Cannibal Corpse is the debut demo by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse. The demo is the predecessor to Cannibal Corpse's debut full-length album Eaten Back to Life and all the songs were re-recorded for that album. Although the correct title of the demo is simply "Cannibal Corpse", the demo is commonly referred to as "A Skull Full of Maggots" or simply "The Demo" among Cannibal Corpse collectors and fans.
Unlike their following releases, the demo has a thrash metal-oriented sound that is reminiscent of influential thrash albums where a more aggressive variant of the genre that bordered on death metal was present, such as Kreator's Pleasure to Kill and Dark Angel's Darkness Descends.
The cassette covers feature a photo of the early band and artwork created by Chris Barnes. The covers are printed on plain inexpensive cardstock and printed in a single color on a white background.
The demo itself is featured on Cannibal Corpse's 2003 Box Set 15 Year Killing Spree.
Production
The original version of this demo was produced only on cassette tape. Only two productions runs of 100 units were ever made for a total of only 200 tapes (100 with white background; 100 with red background). The cassettes were cheaply produced, and many of them appear to be made from second hand or rejected cassette stocks, often faded writing from other band's albums is visible on the cassette itself. Most of the copies were simply given out at shows and traded or passed among fans. The few original cassettes that still exist are prized by fans and hoarded by collectors of Cannibal Corpse memorabilia.
Track listing
- "A Skull Full of Maggots" – 2:08
- "The Undead Will Feast" – 2:57
- "Scattered Remains, Splattered Brains" – 2:37
- "Put Them to Death" – 1:49
- "Bloody Chunks" – 2:21