Alcatraz Line up: 2018, 2022

Few bands have had more run-ins with censorship committees than Cannibal Corpse. Their early work stirred up a great deal of controversy. In Germany, all tracks from the legendary first three albums – ‘Eaten Back to Life’, ‘Butchered at Birth’ and ‘Tomb of the Mutilated’ - were off limits until the early noughties and in their home country the PMRC threw a fit over the gory lyrics and gruesome cover art. The lack of airplay didn’t stop the New Yorkers from becoming the most successful death metal band in the world. Over the last decade the traditional steamroller approach has been counterbalanced by groovier and catchy interludes that don’t detract from the overall heaviness as illustrated by their latest offering ‘Violence Unimagined’ (2021). What hasn’t changed, though, is the crushing energy they generate in a live setting. Well into their fourth decade of rancid evisceration and bludgeoning death metal, this is still one of the genre’s must-see bands.