Corpsegrinder Calls Death Metal 'Healthy,' Belying Chris Barnes

This week, Cannibal Corpse vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher spoke generously on the state of death metal to Little Punk People. His enthusiasm stood in stark contrast to the recent criticism of the music made by former Cannibal Corpse vocalist and Six Feet Under founder Chris Barnes.

Barnes co-founded Cannibal Corpse in Buffalo, N.Y, in 1988. He parted ways with the leading death metal band in 1995 and was replaced by Fisher, who's still in the act now based in Florida. Last month, Barnes said he "despised" what death metal had become and claimed that watching a podcast featuring current death metal vocalists made him "physically ill."

Watch the video down toward the bottom of this post.

On Little Punk People, Barnes and his comments aren't mentioned explicitly. But when Fisher is asked by host Elliott Fullam what new death metal he listens to, the current Cannibal Corpse vocalist excitedly begins, "Gatecreeper's pretty cool. I saw a band, Frozen Soul, I saw them. There's a bunch of bands."

Fisher continues, "The scene is just as healthy as it's ever been, it's just as great as it's ever been. It's not dead, it's not terrible. … I'm proud of the death metal scene today. I think it's amazing. … There's so many great bands. We're going out on tour with Revocation and Whitechapel, two awesome, great bands."

Indeed, Corpse's 2022 tour with those groups plus Shadow of Intent kicks off in Atlanta on Feb. 18 and covers the U.S. through March. Get tickets here.

Fisher raves, "The scene couldn't be better. And anyone who thinks otherwise, kick rocks. Because I'm so proud of this death metal scene. I really encourage everyone to go out and listen. Listen to the old bands. … Go listen to Possessed. They're the first death metal band, OK? Go listen to them, listen to everything in between. Listen to Kreator, who I think are kind of the bridge between death and thrash, and without Kreator, there would be no Cannibal Corpse. Listen to those bands and listen to, obviously, all the old, classic bands like Cannibal and Death, Obituary, Deicide, Morbid Angel."

He adds, "Then you have Aeon, you have [The] Black Dahlia Murder and Dying Fetus. Like I said, newer bands. … There's so much great death metal going around. The scene has never been better and anyone who thinks otherwise, you know, I don't know what to tell you."

On Jan. 27, Barnes tweeted from his verified Twitter account, "I just watched a 'death metal' podcast on YouTube that was done about a week ago with the 'top' death metal vocalists .. it made me physically ill. I despise what this genre has become."

Cannibal Corpse released their latest album Violence Unimagined back in 2021. Six Feet Under issued Nightmares of the Decomposed the year prior. Fisher's debut solo album Corpsegrinder comes out on Feb. 25.