The band played its first show at Buffalo's River Rock Cafe in March 1989, shortly after recording a five-song demo tape, "Cannibal Corpse".
Skupina Cannibal Corpse je bila ustvarjena iz prejšnjih članov Buffalskih death metal skupin, Beyond Death (Webster, Owen), Leviathan (Barnes) in Tirant Sin (Barnes, Rusay, Mazurkiewicz).