JACK OWEN On CANNIBAL CORPSE's 'Butchered At Birth': That Album Is 'Hard For Me To Listen To'

In a new interview with Spain's Made In Metal, former CANNIBAL CORPSE and current SIX FEET UNDER guitarist Jack Owen was asked if there is one album from his catalog that he is not happy with that he would like to possibly re-record. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Hmm. Yeah. Maybe the CANNIBAL CORPSE album 'Butchered At Birth' that came out in 1991. The production could be a lot better and the writing process was a little more stress filled, I think. We were trying to make up for sounding simple on the first album, so we overwrote a little bit. So, yeah, I think that's the only one that's hard for me to listen to, to this day… Of the first four [CANNIBAL CORPSE] albums, it's the one that's probably number four out of those four — for me, anyway."

Owen also talked about his creative chemistry with his former CANNIBAL CORPSE and current SIX FEET UNDER bandmate, vocalist Chris Barnes. He said: "Oh, [it's] very simple. I write a song, I demo it, I record it and send it to him. And it's usually, 'Yes, let's go with that.' Or, 'Eh, maybe not,' and I just move on to the next song. I've known him so long, we're just kind of family and we're brothers, really. So, we can always talk to each other about anything, musically or really anything about life… I can just e-mail him songs as I finish them. So [during the songwriting process for SIX FEET UNDER's upcoming album 'Next To Die'] we ended up with a lot of extra songs that weren't very good on my part. So maybe we will retool those and they'll end up on the next album."

When Owen announced his departure from CANNIBAL CORPSE in May 2004, he said in a statement: "After 15 years with CANNIBAL CORPSE, I've decided to leave the group. My heart just wasn't in it anymore, and it was reflected in my appearance on stage. Times change, and I just don't enjoy the music as much as I used to, and the only thing keeping me in the band was steady work, and the pay. These things makes it unfair to myself, my band members, and especially the fans."

One of the founding members of CANNIBAL CORPSE, Owen joined DEICIDE in 2004 and played on four of the latter band's studio albums: "The Stench Of Redemption" (2006),"Till Death Do Us Part" (2008),"To Hell With God" (2011) and "In The Minds Of Evil" (2013).

In 2017, Owen joined SIX FEET UNDER, the death metal band fronted by Barnes.

Owen grew up in Akron, New York, where he developed a passion for heavy metal music. He picked up the guitar in his teenage years, inspired by bands like SLAYER and METALLICA.

"Next To Die" will be released on April 24 via Metal Blade Records. The album, produced by Owen and Barnes and mixed and mastered by Mark Lewis of MRL Studios in Nashville, follows 2024's "Killing For Revenge". It's the third record that Barnes and Owen have created together since reuniting in 2017.

"Next To Die" is a new creative high for SIX FEET UNDER, marking the band's fifteenth album since 1995's "Haunted".SIX FEET UNDER did highly successful U.S. tours in 2025, the band's first U.S. tour since 2013, as well as a festival appearance in Mexico City in March '25.

To bring the songs to brutal life, Barnes recorded his vocals at the legendary Criteria Recording Studios in Miami. Owen tracked his rhythm guitar parts with Jason Suecof at AudioHammer Studios in Sanford, Florida. Suecof also has a guest guitar lead at the end of the song "Approach Your Grave". The rest of the musicians tracked their "Next To Die" parts at their home studios, for a remote collaboration that created a dozen cohesive tracks. Sandy Rezalmi's cover art perfectly brings to life the journey that the LP's lyrics and music take listeners on.

SIX FEET UNDER was initially formed as a side project for Barnes during his final years with the band that he co-founded, CANNIBAL CORPSE. It became the frontman's sole focus in 1995, coinciding with the release of their debut, "Haunted". The current tour-honed lineup of SIX FEET UNDER features Barnes and Owen alongside lead guitarist Ray Suhy, bassist Jeff Hughell and drummer Marco Pitruzzella.

SIX FEET UNDER will return to stages this summer on a North American headlining tour. Set to begin on July 8 in Detroit and run through August 11 in Chicago, the tour features support from KATAKLYSM and WORMHOLE.

The North American journey will follow SIX FEET UNDER's previously announced European headlining tour this June with support from EMBRYONIC AUTOPSY.