This is a project aimed at making it easy to see who inspired the bands you love or even hate. For this I try not to use any influences that the band don’t claim themselves. There will be a focus on predecessors but successors will be added as they site the band. These trees become more and more interactive as new bands are added, allowing you to click any band that has a tree and jump to it.

We want our lists to be better. If you know something that belongs on this list, let us know. When in doubt we will leave it out, so we need reliable sources.

Cannibal Corpse is one of he most well known death metal bands. They have been an influence to many and their imagery alone has left a mark on the world of metal. The line up of the band has had relatively few changes over the years. Bassist Alex Webster and Drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz have been steady member since the inception of the band. Chris Barnes was on vocals for the first four albums before the current singer Gorge “Corpsegrinder” Fisher joined the band. Jack Owen was on guitar till 2004. Also in the original line up, Bob Rusay was also on guitar for the first three albums. Rob Barrett took his place for two more albums before Pat O’Brian joined an remained in the band until recently. Rob Barret returned to the band in 2005 replacing Jack Owen. The newest release will have Eric Rutan on second guitar. Chris Barnes was important in shaping the gore themes of Cannibal Corpse while in the band. All members are credited with writing over the years with the exception of Corpsgrinder who has only rarely contributed to lyrics. George and Eric’s influences will not be included in the main list.

Andrés Segovia was a classical guitarist. Inspired by seeing Andrés, Pat studied classical guitar for a while.

Deep Purple are a hugely influential hard rock and early heavy metal band. Pat’s Jackson profile lists them as one of his influences.

Black Sabbath are the fathers of metal. Alex said they all love Sabbath and asks what metal head doesn’t? Chris named Born Again has his favorite Sabbath album and Cannibal Corpse covered a song from that album. Pat named Tony as one of his all t… — Black Sabbath are the fathers of metal. Alex said they all love Sabbath and asks what metal head doesn’t? Chris named Born Again has his favorite Sabbath album and Cannibal Corpse covered a song from that album. Pat named Tony as one of his all time favorite guitarists. Rob also named them as an influence and favorite, saying he still listens to them probably more than any other band.

Rush are an influential progressive hard rock band. Alex named Geddy as an inspiration and influence when it comes to melodic playing. He said when he started he wasn’t good enough to play like him but he did inspire him to practice. Paul named N… — Rush are an influential progressive hard rock band. Alex named Geddy as an inspiration and influence when it comes to melodic playing. He said when he started he wasn’t good enough to play like him but he did inspire him to practice. Paul named Neil Peart as one of his biggest influences.

Kiss are one of the most influential American hard rock bands. Jack said that Ace was the reason he first wanted to play guitar.

Judas Priest are the quintessential metal band. Chris and Rob named them as a favorite. Paul is also a fan.

Gary Moore is an influential blues/rock guitarist. He was listed as an influence on Rob’s Dean Guitars profile.

AC/DC are the quintessential hard rock band. Alex named them as an early influence. Pat’s Jackson profile lists AC/DC one of his influences. Rob’s Dean Guitars profile listed Malcolm Young as an influence.

Motorhead are hard rock/ heavy metal legends. Jack named them as an influence.

Van Halen were a revolutionary when they emerged. Rob’s Dean Guitars profile listed Eddie as an influence.

Rock Duster was a local Cincinnati band from the late 70’s and early 80’s. Pat described them as sounding like Judas Priest although I’m not sure if they released anything other than a single. He said seeing them live when he was young was a big i… — Rock Duster was a local Cincinnati band from the late 70’s and early 80’s. Pat described them as sounding like Judas Priest although I’m not sure if they released anything other than a single. He said seeing them live when he was young was a big influence on him.

Accept are German heavy metal legends. Alex named them and Peter Baltes as a big influence on him.

Iron Maiden are among the most influential metal bands. Alex named them as an influence and Steve Harris as someone he looks up to a lot. Paul name Clive as an early influence. Jack named them as an influence. Chris and Rob named them as one of … — Iron Maiden are among the most influential metal bands. Alex named them as an influence and Steve Harris as someone he looks up to a lot. Paul name Clive as an early influence. Jack named them as an influence. Chris and Rob named them as one of his favorites.

Venom are the first extreme metal band and hugely influential to death and black metal genres. Alex named them as an influence.

Ozzy was surly blessed with great musicians in his band after his time with Black Sabbath. Rob’s Dean Guitars prolife listed Randy Rhoads as an influence.

Steve Vai is considered by many as one of the greatest guitar players. Rob’s Dean Guitars profile listed Vai as an influence.

The Accused were an important hardcore / crossover thrash band. Alex named them as a main influence on the band.

Mercyful Fate are are among the more technical of the traditionally metal bands. Pat’s Jackson profile lists them as one of his influences.

Sodom are one of the earliest and biggest German Thrash bands. Alex named them as a main influence on them.

Metallica are the fathers of thrash. Alex named them and Cliff as a huge influence on him. Paul named Lars as an early influence. Pat’s Jackson profile listed them as one of his influences.

Anthrax are one of the big four of thrash. Paul named Charlie Benante as an influence.

Slayer were the most aggressive sounding thrash band in the early days of thrash and had a huge influence on metal. Alex named them as a huge influence on them. Paul named Dave Lombardo as one of his biggest influences. They both highly praise Re… — Slayer were the most aggressive sounding thrash band in the early days of thrash and had a huge influence on metal. Alex named them as a huge influence on them. Paul named Dave Lombardo as one of his biggest influences. They both highly praise *Reign in Blood.* Chris named Slayer as an influence and Hell Awaits as his favorite Slayer album and said it was more of an influence to him than albums that came after. Rob said Slayer one was one of the bands baggiest influences. Corpsegrinder also named them as an influence.

Dark Angel are a lesser known but influential thrash band. Alex named them as a main influence on the band. Paul named Gene Hoglan as one of his biggest influences.

D.R.I. were a important crossover thrash band. Chris said they were one of his favorite bands.

Leviathan was a death/thrash band and the original band of Chris Barns. Paul named drummer Angelo Lacocoa as an influence.

Sacrifice were a Canadian raw sounding thrash band. Paul named them as an influence.

Celtic Frost had a huge influence on early death and black metal bands. Alex named them as an influence. Corpsegrinder also named Tom Warrior as an influence.

Widely seen as the fathers of death metal by many. Alex named them as an influence on the band. Corpsegrinder named Chuck as his biggest influence.

Possessed are a death/thrash band on the verge of death metal and many consider them as such. They are hugley important for the development of death metal. Alex named them as a main influence of the band. Corpsegrinder also named them as an influ… — Possessed are a death/thrash band on the verge of death metal and many consider them as such. They are hugley important for the development of death metal. Alex named them as a main influence of the band. Corpsegrinder also named them as an influence.

Kreator are one of the big German thrash bands and hugely influential. Alex named them as an influence on the band. Corpsegrinder also named them as an influence.

Testament are Bay area thrash legends. Corpsegrinder named Chuck Billy as an influence.

Obituary are a classic Death Metal band. Corpsegrinder named John Tardy as an influence.

Morbid Angel were a very inspirational death metal band. Alex named them as a main influence on the band. He said David Vincent is a big influence on him.

Sadus are a death/thrash, tech thrash band. Alex names Steve DiGiorgio as an influence and particularly his work on the first Sadus album. Chris named them as an influence on the band.

Blood Feast were a aggressive US thrash band. Alex is a big fan.

Autopsy are a death, death/doom band. Alex named Steve DiGiorgio’s session work on Severed Survival as an influence. Chris named them as an influence on the band. — Autopsy are a death, death/doom band. Alex named Steve DiGiorgio’s session work on *Severed Survival* as an influence. Chris named them as an influence on the band.

Ice T is a pioneer of Gangster Rap. Besides his solo albums he was with crossover band Body Count. Chris Barns has said he’s a fan of all of his stuff.

Atheist are a progressive death band who incorporated jazz elements. Alex named Roger Patterson as an influence.

Deicide are a staple of death metal. Chris said they were a band that they all listened to. Cannibal actually released their first album the same year as deicide’s first and are more peers to them. Corpsegrinder also named them as an influence.

Alex when trying to improve his technique called Steve DiGiorgio, who at the time was in Sadus, to ask him about his fingering technique. Alex said he practiced his method but was able to use it to come up with something different that he uses. At the time Alex had never met Steve and was glad he did hang up on some random crazy fan.

Alex was listening to AC/DC and Van Halen when he first started to play bass. It gave him the sense that playing bass would be easier to learn than guitar. He says along with them Motley Crue were one of the first bands he got into when he was around 11 years old. The first year he was playing bass he seen some of the best bass players at the time live, Chris Squire (Yes), Geddy Lee (Rush), Steve Harris (Iron Maiden), and Billy Sheehan (in Talas at the time). He said this had a big impact on him. He named D.D. Verni (Overkill) as on of his favorites even though he plays with a pick where Alex doesn’t. Over the years he has listened to a lot of jazz-fusion which he says has some the best bassists and it has probably influenced his playing. He has also listened to a lot of classical which he said probably influenced his writing. He said as practice he has ran through jazz and funk bass books. He said as a kid he listened to his dad’s rock ‘n’ roll records like Elvis, Chuck Berry, and Fats Domino. He says he was more into 50’s rock ‘n’ roll than anything modern at the time and tried to learn guitar but the only lessons were teaching folk and he wasn’t interested. Before discovering metal as a kid he listened to all sorts of stuff, even Devo.

Alex says that Iron Maiden and Slayer are band they really look up to for their consistency in style and presentation.

Alex named Sean Malone (Cynic) and Geddy Lee (Rush) as influences for more melodic stuff. I believe he is using these influence outside of Cannibal Corpse but not so much within.

Paul also plays guitar, he wrote riffs in the early days and full songs later on.

Paul named Kiss as the first band that made him want to play music. He later got into traditional metal bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Accept before the emergence of his true love, thrash metal. He said he gravitated toward faster and heavier. Now days when he’s relaxing at him he says he listens to late 60’s early 70’s rock like James Gang and Grand Funk Railroad.

Jack said as a kid he listened to stuff his older brother was listening to like Yes, Kiss, Emerson Lake and Palmer and his dad would play old country like Hank Williams and both influenced him as a kid. There are also videos of Jack strumming some country on an acoustic much like he described his dad doing. I haven’t found many good interviews with Jack so his influence list is short.

Bob Rusay was the original guitarist along side Jack. I was unable to find his influences.

Chris when asked about influences said that they loved all death metal bands but only named Deicide specifically at that time.

Rob when asked about what he normally listens to at him named Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Slayer.

Rob had influences listed with his Dean Guitar profile but that page no longer is up. I have seen multiple pages listing his influences with broken links to Dean’s site. I will be using these influences and believe them to be accurate. Typically info on endorsement profiles come directly from the artist.

Corpsegrinder has only contributed to lyrics a small amount and is not otherwise noted as writing in the band. In the early days he was singing along with bands like Slayer, Deicide, Possessed, and Kreator. He said Chuck Schuldiner (Death) was his biggest influence.

Bands influenced by Cannibal Corpse!

As this project advances, bands will be added here… there are many!

More Family Trees

Sources:

https://web.archive.org/web/20080827220023/http://www.themetalweb.com/cannibalcorpseinterview2
https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2011/11/03/extreme-metal-bassist-an-interview-with-alex-webster/
https://www.invisibleoranges.com/interview-cannibal-corpses-alex-webster/
http://www.metal-temple.com/site/catalogues/entry/musicians/alex_webster_cannibal.htm
https://www.westword.com/music/qanda-with-alex-webster-of-cannibal-corpse-5716319
https://www.metal-rules.com/2011/09/10/cannibal-corpse-alex-webster-interview/
https://www.metal-rules.com/2014/06/25/interview-with-alex-webster-of-cannibal-corpse/
https://metalrefuge.wordpress.com/2004/01/15/interview-alex-webster-cannibal-corpse/
https://bravewords.com/news/cannibal-corpse-bassist-alex-webster-the-first-bands-i-liked-were-accept-ac-dc-and-motley-crue
https://sickdrummermagazine.com/the-drummers/sick-drummer-hall-of-fame/paul-mazurkiewicz/
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/music/cannibal-corpse-drummer-talks-vegetarianism-and-the-origins-of-death-metal-8545273
https://www.metal-rules.com/2005/08/21/paul-mazurkiewicz-of-cannibal-corpse/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzgIOoT5iAA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WewvwF2eTVY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t71i-Ge8Kk
http://www.metalunderground.com/interviews/details.cfm?newsid=23209
https://www.metal1.info/interviews/saitengespraeche-jack-owen-six-feet-under/?lang=english
http://www.metalstorm.net/pub/interview.php?interview_id=827
https://www.loadedradio.com/exclusive-audio-six-feet-under-guitarist-jack-owen-talks-to-loaded-radio/
https://echoesanddust.com/2013/03/interview-chris-barnes-from-six-feet-under/
http://themetalist.net/a-second-interview-with-chris-barnes-six-feet-under/
https://www.metal-rules.com/2005/06/26/six-feet-under-vocalist-chris-barnes/
https://disposableunderground.com/cannibal-corpse-interview-with-chris-barnes-from-the-vault/
http://www.metal-temple.com/site/catalogues/entry/musicians/pat-o-brien-cannibal.htm
https://www.guitarworld.com/features/cannibal-corpse-gory-details
https://www.jacksonguitars.com/artists/pat-o%27brien-bio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6EwPs513Eo
https://loudwire.com/cannibal-corpse-guitarists-new-book-new-album-early-influences/
https://en.linkfang.org/wiki/Rob_Barrett#cite_note-1
http://www.markprindle.com/fisher-i.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FQr_5AGiiw