It is the band's final album to feature their original lineup, as founding guitarist Bob Rusay was fired and replaced with Malevolent Creation guitarist Rob Barrett after the album's release.
Background and recording
The album was recorded at Morrisound Recording studios in Tampa, Florida in February 1992. Guitarist Jack Owen tracked all of the album's rhythm guitar sections at the request of producer Scott Burns; he had observed that the duo had radically different playing styles, and argued that a tighter sound would result from having the band's strongest rhythm guitar player track all rhythms. Lead guitarist Bob Rusay was a self-taught guitarist, whose playing style was described as "unorthodox" by vocalist Chris Barnes. He performed the album's guitar guitar solos with Owen polishing them afterward.[1]
Tomb was the band's first album in which they had the budget to work longer hours in the studio with producer Burns. Webster commented further,
"Many fans have told me that "Tomb..." is their favorite album because the production is so heavy. There is no doubt that Scott helped Cannibal Corpse a great deal with the excellent production work he did on this album."[2]
Because the liner notes on Butchered at Birth feature quotations from American serial killer Albert Fish, he is often incorrectly credited with being the voice at the beginning of "Addicted to Vaginal Skin". However, the taped confession heard at the beginning of the song most likely belongs to the "Genesee River Killer" Arthur Shawcross.[3]
Composition
Music
The material on Tomb of the Mutilated is considered to be faster and more complex than its predecessors.[4] Bassist Alex Webster recalled that the band's increasingly technical approach to songwriting made the album's sessions the most challenging they had endured at that point, saying:
I think when you listen to the album, and compare it with the first two, you can hear the progression. The songs on "Tomb..." were the fastest and most technical we had done at that time [...] but it was this technical push and the challenging music it created that made "Tomb" a fan favorite.[5]
Lyrics
Vocalist Chris Barnes single-handedly penned all of the album's lyrics, with Webster recalling that the band "placed no limits" on him throughout the process.
"He’d come to us with the most vile, repugnant stuff and we’d be like, ‘Sure! Why not?’ We were trying to make the most extreme and aggressive music we could, so why not have the most antagonistic lyrics too?"[6]
The album's seventh track, "Entrails Ripped From a Virgin's Cunt" has been referred to as "arguably the most offensive song in the Cannibal Corpse canon".[7]
Tomb of the Mutilated has received positive reviews from critics, both contemporarily and retrospectively. Heavy metal webzine Kicked in the Face praised the album's musicianship but criticized the tone of Barnes' vocals and Scott Burns' production.[10]Metal Storm praised the album's songwriting, production and progression over its predecessor, but criticized the one-dimensional nature of the album's lyrics.[11]
In a retrospective review of the album, Vincent Jefferies of Allmusic wrote:
"Listeners unfamiliar with the belching vocal style and pummeling drum and guitar attack typical of death metal probably won't understand what separates this or any other record that adheres so stringently to the genre's formula, but learned fans have come to appreciate Tomb of the Mutilated as a solid, if not important, offering [...] Cannibal Corpse somehow managed to outlast many of their more critically accepted contemporaries due in no small part to early career efforts like Tomb of the Mutilated, with its powerful musical focus."[12]
Dom Lawson of Metal Hammer wrote that the album is "bulging with moments of stomach-churning horror, ranging from the cross-your-legs revulsion of I Cum Blood through to the provocatively over-the-top Entrails Ripped From A Virgin’s Cunt.[13]
The album's opening track "Hammer Smashed Face" is considered the band's signature song. Jon Weiderhorn of Loudwire included the song in his list of "The Most Disgusting Metal Lyrics of All Time".[14]
In 2005, Tomb of the Mutilated was ranked number 278 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[15]
Current Cannibal Corpse guitarist Rob Barrett has called Tomb of the Mutilated his favorite album by the band, saying "the energy level is amazing on it".[16]Trivium guitarist Corey Beaulieu claims his mother confiscated his copy of Tomb of the Mutilated when he was a teenager after reading the album's song titles.[17] Late The Black Dahlia Murder vocalist Trevor Strnad claimed he had to shelve the album after purchasing it, recalling "me and my bowl cut and my Harry Potter glasses are not ready for this shit".[18] Rapper Ice-T referred to the album's lyrical content as "crazy shit".[19]
They took us over to the [actors’] trailers, and Jim comes over to us wearing his Ace Ventura garb, going, “Oh my god! Cannibal Corpse! It’s so great to have you guys here!” Then he starts rattling off lyrics and tells us he wants us to play “Hammer Smashed Face.” It was insane.[28]
Paul Mazurkiewicz has stated that the band is frequently told by fans that they were introduced to the band and (death metal in general) through the film, adding "if you worked out an average, it would probably be one person a day".[26]
After the band had shot scenes for Ace Ventura, they were offered another cameo in the film Airheads, though this offer was revoked when the producer learned the band had already done a cameo for Ace Ventura.[24]
