Butchered at Birth

Cannibal Corpse began writing new material immediately following the release of their debut album, Eaten Back to Life.^[5] With their sophomore effort, Cannibal Corpse sought to create a heavier sound and even more gruesome imagery than their debut. The band wrote and rehearsed the album in a hospital for the incurably ill that they had converted into a practice space.^[6]

During this time, the band was having 4-hour practice sessions five days per week.^[7] The writing process for the album's instrumentation was a collaborative effort.^[8] Guitarist Jack Owen recalled that "everybody was writing tons of shit" and vocalist Chris Barnes said the band was "writing a song every two weeks."^[9] Drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz said "it was months of us trying to be the most brutal band on earth."^[10]

Following their experience recording Eaten Back to Life at Morrisound Recording in Tampa, the band became entrenched in the growing death metal scene there, and subsequently made frequent trips to the city. The spirit of competition within the scene encouraged the band to keep a quick pace with releases, and Butchered at Birth was recorded over a two-week period.^[11] Producer Scott Burns, revered within the Florida death metal scene, assisted the band in refining the sound of their debut to achieve even more dissonant and guttural sonic textures.^[6]

The album represents the band's transition to "pure death metal" from the thrash-orientated sound of their debut, an assessment that is agreed upon by music journalists and the band members themselves. Founding guitarist Jack Owen believes Butchered at Birth showcases the band's greatest evolution between albums. The music is now considered to have a "classic death metal" sound.^[12][10][13]

The album's style has been called "one dimensional" and "rough around the edges." Owen retrospectively described the album's song structures as "just riff after riff" and not "[making] much sense." According to bassist Alex Webster, "we were convinced the more unorthodox the music, the less mainstream it was. It was heavier to be off-the-wall as far as arrangements go." In addition to its extremely raw songwriting, Butchered is also noted for its "harsh, barely tuned guitars" and its "beehive-wall of white noise" guitar tone. According Zeke Ferrington of Gear Gods, "There’s so much gain and so much treble that you can’t identify individual notes anymore. The guitar lines meld into these indefinite, evolving, waves of unsettling frequencies [...] it actually adds to the revolting brutality of [the] album." Chris Barnes' "grunted" vocals are largely unintelligible.^{[14][15][16][17][18]}

The album's lyrics explore macabre subject matter such as dismemberment, torture, infanticide, and sadomasochism.^[19] The album's lyrics were singlehandedly penned by Barnes, who strove to write the very first death metal concept album, and has stated that the album's central theme is "butchery".^[6] He explained, "The beginning introduction finishes it off. Backwards it says ["feed off the carcasses of babies"]. I put myself in different points of view in different songs. [...] The [album] is pretty visual, it's all there. You don't have to ask any questions. That's how I write. I get a title in my head and write a little story."^[20] The album's lyrics have been called "some of the most gruesome lyrics [death metal] had to offer."^[21]

Cannibal Corpse's use of shock value has drawn comparisons to GWAR. Alex Henderson of Allmusic assessed that Butchered "comes off as a parody of death metal and grindcore more than anything", describing the album as the "musical equivalent of B-movie horror flicks."^[19]

Butchered's infamous album artwork depicts an "evil zombie doctors pulling a dead baby as it comes out of a dead woman."^[22] It was created by longtime collaborator Vince Locke and is frequently identified as one of the most gruesome album covers of all time.^{[23][24][25][26]} Metal Blade Records president Brian Slagel called it one of the greatest album covers he has ever seen. Former vocalist Chris Barnes claims his jaw "dropped to the floor" upon first sight of the album's artwork. Current vocalist George Fisher recalls "I saw that cover and was like, 'oh my -- damn. That has got to piss some people off.' [...] It's one thing to have people dying in your [albums], well you start messing with children, and people start getting pissed off."^[27] Original guitarist Bob Rusay said, "When you look at her lying on the table and her arm sliding off her bone, it gets you."^[28]

Alex Henderson of AllMusic wrote, "The rockers are one-dimensional, but then [again], they never claimed to be anything else. This band's obvious goal was to deliver the musical equivalent of B-movie horror flick, and on that level, the album is outrageously successful."^[29]

According to Exclaim, the album is "shrouded in controversy," and Cannibal Corpse drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz believes the album to be the band's "most notorious to date". Reportedly, some record stores refused to sell the album to patrons under the age of 18. According to Metal Blade Records president Brian Slagel, "We had been through controversy before with the whole PMRC thing in the '80s, so that was nothing new. [...] I actually like the fact that people were shocked at it all."^[30][31]

All lyrics written by Chris Barnes. All music written by Cannibal Corpse.

Cannibal Corpse

• Chris Barnes – vocals
• Bob Rusay – guitar
• Jack Owen – guitar
• Alex Webster – bass
• Paul Mazurkiewicz – drums

Additional musicians

• Glen Benton – backing vocals on "Vomit the Soul"
• Pat O'Brien – lead guitar on live bonus track
• George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher – vocals on live bonus track