." The album's song structures have been described as more "linear" than on the band's previous work. The album has been called "death metal with hooks," and “Stripped, Raped, And Strangled" has been called "as close to a radio single as the band would ever write.” The vocals have been described as "hideous." As with its predecessor, the bass guitar is extremely prominent in the album's mix. According to bassist Alex Webster, "All the songs have cool little bass things that jump out and go a little bit beyond what the guitar is doing in a particular section – for example, there’s a bunch of cool almost-solos on the bass in An Experiment In Homicide."
Reception and legacy
Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic called The Bleeding one of the "standout death metal albums of the mid-'90s". Chris Krovatin of Kerrang! said, "Showing a confident sense of style, an indomitable momentum, and some of the band’s most iconic and memorable songs, this record is a declaration of the Cannibal Corpse we’ve all come to know and shed blood for in the past two-plus decades." Metal Hammer named The Bleeding as one of the best metal albums of the 1990s, saying it contains "some of the most horrifyingly violent and undeniably catchy anthems in the band’s arsenal." Joe DiVita of Loudwire named The Bleeding as the best death metal album of 1994. Metal Injection included the album's second track "Fucked with a Knife" in its list of "The 10 Gnarliest Extreme Metal Lyrics", joking "maybe they got rid of Chris Barnes after The Bleeding because the band was close to going respectable. Just look at that romance".
"Staring Through the Eyes of the Dead" and "Stripped, Raped and Strangled" have become staples of the band’s live sets. Founding guitarist Jack Owen cited The Bleeding as his favorite Cannibal Corpse album. Bassist Alex Webster said, "I feel that The Bleeding was a big step forward for me as a bass player, and as a band it put us on the same level as some of the other groups we thought were a little more professional-sounding than we were. We looked up to bands like Morbid Angel and Death."
Track listing
Credits
Writing, performance and production credits are adapted from the album liner notes.
Personnel
Cannibal Corpse
- Chris Barnes – vocals
- Rob Barrett – guitar
- Jack Owen – guitar
- Alex Webster – bass
- Paul Mazurkiewicz – drums
Production
- Scott Burns – production, recording, engineering, mixing, mastering
Artwork and design
- Vincent Locke – cover art
- Brian Ames – design
- Frank White – photography
- Joe Giron – photography
Studios
- Morrisound Recording, Tampa, FL, USA – recording, mixing
- Fullersound – mastering
See also
- Florida death metal
- Morrisound Recording
References
External links
- The Bleeding at AllMusic
- The Bleeding at Metal Blade Records
