CANNIBAL CORPSE's CORPSEGRINDER Disagrees With CHRIS BARNES About State Of Death Metal: 'The Scene Couldn't Be Better'

CANNIBAL CORPSE singer George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher has seemingly taken issue with Chris Barnes's recent comment about the state of the death metal genre, saying the scene is "just as great as it's ever been."

Last month, Barnes — who exited CANNIBAL CORPSE in 1995, one year after the release of the band's "The Bleeding" album — took to his Twitter to say that he saw a January 19 Knotfest"A Death Metal Round Table" hosted by Staypuft Mallow and featuring appearances by Fisher, Trevor Strnad from THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, Chase Mason from GATECREEPER and Alex Jones from UNDEATH."I just watched a 'death metal' podcast on YouTube that was done about a week ago with the 'top' death metal vocalists," he wrote. "It made me physically ill. I despise what this genre has become."

In a new interview with Elliott Fullam of Little Punk People, Fisher, who is promoting his upcoming debut solo album, weighed in on the state of the death metal scene, saying: "GATECREEPER is pretty cool. I saw a band, FROZEN SOUL, I saw them. There's a bunch of bands going now. The scene is just as healthy as it's ever been. It's just as great as it's ever been. It's not dead. It's not terrible. I'm proud of the death metal scene today. I'm so proud of it — I think it's amazing. I think there's so many great bands.

"Look, we're going out on tour with REVOCATION and WHITECHAPEL — two awesome, great bands. And the scene couldn't be better," he continued before seemingly taking a swipe at Barnes. "And anyone who thinks otherwise, kiss rocks because… I'm proud of the death metal scene. And I encourage everyone to go out…

"Listen to the old bands, of course, " Fisher added. "The old way paved the way. Go listen to POSSESSED; they're the first death metal band. Go listen to them. Listen to everything in between. Listen to KREATOR who, I think, are kind of the bridge, a death-thrash band. Without KREATOR, there would be no CANNIBAL CORPSE. Listen to those bands, and listen to, obviously, all the old classic bands like CANNIBAL and DEATH, OBITUARY, DEICIDE, MORBID ANGEL — I mean, all those bands. Then you have AEON, you have THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and DYING FETUS, and, like I said, newer bands. GATECREEPER has been around for a while. There's so much great death metal going on. The scene has never been better, and anyone who thinks otherwise, you know, just… I don't know what to tell you."

After Barnes left CANNIBAL CORPSE to form SIX FEET UNDER, he was replaced in the former band by Fisher.

Five years ago, Barnes spoke about the possibility of SIX FEET UNDER and CANNIBAL CORPSE one day touring together, telling "The Chainsaw Symphony" radio program: "That would be a tough one to put together, my friend. [Laughs] You wouldn't have any problems from my side of things, but I don't think other people would be agreeable to that."

He continued: "I don't think there's animosity [between us]. I think there's just protecting other people's feelings. I think that everyone knows certain things about everything and they'd like to see things a certain way, and that wouldn't portray things a certain way that they would wanna portray them. So… I'm being very general and trying to be diplomatic about it."

Barnes also talked about the circumstances behind his departure from CANNIBAL CORPSE. He said: "I just didn't like being around them, because I was being ridiculed, and I just didn't feel comfortable being in the same room with people that weren't very nice to me personally. And I was part of that too, so we had all of our own type of differences, personally, and I don't think it was gonna be able to be worked out. You know, mutual respect goes a far way when it comes to being in close quarters with people."

He continued: "I'm sure we'd do things differently [today] — I mean, I know we would. It's just the way things worked out. And I don't have any animosity towards those guys at all, and I don't think they do towards me. It's just that… It would be too confusing for things [if we were to tour together], I think, from their perspective."

Barnes added: "I'd do anything. I just like to see a lot of people out there with smiles on their faces; that's the only thing that's important to me, man. Like, seriously, if I see a big crowd of people that everyone's smiling, like, 'Oh, yeah! This is what we've been waiting for,' I'm ready then, man. If I see a small room of people that are just fired up to go, man, it just gets me going on stage, you know. And that's all I'm there for — that feeling, that sharing of energy, man. And I'll go for it any which way to get that any way I can with any person I can get it with. And if it gets to that means to an end, that's all that's important, man — that transference. And some people just don't see it that way, man, and it's cool.

"I'm not gonna be mean to anybody, and I never wanted to be. I'm my own person, and sometimes I'm put at fault for that, and I think we all are in our own way. And that's just life; those are the things we deal with as people."

SIX FEET UNDER's current lineup also includes another former CANNIBAL CORPSE member, guitarist Jack Owen.

SIX FEET UNDER's latest album, "Nightmares Of The Decomposed", was released in October 2020 via Metal Blade Records.

Fisher's solo album, titled "Corpsegrinder", will be released on February 25. The 10-song effort was co-produced by Nick Bellmore (DEE SNIDER, KINGDOM OF SORROW) and Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) and will be made available through Jamey's new label, Perseverance Music Group.