Cephalic Carnage
is an American experimental deathgrind band formed in in 1992 in Denver, Colorado. The band comprises founding members vocalist Lenzig Leal and guitarist Zac Joe, drummer John Merryman and guitarist Steve Goldberg, who both joined in 1996, and bassist Nick Schendzielos, who joined in 2006. Cephalic Carnage released five studio albums and toured in North America, Europe and Japan.
Cephalic Carnage plays a technically proficient grindcore style, experiments with other genres and incorporates songs of joke nature into their albums. They refer themselves as "rocky mountain hydro grind".
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CEPHALIC CARNAGE TICKETS
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History
Conforming to Abnormality
, Exploiting Dysfunction
and Lucid Interval
(1992–2003)
Cephalic Carnage formed in
Denver,
Colorado, in 1992. Vocalist Lenzig Leal and guitarist Zac Joe recorded a demo EP titled
Scrape My Lungs
in 1993, but the duo took a break until 1996, when they recruited drummer John Merryman, guitarist Steve Goldberg and bassist Doug Williams. Soon after the reformation, their second demo EP
Fortuitous Oddity
was released. During 1997, Cephalic Carnage financed its own tour across the United States.
[1] [2]
In 1998, the band caught the attention of
Italian record label Headfucker Records, which released the band's debut album
Conforming to Abnormality
that year. After this release, bassist Williams left in 1999 and joined
Origin. After he was replaced by Jawsh Mullen, the band toured at the Milwaukee Metalfest in 1998, the Dallas Grindfest, the Ohio Deathfest and the Denver Hatefest in 1999.
In 2000, Cephalic Carnage signed to the American heavy metal record label
Relapse Records and released its second album
Exploiting Dysfunction
, which included a tour with
Napalm Death and
The Dillinger Escape Plan.
Lucid Interval
, the band's third album, was recorded in early 2002 and released in August that year.
The band toured a month later in Canada
[3] and subsequently in the U.S. with German
thrash metal "veterans"
Kreator and
Destruction.
[4] In May 2003 the band undertook the "North American Contamination" tour alongside
Mastodon and others. That September, Cephalic Carnage and
Madball supported
Hatebreed on the North American "Rise of Brutality" tour.
Anomalies
and Xenosapien
(2004 onward)
In September 2004, the band recorded its next album,
Anomalies
, with producer Dave Otero.
Darren Doane directed a promotional music video for "Dying Will Be the Death of Me",
which premiered at MTV's
Headbanger's Ball.
[5] The song is a parody of American
metalcore.
[6] In March 2005,
Anomalies
was released, and the band toured in North America once again.
Bassist Jawsh Mullen exited in January 2006 to prioritize his education and other acts,
and the band soon found replacement Nick Schendzielos.
[7] In March, the band's recording studio was robbed.
[8] They played several shows in the United States in April, and an extensive European tour followed in June
with
Darkest Hour.
[9] The band recorded its next studio album between November and December 2006,
and its release was set for May 2007 under the title
Xenosapien
. In March 2007, the band supported
Brujeria on U.S. dates
and subsequently embarked on "Xenosapien World Tour",
[10] which started in continental Europe on May 4,
[11] continued in United Kingdom and Ireland in May
and resumed in the "Summer Slaughter" trek (dubbed the "Summer’s Laughter" by band members)
[12] across the U.S. throughout June and July along with
Decapitated and
Necrophagist, among others.
The band also filmed a music video for the song "Endless Cycle of Violence".
On November 20, 2007, the band's van was robbed. Their "recent earnings from the tour (close to $4,000), a laptop with more than $2,000 in music-software programs loaded, an iPod and various personal items" were stolen.
[13]
Cephalic Carnage participated in a "mini-tour" of Japan in May 2009, performing in
Osaka,
Nagoya and
Tokyo.
In June 2009, Cephalic Carnage, along with
Cattle Decapitation and
Withered, pulled out of the Blackenedfest tour due to organization problems and said they were "getting on with writing the next full length, (...) as well as finishing construction of our late night poutine stand, where we will serve country-fried giraffe eggs and your favorite French-Canadian specialty."
[14]
Musical style
Allmusic describes the style of Cephalic Carnage as "crazy concoction of truly experimental grindcore, death metal, and jazz".
Their music varies from
death-grind,
[15] [16] technical death metal,
[17] occasional
surf rock,
[18] post-rock, instrumental, to
flamenco interludes
[19] or violin-and-sax ambient jams.
[20] Their early style is typically progressive and technically proficient grindcore with some comedic songs. Their later work developed into a more experimental
[21], complex direction.
Allmusic described the musicianship of Cephalic Carnage as "flawless".
The band dubbed their style "Rocky Mountain hydro-grind".
[22]
Cephalic Carnage is also known for its humorous songs.
Popmatters points out some examples: "On past albums, the band has taken satirical swipes at the overtly image-oriented
black metal ("Black Metal Sabbath") and the oversaturated, angst-ridden
metalcore sound ("Dying Will Be the Death of Me"), and even in live settings, they’re not above taking the odd spontaneous piss-take to bring some levity to a situation. One notorious YouTube clip has a fight starting in the pit at a Cephalic show in Toronto, and in an inspired moment, the band launches into a rousing excerpt from "
Eye of the Tiger", to a raucous ovation from the kids."
Members
;Current members
- Lenzig Leal - vocals (1992 onward)
- Zac Joe - guitar (1992 onward)
- John Merryman - drums (1996 onward)
- Steve Goldberg - guitar (1996 onward)
- Nick Schendzielos - bass guitar, backing vocals (2006 onward)
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;Former members
- Doug Williams - bass guitar (1996–1998)
- Jawsh Mullen - bass guitar (1998–2006)
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Discography
;Studio albums
- Conforming to Abnormality
(1998)
- Exploiting Dysfunction
(2000)
- Lucid Interval
(2002)
- Anomalies
(2005)
- Xenosapien
(2007)
;Extended Plays
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;Demos
- Scrape My Lungs
(1994)
- Fortuitous Oddity
(1996)
;Splits
- Cephalic Carnage / Deprayved
(7") (1997)
- Cephalic Carnage & Adnauseam
(tape) (1998)
- Impaled / Cephalic Carnage
(7") (1999)
- Cephalic Carnage / Anal Blast - Perversion...and the Guilt After / Version 5 Obese
(CD) (2002)
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References
- Cephalic Carnage Biography
- Cephalic Carnage Biography
- December, Cephalic Carnage Lay Canada To Waste - Aug. 16, 2002
- Kreator To Embark On North American Tour - Aug. 8, 2002
- Cephalic Carnage: 'Dying Will Be The Death Of Me' Video To Receive 'Headbanger's Ball' Premiere - Aug. 26, 2005
- Cephalic Carnage Xenosapien
- Cephalic Carnage To Record New Album In November/December - May 31, 2006
- Cephalic Carnage's Recording Studio Robbed, Reward Offered - Mar. 23, 2006
- Cephalic Carnage Announce European Tour with Darkest Hour, Dead To Fall - June 1, 2006
- Cephalic Carnage Completes Work On New Video - May 16, 2007
- Cephalic Carnage: New Album Title Announced - Mar. 21, 2007
- Summer Slaughter Tour, Inside the Carnage
- Cephalic Carnage Robbed In Tulsa - Nov. 23, 2007
- Exclusive: The Demise of Blackened Fest
- Cephalic Carnage Xenosaphien
- Metal Up Your Ass - February 2009
- Cephalic Carnage Xenosapien
- Lucid Interval review, Exclaim!
- Lucid Interval
- Lucid Interval
- Cephalic Carnage Conforming to Abnormality
- Why Be Normal? Cephalic Carnage delivers another delicious dose of hydro-grind with Anomalies