Legendary death metallers CANNIBAL CORPSE today unleash their latest single and accompanying video for “Summoned For Sacrifice.” The pulverizing new hymn comes by way of the band’s sixteenth studio album, Chaos Horrific, set for release on September 22nd via Metal Blade Records.
Since 1988, CANNIBAL CORPSE have been at the forefront of death metal, shaping and defining the genre. In 2021, they raised the stakes again with Violence Unimagined. And in 2023, the band’s thirty-fifth anniversary, they return with its successor, the equally monstrous Chaos Horrific, starting a new chapter in their storied legacy.
Written shortly after the conclusion of the Violence Unimagined sessions, echoes of that album exist in Chaos Horrific. “To me, this album feels sort of like a continuation of Violence Unimagined,” says bassist Alex Webster.
The band have always been noted for technicality and complex songwriting, but that doesn’t define where the writing process takes them. “I believe that our songwriting has progressed in a manner where every song paves its own path, whether it’s a straightforward or technical song,” notes guitarist Rob Barrett. “Sometimes it’s a mix of both, so there’s no preconceived idea that we want to be more technical. The music just sort of takes its own course.”
Webster concurs, “I don’t think there was any conscious effort to make things more technical, so if it wound up that way it would just be a natural result of us trying to write the heaviest songs we could.”
CANNIBAL CORPSE had no master plan, approaching each track with an open mind. “I never go into a record thinking about anything, I just let the writing flow freely with no limitations,” says guitarist/producer Erik Rutan. “But this time, I knew I wanted to push the envelope a bit in a different direction than Violence Unimagined; expand the dynamics, explore new territory without departing from what CANNIBAL CORPSE is and always shall be.”
Of the band’s second single, “Summoned For Sacrifice,” themed around the selection of an individual to be dismembered, drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz elaborates, “One person is randomly selected to die. Thirteen people are randomly selected to kill this person by violently removing pieces of his body until he breathes no more.”
