The idea of a Cannibal Corpse reunion with Chris Barnes has always floated around like a morbid curiosity, the former frontman has made it clear, it’s not happening.
Speaking on Loaded Radio, Barnes said he’ll almost certainly “never” play with Cannibal Corpse again, pointing to long standing tension and what he believes is discomfort from the band over his legacy (per Loudwire).
‘They feel threatened by my presence’
When asked about the possibility of sharing a stage, even in a hypothetical Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame scenario, Barnes didn’t hesitate:
“Oh, yeah. I’ve always been ready to do that. [Cannibal Corpse] wouldn’t do that, though, because that’s just how they are,” he said.
He went further, suggesting the band would actively avoid letting him or former guitarist Jack Owen perform alongside them.
“I mean, they wouldn’t ask me and Jack to go up on stage with them at all. . . . It wouldn’t happen. They would exclude us from it. They might invite us up on stage with them, but they would never want me and Jack to play a song with them or anything like that.”
Pressed on why, Barnes didn’t soften the blow.
“I think it’s a part of [the fact that] they don’t like me, and they also feel – not to be boastful or conceited at all – I’m just being truthful — they feel threatened by my presence as far as a vocalist and my contribution to the band. They’ve always tried to marginalize that. They’ve always tried to ignore it, and they’ve always, um, just not been very kind to me as far as that has gone, because it’s been a shadow over – my contribution to the band – has always been a shadow to what they’ve tried to keep going and take on themselves.”
No bitterness, just distance
Barnes was dismissed from Cannibal Corpse back in 1995, but insists he’s never carried resentment about the split.
“And that’s what they wanted to do. That’s why I was fired from the band, which I’m fine with. I’ve never had a problem with that. I’ve never been bitter about that at all. I’ve just stated my story and the facts that I know, and I’ve always said it – that the greatest blessing that’s come my way has been Six Feet Under and my putting this band together because it was my way out of that band ’cause I wasn’t happy being in that band at a pretty early point.”
In fact, he describes the moment he was let go as a turning point.
“Six Feet Under was the best thing that ever happened to me. Getting kicked out of Cannibal Corpse was really – it was awesome when that happened. And Alex [Webster, bassist] will even tell you, when he called me up to tell me that I was out of the band, I kind of laughed a little bit. I was, like, ‘That’s awesome. Thank you,’ basically.”
‘It was my escape pod’
While creative differences have often been cited in the band’s history, Barnes says the reality was more personal.
“No. That was nothing to do with it at all. I mean, maybe in their minds, as far as the last recording session went, because I went on tour with Six Feet Under instead of finishing that album [1995’s ‘Vile’] the way they were commanding me to finish it, and they knew I was not going to. I was sticking to my guns as far as those songs that I had written, and I guess I didn’t see that the way they wanted me to see it, so that might’ve been a creative difference.”
“But, for me, the most part was I just didn’t wanna be around those guys. I had never had a problem with Jack. It was Alex, Paul [Mazurkiewicz, drummer] and Rob [Barrett, guitarist] that I just didn’t wanna be in the same room with. So, that’s really why I started Six Feet Under. A lot of people were, like, oh it’s – the party line was it was a side project. It wasn’t a side project for me. Never once. It was really my escape pod. I went along with the party line because, you know – but it was never that for me. It was my way out.”
A closed chapter
Nearly three decades on, the divide between Barnes and Cannibal Corpse still hasn’t healed. If anything, it sounds more cemented than ever.
For fans hoping for a nostalgic crossover moment, this feels like the final nail, some splits in heavy music don’t fade with time, they calcify.
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