By Chesney Hearst, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Pioneers and masters of the death metal genre, American band Cannibal Corpse will finally bring their brutal and controversial sound to Rio on Thursday, June 20th as they play Lapa’s Circo Voador along with the Brazilian metal band Gangrena Gasosa and opening act Forceps.
Currently touring Latin America in support of their latest studio album entitled, Torture, Cannibal Corpse will play Rio for the first time ever before heading to Porto Alegre on June 21st, Curitiba on June 22nd, São Paulo on June 23rd and then to Buenos Aires, Argentina on June 25th.
Founded in 1988, the Florida, U.S.-based quintet has released twelve studio albums, one box set, and one live album to date. They have also undergone several lineup changes including the replacement of vocalist Chris Barnes with current frontman George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher during the recording of their fifth studio album entitled, Vile.
With little radio and video airplay due to the controversial nature of their songs, over the years they built a large cult following through extensive touring and word-of-mouth marketing. Even with sales of their albums banned at times in several countries including Australia and Germany, they currently hold the record as the United States’ top-selling death metal band of all time.
When asked to describe the appeal of their gory, gruesome and aggressive lyrics combined with the heaviness of their sound, one fan told The Rio Times; “It’s a healthy way to release anger by listening to their music, it helps you get those feelings out of you. Plus the more shocking the better for most of their fan base.”
“They really continue to evolve with the death metal scene while still staying relevant to their roots as one of the originators of the genre.”
Brazilian metal band Gangrena Gasosa will also play on Thursday night. Lead singer Angelo Arede told The Rio times that while growing up, Cannibal Corpse and the British extreme metal group Carcass, were two of his favorite bands.
“To share the same stage as headliners with Cannibal Corpse makes me really excited,” said Arede. “I also look forward for them to get to know our sound as well and like it.”
Gangrena Gasosa, which translates to gas gangrene in English, was formed in Rio over twenty years ago. “In the 1990s I started to play in Rio at venues like the ‘Garage,’” Arede told The Rio Times. “At the time we wanted to really do something different than what was going on, that was guys playing rock with long hair.”
“We noticed that the bands who play extreme metal used demons, which people in Europe were afraid of but we realized that in Brazil, especially in Rio, what people were really frightened by was Macumba and Candomblé. So we Incorporated that with our sound including lots of percussion and black magic.”
“We have a whole show where we dress as the Candomblé entities.” said Arede. “That makes people even more curious to know more about our culture. At the end of the day through the emotion that we show people will become more interested about the Brazilian culture through our music.”
For those interested in the origins of Gangrena Gasosa, the band recently released a DVD entitled “Desagradável” (Nasty), a documentary complete with archival footage, photos, videos and commentary from Jello Biafra, João Gordo, Jão, BNegão and others that chronicle the band’s twenty-two year career.
The documentary will be screened at Circo Voador on the night of the show shortly after the doors open at 8PM.
Who: Cannibal Corpse with Gangrena Gasosa
Opening Act- Forceps
Where: Circo Voador – Rua dos Arcos, S/N, Lapa
When: Thursday, June 20th – doors open at 8PM
Tickets: R$160 (full price) R$80 (students and promotion) available at ingresso.com and the Circo Voador box office.