Six Feet Under will unleash their pulverizing 14th studio album, “Killing For Revenge”, on May 10th through Metal Blade Records, and today they have shared the lyric video for their annihilating new single “Ascension”.
Speaking about the song, guitarist Jack Owen (ex-Cannibal Corpse) said: “I wrote the music first, with no lyrical ideas in mind. I wanted a small musical phrase that linked the parts together throughout the song, so I wrote a little chord/drum fill thing to segue riffs from the start of the song, through to the end. It turned out to sound like early Possessed, according to listeners. I have an archive of riffs, so I dug for some fast-picking parts that would be easy to sing to.“
“I had recently found a vinyl box set of works by Shakespeare, and listened to Macbeth,” he continues, “It’s pretty violent! So while ‘Ascension’ isn’t a direct interpretation of the story, it’s my take on the classic tale of influence, revenge, and the fate you face. As with many of the songs, Chris lent his lyrical talents to make the song that much better.”
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From the opening moments of “Know-Nothing Ingrate,” which kicks off the record, it’s immediately clear that Six Feet Under focused their energies on something as brutal, lyrically visceral, and musically dazzling as one would hope for from the ground-breaking Tampa-bred death metal.
“Killing For Revenge”, a gnarly beast of a record that’s not for the faint-hearted, dishes up nightmare-inducing imagery courtesy of frontman Chris Barnes via the vocalist’s trademark guttural vocals. Both the album title and darkly detailed red-hued album cover by artist Vince Locke are perfect containers for the brutality within.
“I chose the title “Killing For Revenge” after we completed writing and noticed that all the lyrics and storylines had a common theme of revenge. Revenge by human or revenge by nature,” Barnes says. “The album title describes the flow of the stories within the lyrics perfectly.“
“Killing For Revenge” marks the second album that Barnes and Owen have created together since reuniting for 2020’s “Nightmares Of The Decomposed”. Owen also produced “Killing For Revenge”.
“We worked well together in Cannibal Corpse,” recalls Barnes. “I loved him to death as a friend and a musician, so I’m really comfortable giving him the reins because I just have such great respect for him as an artist.”
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”. Only Barnes remains from Six Feet Under‘s original incarnation, but the quality has remained remarkably consistent. The current lineup of Barnes, guitarists Owen and Ray Suhy, bassist Jeff Hughell, and drummer Marco Pitruzzella make for a devastating unit.
The songs on “Killing For Revenge” dive headfirst into subjects that are as gleefully vile, graphic, and downright grotesque as you might dream of from a Barnes/Owen project. After all, the two men were vital cogs in the Cannibal Corpse band that released such delightfully offensive death metal classics as “Butchered At Birth” and “Tomb Of The Mutilated”. Six Feet Under also recorded a cover of Nazareth‘s “Hair Of The Dog,” which appears on all formats of “Killing For Revenge” with the exception of vinyl.
