Cannibal Corpse has smashed—nay, hammer smashed—every boundary set before them, defied every censor set upon them, and besmirched every country that would have them. After two decades of unending death metal torment, the band’s calling cards are many: the depraved lyrics, the blinding technical prowess, the dominating stage presence, the legions of dedicated fans, the million and a half albums sold. From their bloody Caesarian inception in 1988 and debut splatterfest Eaten Back To Life (1990), Cannibal Corpse have mangled the minds and stereo systems of death metal youth from Buffalo to Sydney to Tokyo to Tampa while playing a crucial role in inspiring a new wave of musicians like The Black Dahlia Murder and Cattle Decapitation.

In the far-flung death metal universe, the name Cannibal Corpse has achieved godfather status—not only for the band’s morbid musical legacy but because of their commitment to the scene as a whole. “Part of the reason we may have ended up in a leadership position in the scene is because we’ve been consistent,” bassist Alex Webster offers. “We’ve tried to stay 100% death metal in the kind of music we make, and we’ve always tried to take younger death metal bands on tour to help give back to the scene we’ve been so lucky with. So if we’ve become godfathers of death metal in any way, it’s because we care about the scene, and we’ve been consistently caring about it for our entire career.”