Red Before Black
| Red Before Black | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 3, 2017 | |||
| Recorded | December 2016, April–June 2017 at Mana Recording Studios | |||
| Genre | Death metal | |||
| Length | 46:26 | |||
| Label | Metal Blade | |||
| Producer | Erik Rutan | |||
| Cannibal Corpse chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Red Before Black | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
| Blabbermouth.net | 8.5/10[2] |
Red Before Black is the fourteenth studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse, released on November 3, 2017.[3] This is the band's final album to feature guitarist Pat O'Brien before producer Erik Rutan officially replaced him in 2021.
Background[edit]
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 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.[4]
Mazurkiewicz came up with the album title while sleeping in the middle of the night, making him wake up.[4] 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".[5]
After hearing the song 'Only One Will Die', penned by bassist Alex Webster, 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.[6]
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,[6] although Rutan's previous work with the band was also a deciding factor.[7]
Track listing[edit]
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Only One Will Die" | Alex Webster | Webster | 3:24 |
| 2. | "Red Before Black" | Paul Mazurkiewicz | Pat O'Brien | 3:12 |
| 3. | "Code of the Slashers" | Rob Barrett | Barrett | 4:46 |
| 4. | "Shedding My Human Skin" | Mazurkiewicz | O'Brien | 3:29 |
| 5. | "Remaimed" | Mazurkiewicz | O'Brien | 4:14 |
| 6. | "Firestorm Vengeance" | Webster | Webster | 3:43 |
| 7. | "Heads Shoveled Off" | Mazurkiewicz | O'Brien | 3:37 |
| 8. | "Corpus Delicti" | Barrett | Barrett | 3:29 |
| 9. | "Scavenger Consuming Death" | Webster | Webster | 4:33 |
| 10. | "In the Midst of Ruin" | Mazurkiewicz | Barrett | 3:26 |
| 11. | "Destroyed Without a Trace" | Mazurkiewicz |
| 4:01 |
| 12. | "Hideous Ichor" | Webster | Webster | 4:34 |
| Total length: | 46:26 | |||
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Original artist | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sacrifice" |
|
| Sacrifice | 3:04 |
| 2. | "Confessions" | Jeff Becerra | Mike Torrao | Possessed | 2:58 |
| 3. | "No Remorse" | James Hetfield |
| Metallica | 6:16 |
| 4. | "Demon's Night" | Accept | Accept | Accept | 4:17 |
| 5. | "Bethany Home (A Place to Die)" | The Accüsed | The Accüsed | The Accüsed | 3:20 |
| 6. | "Endless Pain" | Petrozza | Kreator | 3:11 | |
| 7. | "Behind Bars" | Dave Carlo | Carlo | Razor | 2:20 |
Credits[edit]
Writing, performance and production credits are adapted from the album liner notes.[8]
Personnel[edit]
Cannibal Corpse[edit]
- George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher – vocals
- Pat O'Brien – lead guitar
- Rob Barrett – rhythm guitar
- Alex Webster – bass
- Paul Mazurkiewicz – drums
Guest musicians[edit]
- Erik Rutan – backing vocals on "Only One Will Die" and guitar solo on "In the Midst of Ruin"
Production[edit]
- Erik Rutan – production, engineering, mixing
- Art Paiz – assistant engineering
- Alan Douches – mastering
Visual art[edit]
- Vince Locke – cover art
- Brian Ames – layout
- Alex Morgan – photography
Studios[edit]
- Mana Recording Studios, St. Petersburg, FL, United States – engineering, mixing
- West West Side Music, Cornwall, NY, United States – mastering
Charts[edit]
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[9] | 29 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[10] | 116 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[11] | 70 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[12] | 33 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[13] | 101 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[14] | 16 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[15] | 29 |
| US Billboard 200[16] | 95 |
References[edit]
- ^ Jurek, Thom. Red Before Black - Cannibal Corpse at AllMusic
- ^ Van Horn, Jr., Ray (27 November 2017). "CD Reviews - Red Before Black - Cannibal Corpse". www.blabbermouth.net. Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved December 2, 2017.
- ^ "Cannibal Corpse To Release 'Red Before Black' Album In November; Track Listing, Artwork Unveiled". Blabbermouth.net. September 7, 2017. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
- ^ a b "Interview: Cannibal Corpse Talks "Red Before Black", Their Essential Albums, and Gory Album Covers". Aesthetic Magazine. 3 November 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-12-13. Retrieved 2017-12-13.
- ^ "Interview – Paul Mazurkiewicz of Cannibal Corpse". Cryptic Rock. 19 October 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-12-13. Retrieved 2017-12-13.
- ^ a b ""The title actually woke me up in the middle of the night." – An Interview with Paul Mazurkiewicz of Cannibal Corpse". Overdrive Magazine. Archived from the original on 2017-12-13. Retrieved 2017-12-13.
- ^ "Paul Mazurkiewicz of Cannibal Corpse – The Moshville Times". The Moshville Times. 7 November 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-12-13. Retrieved 2017-12-13.
- ^ Red Before Black (liner notes). Cannibal Corpse. Metal Blade Records. 2017. 3984-15547-2.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ "Austriancharts.at – Cannibal Corpse – Red Before Black" (in German). Hung Medien.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Cannibal Corpse – Red Before Black" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Cannibal Corpse – Red Before Black" (in French). Hung Medien.
- ^ "Cannibal Corpse: Red Before Black" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
- ^ "Lescharts.com – Cannibal Corpse – Red Before Black". Hung Medien.
- ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Cannibal Corpse – Red Before Black" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Cannibal Corpse – Red Before Black". Hung Medien.
- ^ "Cannibal Corpse Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
