If anyone could be considered an authority on death metal, it would be Chris Barnes. He helped set the template for this sub-genre of metal as the vocalist on the first four Cannibal Corpse albums and has, since 1995, been the frontman for Six Feet Under. Who else would you trust to lead listeners to the best albums that death metal has to offer?
In a new interview with Sobre La Dosis, Barnes got an opportunity to do just that. Asked to name his favorite death metal albums, the dreadlocked singer went a little outside the scope of the assignment, wrapping three records into one entry and even daring to choose an album that he sang on to fill one of the spots.
"I'm gonna have to say Possessed's Seven Churches," Barnes said, "I'm gonna go with Death's Leprosy and Spiritual Healing, and Scream Bloody Gore – I'm gonna have to wrap those three up into [one] because you know, Chuck [Schuldiner] was a good friend of mine and I was a huge fan of Death early on. Rest in peace, Chuck. I'm gonna go Obituary's Slowly We Rot. A huge album.
"All three of those bands are a similar type of death metal. I mean of course Possessed are the kings of death metal. They pretty much started it all. Jeff Becerra [Possessed vocalist], fucking awesome guy. So yeah, that's that's where I come from, man. I really loved all those albums.
"If I have to throw a fourth one in there, I'm gonna have to say Butchered at Birth [Cannibal Corpse's 1991 album]. You know, pat myself on the back. That was a huge album in death metal as far as our kind of twist on the whole thing. I think it influenced a lot of people just as Possessed influenced a lot of bands to move in a certain direction."
Watch Barnes make his picks below.
