CANNIBAL CORPSE's PAUL MAZURKIEWICZ: 'If It Wasn't For DAVE LOMBARDO, I Probably Wouldn't Be Doing What I'm Doing'

In a new interview with "Reckless" Rexx Ruger of Pod Scum, drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz of long-running Florida-based death metallers CANNIBAL CORPSE was asked to name his biggest musical influences. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "SLAYER's Dave Lombardo is my biggest influence, of course. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't be doing what I'm doing. He's the king of thrash, double bass and all that, so as a teenager, hearing him play in the mid-'80s, obviously I wasn't playing at that point yet — I [was] just starting out — so that really solidified me wanting to play the way I play today, what he was doing and still is doing. But all those bands and all those influences we had in the mid-to-late '80s, going from, I guess, any of the heavy metal like IRON MAIDEN, as it progressed, into bands like METALLICA, SLAYER and then the thrash bands of… KREATOR and things like that, DARK ANGEL, that really, really were the forerunners of death metal and what we do in CANNIBAL CORPSE. So, I mean, so many, so many influential bands and drummers back then, but, yeah, Lombardo would be my biggest one."

Asked how he has held up physically after playing extreme metal drums for more than three and a half decades, he said: "Luckily, I've held up pretty good. I'm feeling fairly good for my age. And, Jeez, if anything, there's a lot of times I think, 'Man, I'm playing better than I ever have been,' which is, I guess, a good thing. But you've gotta make those tweaks, you've gotta make those adjustments. You can't just rely on young adrenaline and just pure fury, like you might have done when you were younger. So, you have to kind of maybe try to take care of yourself a little bit more so. I mean, it all comes down to the basics. The way I look at it anyways is if you can get good sleep, you stay hydrated, you eat fairly well and you practice, those are the main keys. Of course, having some good genes perhaps. Unfortunately, you hear [about] these guys that just have problems, back problems, and there's nothing you can do. Luckily, I guess I do have pretty decent genes in that regard where I never had any major ailments in that way. So, if anything, you've just gotta really play a lot more."

He continued: "I've noticed my routines have really stepped up and especially just in practice, of course. Knowing if I'm gonna maintain, well, I have to be there working extra hard, harder than I ever have in the past. So as long as I'm doing that, then I think everything's all right, I suppose. But, yeah, I feel pretty good. So, yeah, [as drummers] we do have a strenuous job, arguably the most strenuous [in any band]. The good thing about, I guess, drumming for me, I look at it as, like, well, no matter what, I'm gonna always be playing the way I play at practice or on the road. There's no half-assing it at practice. You're playing exactly like you need to be playing on the road. So, as long as you can keep that schedule going and have that consistency, then practice to the road should segue pretty seamlessly. So, usually it does. But, yeah, I've just gotta keep it up, man. That's all you can do. You can't stop."

CANNIBAL CORPSE's sixteenth studio album, "Chaos Horrific", was released in September 2023 via Metal Blade Records.

Since 1988, CANNIBAL CORPSE have been at the forefront of death metal, shaping and defining the genre. In 2021, they raised the stakes again with "Violence Unimagined". And in 2023, the band's thirty-fifth anniversary, they returned with its successor, the equally monstrous "Chaos Horrific", starting a new chapter in their storied legacy.

Mazurkiewicz named "Chaos Horrific" and his cohorts felt it was a great representation of the band. Subjects covered include fighting off hordes of zombies ("Chaos Horrific"),the selection of a random individual to be dismembered and sacrificed ("Summoned For Sacrifice") and the violent revenge of victims of human trafficking ("Vengeful Invasion"). The album artwork by longtime collaborator Vince Locke is also suitably CANNIBAL CORPSE-esque, featuring a chaotic tangle of the living and the undead, evoking the lyrics of the title track.

Paul Mazurkiewicz photo credit: Alex Morgan / Dave Lombardo photo credit: Becky DiGiglio