Rob Barrett

Rob Barrett
Robert Joseph Barrett III (born January 29, 1969) is the guitarist for death metal band Cannibal Corpse. He played with the band from 1993 to 1997 and rejoined in 2005. He has cited Gary Moore, Malcolm Young, Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen, Tony Iommi and Steve Vai, among others, as his influences. He currently resides in Tampa, Florida.
Career
Barrett was born in Buffalo, New York. He started his professional career in 1990 when he formed the band Solstice with drummer Alex Marquez and guitar player Dennis Muñoz. The band recorded a demo in 1991 produced by Jim Morris and signed a record deal with the German label SPV/Steamhammer. In 1992 they released their debut album entitled Solstice (the name changed to "The Sentencing" on some pressings). That same year, Barrett and Marquez decided to join Malevolent Creation after their previous drummer and second guitar player didn't show up to a rehearsal, putting Solstice on hiatus. They took part on the recording of Retribution and toured with the band.
Cannibal Corpse
In 1993, Barrett was contacted by Alex Webster and asked to join Cannibal Corpse, shortly after the recording of Tomb of the Mutilated, as a guitar fill-in for Bob Rusay. He stayed with the band for the subsequent tours and eventually became a permanent member. He recorded the 1994 album The Bleeding and the 1996 album Vile. He also made a brief cameo appearance with the band in the 1994 film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective starring Jim Carrey. In 1997 Barrett left Cannibal Corpse after an argument over musical differences between him and the other band members. While he was replaced by Pat O'Brien, Barrett rejoined Malevolent Creation in 1998 and stayed with the band for six years. In 2005, Barrett expressed to the members of Cannibal Corpse his desire to come back to the band and after careful consideration, Barrett was finally welcomed back and replaced Jack Owen. Since then, he has been featured on the albums Kill, Evisceration Plague, Torture, A Skeletal Domain, Red Before Black, & Violence Unimagined
HatePlow
In late 1994 right after Malevolent Creation recorded their third album, Barrett formed the death metal band HatePlow with guitarist Phil Fasciana and late drummer "Crazy" Larry Hawke, both members of Malevolent Creation. Barrett was the original vocalist, the band eventually got Kyle Symons to join on vocals due to Barrett's commitment to Cannibal Corpse Although HatePlow was intended initially as mere a fun side-project, the trio recorded a four-song demo that enjoyed a wide spread throughout the underground trading circuit. After his departure from Cannibal Corpse Barrett extended his commitment to Malevolent Creation & HatePlow and participated in the recording of the albums Everybody Dies and The Only Law Is Survival which came out in 1998 and 2000 respectively. In 2004, he left HatePlow. The same year Barrett left, the "Moshpit Murder" compilation was released which features tracks recorded live during "The Only Law Is Survival" U.S tour with Stormtroopers Of Death in 2000, tracks from their 1996 demo, and one song from their 1999 demo that was done with a drum machine.
Collaborations and side-projects
Since the 2000s Barrett has made a few guest appearances, providing extra guitar playing for bands such as Eulogy, Hollenthon, Infernäl Mäjesty, Pro-Pain and Unearthed. In 2005 Barrett joined in on the recording of the Roadrunner United album The All-Star Sessions where he played guitar on the tracks "Annihilation by the Hands of God" and "Constitution Down".
In 2019 Rob Barrett recorded with death metal band Deicide for a tribute album for the 40th anniversary of shock punk-metal hardcore legends The Dayglo Abortions titled
"Fuck The World If It Can't Take a Joke".
The track recorded was "Inside My Head" from their 1985 release Feed Us a Fetus.
In the mid-2000's Barrett planned on starting a hardcore band with J.C. Dwyer on drums and Jonathan Buske on bass. It is currently unknown if a name was decided or if any recordings exist.
Equipment
Guitars
Barrett is currently endorsed by Dean Guitars and uses their custom guitars, mainly Cadillac's but also V's and Z's. All of his guitars are equipped with either an EMG set or a Fishman Fluence set and are tuned to A# and G# Standard, he also tunes his guitars like the top 6 strings of a 7 string guitar. Around 2007 Dean Guitars produced a signature model in limited numbers called the Cadi-Kill. In the past Barrett used to play two Gibson Les Paul's, a Jackson Dinky, briefly a B.C. Rich Bich, a Custom ESP M-1, and a Charvel 475 that was also in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, the Charvel featured stickers from bands such as Black Flag, Biohazard, Slapshot, Wasted Youth and Dead Kennedys. His Les Paul's are now only used for studio recording. He now uses Fishman Fluence pickups in his signature guitars.
Amplifiers
Like O'Brien, Barrett uses Mesa Boogie amplifiers, such as the Dual Rectifier (old 2 channel version), the Triple Rectifier and, more recently, Mark V. For cabinets, he uses Crate, Marshall and Mesa Boogie 4 x 12", which are loaded with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers. Before settling for Mesa Boogie, Barrett used Crate and Marshall amplifiers.
Effects and accessories
Barrett runs a few pedals, namely an ISP Technologies Decimator noise gate, Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner and a Maxon ST-9 pro+ Super tube. The units are connected with Monster cables.
Discography
Solstice
1991: Demo
1992: Solstice
Malevolent Creation
1992: Retribution
1998: The Fine Art of Murder
2000: Envenomed
2002: The Will to Kill
2004: Warkult
Cannibal Corpse
1994: The Bleeding
1996: Vile
2006: Kill
2009: Evisceration Plague
2012: Torture
2014: A Skeletal Domain
2017: Red Before Black
2021: Violence Unimagined
2023: Chaos Horrific
Eulogy
2010: Burden of Certainty (demo)
HatePlow
1996: Demo
1998: Everybody Dies
2000: The Only Law Is Survival
2004: Moshpit Murder
Guest appearances
Hollenthon
2001: With Vilest of Worms to Dwell
Infernäl Mäjesty
2007: Demon God (EP)
Pro-Pain
2008: No End in Sight
Roadrunner United
2005: The All-Star Sessions
Unearthed
2007: Imposition of Faith
References
External links
Cannibal Corpse website
1969 births
Cannibal Corpse members
Death metal musicians
Living people
Malevolent Creation members
Rhythm guitarists
Musicians from Buffalo, New York