''Red Before Black'' is the fourteenth studio album by American

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

band

Cannibal Corpse Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1988, now based in Tampa, Florida. The band has released sixteen studio albums, two box sets, four video albums, and two live albums. The band has had little radio ...

, released on November 3, 2017. This is the band's final album to feature guitarist Pat O'Brien before producer Erik Rutan officially replaced him in 2021.

Background and recording

The band started to write the album in 2016 after the last run of touring for their previous album, '' A Skeletal Domain''. When interviewed in 2017 drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz stated that the band never go by any specific blueprints when they start writing for an album, pointing out that this was also the case with ''Red Before Black''. However the idea of utilizing some slower

doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (1934–2020), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitche ...

elements was discussed beforehand. This manifested in a couple of songs, while they mostly remained true to their death metal sound and thrash metal roots. Mazurkiewicz came up with the album title while sleeping in the middle of the night, making him wake up. Further down the road of creating the album he said about the title "... I really pushed for it because I felt it was very strong and something very different than our previous titles. It’s simple, but effective". After hearing the song 'Only One Will Die', penned by bassist

Alex Webster Alex Webster (born October 25, 1969) is an American musician who is the bassist and a co-founder of the death metal band Cannibal Corpse. He is one of two original remaining members, alongside drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz. He is also the bassist ...

, all members of the band thought it should be the first track of the album. The first song they worked on was 'Red Before Black'. It started out as an unnamed piece written by guitarist Pat O'Brien with Mazurkiewicz contributing with a title and the lyrics later. Choosing to work with Erik Rutan as a producer again after working with Mark Lewis on the previous album was partly because of convenience, enabling the band to stay focused during the recording process, although Rutan's previous work with the band was also a deciding factor.

Music

assessed: "Throughout our career, we've tried to improve the precision of both our musical execution and our album production, while still maintaining full-on aggression. ''Red Before Black'' continues in that direction, but might go even further on the aggressive side of things. It's definitely precise, but it has a rawness to it that goes beyond anything we've done recently."

Track listing

Credits

Writing, performance and production credits are adapted from the album liner notes.

Personnel

Cannibal Corpse

* George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher – vocals * Pat O'Brien – guitar *

Rob Barrett Robert Joseph Barrett III (born January 29, 1970) is an American death metal musician, best known as the current guitarist for Cannibal Corpse. He played with the band from 1993 to 1997 and rejoined in 2005. He has cited Gary Moore, Malcolm You ...

– guitar *

– bass * Paul Mazurkiewicz – drums

Guest musicians

* Erik Rutan – backing vocals on "Only One Will Die" and guitar solo on "In the Midst of Ruin"

Production

* Erik Rutan –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, mixing * Art Paiz – assistant engineering * Alan Douches – mastering

Visual art

Vince Locke Vincent Locke () is an American comic book artist known for his work on '' Deadworld'' and ''A History of Violence'' and for his ultraviolent album covers for death metal band Cannibal Corpse. Biography Locke began work in 1986 illustrating '' ...

–

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product, such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album ar ...

* Brian Ames – layout * Alex Morgan –

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

Studios

* Mana Recording Studios, St. Petersburg, FL, United States – engineering, mixing * West West Side Music, Cornwall, NY, United States – mastering

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2017 albums Albums produced by Erik Rutan Cannibal Corpse albums Metal Blade Records albums