Cannibal Corpse - Hammer Smashed Face (1993)^{Release ID: 5092}

By the time 1993's "Hammer Smashed Face" E.P. was released in March 1993, Buffalo death metal phenomenon Cannibal Corpse had become nothing short of a staple in my life. These five notorious gore-merchants had first grabbed my attention with their 1990 debut album "Eaten Back to Life" before pulling the trigger on a couple of the more significant & influential releases in my childhood in 1991's "Butchered at Birth" & 1992's "Tomb of the Mutilated", both of which would play a major role in the musical direction of my own death metal band Neuropath. I even quite enjoyed Cannibal Corpse's 1989 demo tape so I think it's fair to say that I would have lapped up anything the band presented to me at the time & that's probably why I went about seeking out "Hammer Smashed Face" as soon as it hit the shelves, despite it only containing a couple of songs that I didn't already own. There's no doubt at all that it served as an excellent entry point to the band though given that it contained the best tracks from Cannibal Corpse's previous two records as well as one of the highlights from the debut.

The E.P. kicks off with the legendary title track, a death metal anthem that's held up as a signature for the entire death metal movement at times. Neuropath covered it in a live environment a couple of times, mainly out of necessity as our fan base used to request it quite often given how closely aligned the two band's sounds were. It still sounds fantastic today too & there's no doubt that it played a massive part in my life throughout the middle of that decade & for many years to come. But it was the opening track from "Butchered at Birth" that was the one that first saw me being genuinely convinced that Cannibal Corpse were the real deal & "Meathook Sodomy" is still arguably my favourite track from the band to this day. "Shredded Humans" has always been one of my picks from the debut too so these three songs were ideally suited to drawing in a market that was more open to being shocked than at any other time in history. The two cover versions are both worth hearing too though, particularly the excellent reenactment of Possessed's early death metal classic "The Exorcist" but also the groovier version of Black Sabbath's "Zero the Hero" with both managing to do justice to the originals. While Chris Barnes' ultra-gutteral vocal delivery may not be for everyone, I absolutely lapped up that shit & still seem to today to be honest. There's just something about him that sounds so bad ass & it's one of the great shames in extreme metal that he's descended so far in the decades since. At a guess, I'm wondering whether Cannibal Corpse's rendition of "Zero the Hero" might have been the catalyst actually as it certainly has a similar feel to some of the Six Feet Under material.

Look, many people will argue that the "Hammer Smashed Face" E.P. is an inessential release given that it doesn't contain much new material but, if I'm being honest, I actually listen to it more than any of Cannibal Corpse's earlier material these days & I think that tells us something i.e. when you forget where the individual tracks came from & simply focus on the quality of the material there's a case to say that this was Cannibal Corpse's stronger release to the time. That may not make it an essential purchase but it certainly makes it worthy of a strong rating & a healthy following within death metal circles.

For fans of Deicide, Cannabis Corpse & Monstrosity.