# Eaten Back to Life

Professional ratings :
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 5/10 |
Eaten Back to Life is the debut studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse. It was released on August 17, 1990, through Metal Blade Records.
The album contains five re-recorded songs that were previously released on their 1989 demo.

## Background and recording

With their debut, the band sought to further develop the extreme lyrics and imagery of other early death metal bands like Carcass and Death, and the violent nature of the subject matter has caused controversy and bans in multiple countries. According to bassist Alex Webster, "We saw that a lot of bands in Florida seemed to have more of a darker, anti-religion thing going on [such as with Morbid Angel and Deicide], so we decided to do the gore thing with the art and lyrics." Founding guitarist Jack Owen half-joked that the album's gruesome song titles were conceived before the band had written any music. The band would record instrumental demo tapes that vocalist Chris Barnes would then take home and write lyrics to. Founding guitarist Bob Rusay composed the guitar riffs to "A Skull Full of Maggots." Drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz recalled, "It was just friends getting together playing music that we loved. [...] That's as simple as it was and that's how it starts: you're not thinking of anything in the future, you're just thinking, 'Let's get together, make some cool music that we enjoy.' When Cannibal formed we were definitely looking to take it to the next level, but we were still just playing music we liked."
The album was recorded at Morrisound Recording in Tampa, Florida, where many other influential early death metal releases were produced. Bassist Alex Webster specifically cited the band's appreciation of albums like Altars of Madness by Morbid Angel and Leprosy by Death as having inspired the choice of studio. They were able to make friends and connections within the burgeoning Tampa death metal scene and would ultimately relocate there. Webster and Mazurkeiwicz recorded bass and drum tracks simultaneously. Many songs were done in one take, as the band did not yet have the budget to spend long hours in the studio.
The album cover, which depicts a zombie mutilating and cannibalizing itself, was created by horror comic book artist Vince Locke, who the band would continue to collaborate with in the future. In the Centuries of Torment documentary, Locke joked, "Chris Barnes hunted me down" to collaborate. A statement can be found in the album's liner notes, dedicating it to the memory of Alferd Packer.

## Composition

Dubbed "death metal for dummies," the sound on Eaten Back to Life has been described as "the soundtrack to a serial killer's abhorrent lair," and blatantly employs many of the genre's trademark characteristics. According to Greg Pratt of Exclaim, "Eaten showcases an early stage of the band, not quite as extreme as they would become, incorporating more heavy thrash elements into their sound as opposed to the straight-up no-nonsense death metal the band would adopt on their next album and continue to run with for the rest of their career." The album employs growling vocals, "grinding" guitar riffs, chromatic melodies, tempo changes and blast beats. According to music journalist T Coles, "with the sonic standard now set, the band leant much further into the heavy double bass and palm muting that would define the genre." The drumming has been described as "the relentless pound of meat hammers in the abattoir." The album is noted for its apparent thrash metal influence as opposed to the explicit death metal sound of the band's following releases. Guitarist Jack Owen cited the works of Exodus, early Sepultura, Celtic Frost, Napalm Death and Dark Angel as influences present on the album. He said, "we were into thrash and triplet playing on the guitar". Chris Barnes' vocal performance on the album has been described as sounding like "Satan on a diet of razor blades and paint thinner." The album's lyrics have been described as "ludicrously over the top." Glen Benton of Deicide performs guest vocals on the tracks "Mangled" and "A Skull Full of Maggots."

## Reception and legacy

Leslie Mathew of AllMusic gave the Eaten Back to Life an underwhelming retrospective review, lamenting the album's lack of variety and "interesting guitar work". John Weiderhorn of Loudwire called the album "a raw and powerful collection of tunes that [has stood] the test of time."

## Track listing

All music written by Cannibal Corpse.

## Personnel

* Chris Barnes – vocals
* Bob Rusay – guitar
* Jack Owen – guitar
* Alex Webster – bass
* Paul Mazurkiewicz – drums

### Additional personnel

* Glen Benton – backing vocals on "Mangled" and "A Skull Full of Maggots"
* Francis M. Howard – backing vocals on "Mangled" and "A Skull Full of Maggots"
* Pat O'Brien – lead guitar on live bonus track
* George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher – vocals on live bonus track