Bible Of Butchery: Cannibal Corpse: The Official Biography

by Joel McIver

The first-ever official authorized biography of Cannibal Corpse. Written by Joel McIver, author of Justice For All: The Truth About Metallica and biographies on Black Sabbath, Slayer, Slipknot, and Queens Of The Stone Age, Bible Of Butchery - Cannibal Corpse: The Official Biography contains over 150 pages loaded with photos from the band's collection, stories from each band member, and insights into what makes the world's most successful death metal band tick

Genres: Music

168 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Петър Хлебаров · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a joke!

[Raphaela Oliveira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Não é um livro profundo, intelectual, denso ou mesmo uma biografia (pelo menos não uma que seja abrangente). É um compilado de depoimento de cada um dos membros da banda na formação que lançou o A Skeletal Domain contando de como começaram a se interessar por música, metal e seu instrumento até a sua entrada no Cannibal (senti falta de depoimentos dos outros membros). Ao fim há uma pequena entrevista abordando alguns pontos específicos de histórias da estrada. Ponto forte do livro é trazer o parecer de cada compositor para as respectivas músicas mais famosas, dando uma boa contextualização das inspirações do Cannibal. Contudo, o livro mesmo já deixa claro que seu intuito não é repetir os documentários e DVDs (que são registros espetaculares da banda), mas complementar. Nesse sentido é um ótimo livro, com um apelo estético excelente (apenas acrescentaria os créditos às fotos, que parecem apenas "jogadas" ali). Os depoimentos são descontraídos, nostálgicos e intimistas, revelando a face nada medonha de cada um, com destaque especial ao depoimento do Alex. Perde 5 estrelas por ser um livro raso, mas ainda mantém as 4 estrelas com algum esforço - vale a compra e admiração.

[Yuri Cunha · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like a special magazine than a book per se. The author claims the band history is already documented on a DVD so he won’t get into that. Instead there are testimonials from the band members telling some stories in and out of the band and then a sort of interview, along with the best part, which are some of their song lyrics (sometimes hilarious in their excess) commented by band members. The book has a bunch of photographs, but it feels extremely lacking in content.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Centuries of Torment DVD had a 3 hour documentary on the history of the band, so Joel McIver tries to cover some different ground in this book. It focuses only on the current lineup, and each member gets their own section detailing their personal and musical background. There is an interview section with band members as well as Metal Blade honcho Brian Slagel, and the whole package is rounded off with lyrics, most of which annotated with comments by the songwriters.

OK, this is kind of a fluff piece, but what "authorized" biography isn't? It is a fast, enjoyable read with some new information and insights, however. I understand some of the criticism that the author shouldn't assume that everyone has seen the DVD, but in all fairness who but a Cannibal Corpse fanatic would buy this book? I would guess 95% of them have everything the band has produced, so thinking they would have the DVD is a fair assessment.

Don't expect a tell-all full of backstabbing and debauchery. This is a book by a fan of the band, for fans of the band. Any Cannibal Corpse fan will love it; those looking for tales of sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll shouldn't bother. 3.5 stars.

[Jonathan Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

To Joel McIver's credit, he plainly states in the foreword that he approached this book taking into account that the band had made a pretty definitive documentary about their history on the Centuries of Torment DVD.

That approach only gets so much credit though.

The five individual biographies of the current members are well worth the read, and there are a few stories from the overall band history at the end that are fairly memorable, but it's hard to argue that this is very definitive. The DVD thing is all well and good as a theory, but I don't feel like assuming that everyone will have both the DVD and the book is a very safe approach. Write a band's official biography as if it'll be the one and only, the final word on any subject. This is fine, but if you're looking for a "definitive book", I'd argue there still isn't one out there.

[John Morrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short But Sweet

This is more of a companion piece to the band than an in-depth biography, but it does give a broad history of the band and interviews with each of the band members, and it was a fun, short read.

[David Dewata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sesuai judulnya. Semua yang perlu dipelajari terkait grup death metal CANNIBAL CORPSE. Highly recommended!

[Erik Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun Cannibal Corpse biography

Good read for fans of Cannibal Corpse and death metal in general
Filled with anecdotes snd quotes, metalheads will love it,

[Iain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read and as decent a history of the band as you're likely to find.

Based on interviews with the band done quite recently and released to tie in with the new "A Skeletal Domain" album, "Bible of Butchery" makes for a good companion tome. Its weak point is there's really nothing new or massively revelatory within its pages.

There's a potted band history and a first-person biography of each member, plus a selection of song lyrics some of which are briefly annotated. In addition, there's a longer interview section towards the end with more up-to-date questions which covers the bands' individual touring memories and the like.

Chris Barnes' time in the band is, of course, mentioned and the terms of his departure aren't exactly skimmed over. While it's a part of the current members' history I'm sure they're glad is in the past, it would have been good to have had something more details from around that time - and the cherry on top would of course have been to hear Chris's side of the story. I'm sure there are reasons for that being missing (not least of which is whether Chris wants to talk about it or not), but if there was the ideal place for it to be published then this was it.

The presentation is top notch - Brian J Ames should take a bow - and there are plenty of photos scattered around the blood-trimmed pages to really flesh it out.

I enjoyed reading it, but I think the fact that the band are so damn nice and there's been relatively (and surprisingly!) little controversy in Cannibal Corpse's 25 years, the overall story isn't as full of ups, downs, twists and so forth that could make it more interesting.

For the completist and the mad fan, there's probably not another book that comes close to covering the band's history and for this reason I'd recommend it. That and the great artwork.

[Ramakrishnan M · Rating 4 out of 5]

being a fan of cannibal corpse I would just devour anything and everything.

this is a very interesting albeit not exhaustive piece of their history. fun to read childhood stories of alex paul etc. as well as some nice tour stories

however if you're looking for an official exhaustive band biography, this is not really it