Let the Torture Begin... Rob Barrett Speaks Out.
Love them or hate them, Cannibal Corpse are one of the godfathers of Death Metal along side Morbid Angel, Malevolent Creation, Deicide, Death and a few more bands. With each album that this band have recorded the music gets more brutal and the artwork gets more sicker but there are no boundaries or rules for this band. With the new album just been released I managed to have a chat with old friend Rob Barrett about the new album, the future tours and that also the future holds for Florida's sick horror metal act. The new album 'Torture' is without doubt so far in 2012 the best Death Metal album and its only 3 months into the new year. So sit back crank up the volume on the new album and read on...
Ok Rob great to hear from
you brother, how's it going?
“Yeah great thanx Jason, hope
you’re well too. It’s been a long
time since we last met.
Ok Rob, so lets start off by
asking excited are you to be playing 70.000 tons of metal cruise ship for you?
“Yeah
it should be a lot of fun, we know all about it and we know it’s very popular
even if it’s their 2nd year. We’ll we don’t live too far away from Miami
as we are a Tampa based band so we don’t have far to travel not like most of
the bands coming from Europe. We will fly from Tampa to Fort Lauderdale where we
will do our first show and then take a van to the ship to the port.”
How did the whole deal come
about for you to be playing the 70.000 Tons of Metal?
"Well last year was the 1st
one and they offered us to play that one but we were already starting to write
material for the new album. So we just decided to wait until we had finished
recording the album so now we are doing this one instead.”
Which bands on the ship are
you looking forward to see in live?
"To be honest I’m not
sure who is on it? I know Over Kill are playing so I will check them out for
sure.”
Who’s you’re favourite
Thrash Metal bands? Mine is Over Kill.
“Well if you consider Slayer
as Thrash I would say them, also Destruction, Kreator, to name a few.”
So Rob last time we spoke
you mentioned that you maybe doing a new Solstice album, is that happening?
”Well they released a 3rd
album called ‘To Dust’ & which they put out themselves which I think
they are selling it online. I was going to do write some stuff with them if I
had the time but Cannibal is my main priority right now. I would of done some
guest solos on the record but like I said I don’t have the time right now.”
Looking
back on the last tour you did for the last album, what found memories do you
have and why? Which countries excited you the most?
”Well that is hard to say
Jason, we went to so many places for that album, I would say playing in Malta
for the 1st time which we played in a old British prison and we had
to see all the cells there which was cool. We also played in Israel for the 1st
time and also Istanbul (Turkey) was awesome. I think in Turkey they get people
coming from countries like Iran, Iraq, and all the other countries from around
there.”
I was watching the last DVD
“….” And the part I found funny was there George had a fight with a salad
and lost haha! What did you think of that?
(Laughing) “Yeah for that for
me was really creative with the animation with the salad. Another thing that
happened was that we were out in Slovenia and George is explaining where you
would see Bigfoot or something and there was some animated footage also placed
on the DVD which was funny too with Bigfoot running around.”
OK so lets move on and talk
about the new album why the title ‘Torturer’? Were there any other titles
for the album?
“Well there’s a lot of
interesting things about the title of the album, well we did talk a lot about
the way you could be tortured and there was a lot of lyrical contents available
with that theme. Well I think we had a few different titles for the album but I
can’t remember them right now Jase sorry.”
That’s ok Rob, so lets
move on.. the band appeared in the movie ‘Ace Ventura Pet Detective’ some
years ago, have you ever been approached to appear in a horror movie like
‘Saw’, considering your music is brutal and the lyrics would certainly suit
one of those films.
“Yeah that would be awesome
Jason, we would love to do that for sure, I think it would be better if we would
perform in the film too but to have our music in the film would be great. With
the music we write it would be ideal for a soundtrack for a movie. The film
‘Saw’ would have been ideal that’s for sure.”
So how long did it take to
record the new album and what studio(s) did you use? Who produced the album, was
it Eric Rutan?
”Yeah it was Eric who did the
new album. It was done on September 1st at Sonic Ranch in Texas,
which is right near the Mexican border. We spent one month tracking the music
and then we went to Eric Rutan’s studio for about 3 and a half weeks for
George to do his vocals and to finish the guitar tracking & mixing.”
So
why record at Sonic Ranch near Mexico?
“Well the studio is a really
amazing studio and it’s a huge ranch in the middle of nowhere. It is also very
isolated so when you go there, there is pretty much nothing to do but to
concentrate on what you have to do. They had a little gym there and swimming
pool and pool table. There are no distractions like where you would if you were
nearer to home. It was my 1st time at this studio but the band had
recorded there in the past with Colin Richardson and Neil Kernon with the albums
‘Gore Obsessed’, ‘Wrenching the Spawn’ & ‘Blood Thirst’ I
believe.”
So how long were you in the
studio doing your guitar parts?
”To be honest I really
didn’t count the days, we were there the whole month to get the album done.
Was you the only band in the
studio at that time?
“No there were like 3 other
bands recording in separate rooms on the land. I think there were all different
styles recording there. I think 1 was Reggae (Ed: You should of done a Reggae
Cannibal Corpse song haha).”
Do you think that the band
could take their music to the next extreme level or have the band pushed their
boundaries to the max?
“Well I think we have just
done that with the new album, as soon as you hear it you will know what I mean.
It is a lot more energetic.”
The thing I like about your
music is that it’s not all about speed, you have some excellent chugging riffs
which really do suit the music that’s for sure!”
Well thanx Jason, well you
can’t play in one key all the time, you have to different variations within
your music and that’s no offence to many Black Metal bands but you do need to
play fast and sometimes slow to break up the songs. We like to write catchy
songs which have some ups and downs and not all the same speed with breaks in
songs which temper with the songs.”
So could you tell be about
some of the songs on the new album? What are they about even if you didn’t
write any of the lyrics?
“Well the song titles are
‘Demented Aggression’, ‘Torn
Through’ which Pat wrote, another title is ‘Followed Home & Killed’
which Pat also wrote & ‘As Deep As The Knife Will Go’. Alex wrote
‘Crucifer Avenged’, ‘Intestinal Crank’, ‘The Strangulation Chair’,
‘Scourge Of Iron’, ‘Rabid’. Other songs are wrote by myself tiled
‘Sarcophagic Frenzy’, ‘Encased in Concrete’, ‘Caged...Contorted’.
The ones I wrote I wanted to go graphic with the lyrics and I think with the
last album we weren’t touching too much with the gore and it was more kind of
psychological gore lyrics. So I wanted to get back to the Gore type of
lyrics.”
I
know you’re doing a promo video for a song from the new album, which song will
it be for?
”Well
we did one the other week, but I am not sure if I can say the title or the
concept right now as it too early to say (laughing). Well the song is good to go
but like I said I can’t say too much without the bands thumps up.”
So
how do you see this album as a progression from the previous ones?
”Well
I think we split up the song writing more on this album, so there is more of a
variety on this album and I think there is a lot more different going on with
this record. When 1 or 2 guys are writing its ok but when somebody else helps
out there is more of a element happening. (Ed: Is this the way the band will
write in the future?) Yeah I think it will be, we are all writing more together
than we ever did. We do write songs individually but I am starting to write more
than I ever did within the band.”
Could
you fill me in on the album artwork, it’s very dark as usual. Is there any
more graphic artwork inside the booklet? I’m sure there is right?
“Well
the artwork is showing a torturer with some instruments strapped around his belt
with a sliver kind of metal mask on a half mask, and there are several victims
hanging in the background who have been tortured in different ways which are
pretty graphic. There is more graphical details within the booklet of the CD.
One the cover you are only see in the 1 character but there’s more graphical
details inside.”
I
know from the past coves you have had to change the artwork due to problems with
record stores, would this of been the case with the new album cover?
”It
well could have been, we had to tame the from cover down in order to get it in
the shops, but once you have bought the CD you can see more graphical details
inside.”
Is
this the best album you have done with the band?
“Yes
it is, I keep on saying this but it is true it is the best album we have done so
far. When it comes to song writing we have never been stuck for song ideas and
it just comes to use naturally. So I think we could outdo this album on the next
record. I think you can improve with each album you do.”
I
understand your touring Europe soon with Tyrpticon & Bohemith how excited
are you to be touring with these bands?
“Well
I think it’s going to be a great tour, Tom G Warrior on tour with us is
great!! Yeah it will be a lot of fun I am sure.”
Well
Rob thanx for doing the interview, do you have anything to say to your fans?
“Yeah
thanx for your support, check out the new album, I hope you like it. Thanx for
the interview Jason, see you soon I hope.”