Butchered at Birth is the second studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse. It was released on July 1, 1991 through Metal Blade Records.

Background and recording

Writing

Cannibal Corpse began writing new material immediately following the release of their debut album, Eaten Back to Life. With their sophomore effort, Cannibal Corpse sought to create a heavier sound and even more gruesome imagery than their debut. The band wrote and rehearsed the album in a hospital for the incurably ill that they had converted into a practice space. During this time, the band was having 4-hour practice sessions five days per week. The writing process for the album's instrumentation was a collaborative effort. Guitarist Jack Owen recalled that "everybody was writing tons of shit" and vocalist Chris Barnes said the band was "writing a song every two weeks". Drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz recalled, "it was months of us trying to be the most brutal band on earth. We just practiced our asses off and composed songs which I felt were full of aggression and completely unrelenting. A raw collection of pure death metal!" Vocalist Chris Barnes penned all of the album's lyrics, striving to create the first death metal concept album (with the stated concept being "butchery"). He said, "Loosely conceptual, it's like things are tied in between songs. The beginning introduction finishes it off. Backwards it says feed off the carcasses of babies. I put myself in different points of view in different songs. In the introduction it's me telling how it really is. The [album] is pretty visual, it's all there. You don't have to ask any questions. That's how I write. I get a title in my head and write a little story""

Recording and production

Following their experience recording Eaten Back to Life at Morrisound Recording in Tampa, the band became entrenched in the growing death metal scene there, and subsequently made frequent trips to the city. The spirit of competition within the scene encouraged the band to keep a quick pace with releases, and Butchered at Birth was recorded over a two-week period. Producer Scott Burns, revered within the Florida death metal scene, assisted the band in refining the sound of their debut to achieve even more dissonant and guttural sonic textures. Butchered's infamous album artwork was created by longtime collaborator Vince Locke and is frequently identified as one of the most gruesome album covers of all time. Former vocalist Chris Barnes claims his jaw dropped upon first sight of the album's artwork.

Reception and legacy

Alex Henderson of Allmusic wrote that the band's use of shock value inspires comparisons to GWAR and that the album "comes off as a parody of death metal and grindcore more than anything", while saying the band was successful in achieving its goal of delivering the "musical equivalent of B-movie horror flick". Founding guitarist Jack Owen believes Butchered at Birth showcases the band's greatest evolution between albums, being the band's "step to pure death metal". Drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz believes the album to be the band's "most notorious to date".

Track listing

All lyrics written by Chris Barnes. All music written by Cannibal Corpse.

Personnel

Cannibal Corpse Additional musicians