Cannibal Corpse drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz recently spoke with Metal Insider on their lengthy and successful career and how it’s been working with producer Mark Lewis on their upcoming thirteenth record A Skeletal Domain.
On their longevity Mazurkiewicz said:
“We just been doing our thing, really. Since day 1, we’ve always had a good work ethic I believe, staying active, practicing, playing, just being in the public eye. I also hope it’s because we write decent music, because that’s what we’re talking about here. It’s always going to come back to the music with bands I guess. We don’t go through the motions, we never have, and that’s apparent. The fans, they know, they see that, they feel that. Every release we put out we give it our all, we do 110% for the given timeframe, but really it’s just those things, staying active, just really having the work ethic to keep on going. We’ve never stopped in these 25 years, we just been constantly going, and I think that’s key.”
About switching producers after doing three records with Erik Rutan the skinsman offered:
“Well first off, Erik is a great producer, a great friend of ours, and did an amazing job on all three records. I think we just felt it was time for a change, just don’t want to get complacent with the same producer. It just kind of adds a little excitement when working with someone new, going to a new studio and all that. Mark, of course, has been doing some great work in the last 5, 6, 10 years.”
He also talked about what it was like meeting Mark Lewis for the first time and the most difficult thing about working with someone new:
Of course after three records with Erik, you get in a groove, you know what to expect, you know how he is. I think I met Mark before, but this was the first time being around him as a person. You’re with a stranger basically, even though you’re there for a common goal. We became friends of course pretty quick, but it’s a little strange at first. Mark brought his own little subtle things that he does, like every producer probably would do. He makes his suggestions, and tries to just make the most out of any musician, and do the best they can. For me it was, I’ve been using pretty thin sticks for the last few years, I kind of went from heavy sticks, always changing things up, but the last few years I’ve been using thinner sticks. I felt for speed and it was helping me out. Soon as we got in the studio, Mark goes “Man, these are the sticks you’re using? Think we could try to use heavier sticks?…Nobody ever told me that before. No producer has ever said “Hey, let’s try to use…” And when he told me I was a little like “Uhh… man, I’ve been playing with these sticks, and practicing these songs [with these sticks], and now you want me to use a heavier stick, which is going to obviously affect me in some ways. We don’t even have time to practice, I’m on the fly!” But he’s the producer, his mentality was that we’re going get more velocity, we’re going get heavier hits because of the sticks, and it’s going to sound better on the record. Maybe 10 years ago I would have said “Efff off, no way.”
A Skeletal Domain will be out September 16th via Metal Blade. The band released the first single from that record titled “Sadistic Embodiment” which can be heard below.