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Why Did Chris Barnes Really Leave Cannibal Corpse?

Chris Barnes says his departure from Cannibal Corpse wasn’t driven by creativity, but by personal dynamics, stating he no longer wanted to be around certain members and had already planned his exit. You can check out the full interview clip below.

TL;DR

• Chris Barnes says he wanted out before being fired
• Claims he didn’t want to be around specific band members
• Calls Six Feet Under his “escape pod”
• Says being fired was actually a positive moment
• Downplays creative differences as the main cause

Chris Barnes didn’t describe his exit from Cannibal Corpse as a breaking point.

It sounded more like a release.

Long before the band made the decision to remove him, he says he had already checked out mentally—and was building his way forward.

He Says The Split Was Personal, Not Creative

In an all new episode of The Loaded Radio Podcast (available to stream in full on March 23, 2026), Barnes made it clear that the narrative around creative differences doesn’t fully explain what happened.

While there were disagreements during recording, he pointed to something more direct.

He didn’t want to be around certain members of the band.

He specifically stated he had no issue with guitarist Jack Owen—but named bassist Alex Webster, drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz, and guitarist Rob Barrett as people he didn’t want to share space with.

“I was sticking to my guns as far as those songs that I’d written and, you know, I just… I guess I didn’t see that the way they wanted me to see it, so that might have been a creative difference” says Barnes. “But for me, the most part was I just didn’t want to be around those guys. I never had a problem with Jack; it was Alex, Paul, and Rob that I just didn’t want to be in the same room with.”

That separation wasn’t gradual.

It was decisive.

Six Feet Under Was Never A Side Project

For years, the story around Six Feet Under has been that it started as a side project.

Barnes says that version isn’t accurate.

In his words, it was an “escape pod.”

Something he built intentionally as a way out, not something he stumbled into after the fact.

He went along with the public narrative at the time—but behind the scenes, his direction was already set.

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Getting Fired Didn’t Land The Way People Think

When the call came telling him he was out of the band, Barnes didn’t describe anger.

He described relief.

He even recalled reacting positively in the moment, seeing it as confirmation that he could move forward without being tied to something he no longer wanted to be part of.

“Getting kicked out of Cannibal Corpse was really… it was awesome when that happened. And Alex will even tell you when he called me up to tell me that I was out of the band, I kind of laughed a little bit. I was like, “That’s awesome, thanks,” basically.”

That reaction says more than the official timeline ever did.

Creative Tension Wasn’t The Breaking Point

Barnes acknowledged there were disagreements during the final recording process, including decisions around song direction and finishing material.

But he didn’t frame that as the core issue.

From his perspective, the larger factor was environment.

He had already reached a point where continuing in that setting didn’t make sense for him.

For those looking to see Six Feet Under on the road, ticket options are available here.

What’s Riding On This Version Of The Story

When a band becomes as influential as Cannibal Corpse, the narrative around its history tends to solidify.

But moments like this reopen that history.

They introduce a version of events that shifts how fans interpret what actually happened behind the scenes.

Why This Matters Right Now

As more legacy bands remain active decades into their careers, conversations around lineup history, credit, and internal dynamics are becoming more visible.

These stories don’t just revisit the past—they reshape how it’s understood going forward.

Be sure to tune in to the full interview on the next episode of The Loaded Radio Podcast, dropping Monday March 23, 2026 and available wherever you get your podcasts.

Check This Out – The Real Story Behind Ace Ventura & 12 Other Cannibal Corpse Facts You Don’t Know

Watch the interview clip at this location or via the player below.

FAQ

Why Did Chris Barnes Leave Cannibal Corpse?

He says it was primarily due to personal dynamics, not creative differences.

Did He Have Issues With Specific Members?

Yes. He stated he did not want to be around certain members, while maintaining he had no issue with Jack Owen.

Was Six Feet Under Originally A Side Project?

According to Barnes, no. He says it was always intended as his exit from Cannibal Corpse.

How Did He React To Being Fired?

He described it as a positive moment and an opportunity to move forward.

Were Creative Differences A Factor?

Barnes says they existed but were not the main reason for his departure.

Chris Barnes Bio

Chris Barnes is a death metal vocalist known as the original frontman of Cannibal Corpse and the founder of Six Feet Under. His work helped define early death metal vocal style and contributed to the genre’s global rise.

The post Chris Barnes Says He Wanted Out Of Cannibal Corpse Long Before He Was Fired appeared first on Loaded Radio.

Rumour Den is the vehicle for the melancholic, dark, reality-infused songs written by long-time writing partners AJ Gilmore (lyrics & vocals) & Steve Simms (guitar & music). They hail from Northern Ireland, but their songs could be about anyone from anywhere – the themes are universal – love, loss, loneliness, alienation, helplessness in the face […]

Laurie Berkner today released Cinco Canciones En Español, an EP of Spanish language versions of some of her most popular songs.

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Out now After a few delays in releasing their debut album Never Look a Gift Foot in the Mouth, Brisbane hard rocking outfit Scandal Tree have finally unleashed their slab of meatiness, and if the quality and diversity of the singles that have been sporadically popping out are anything to go by, I’m sure it […]

Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters are releasing a rollicking new song, “Caught in the Echo,” off their upcoming new album.

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They’re called Letterbombs, and yes, it’s always explosive when their Bandcamp notifications hit my inbox. The Finnish screamo band’s latest trick: teaming up with Boston comrades Heaven Through Violence on a high-concept split LP called PALLA. I’m gonna let these bands explain it. As written on Bandcamp: “palla” is a concept album whose libretto is…

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There’s a dirty little charge running through Someone To Blame, the kind that starts in the nerves, moves through the bloodstream, and winds up somewhere shameful. Holy Death Temple have made a track about power, appetite, coercion, performance, submission, and the awful old human habit of dressing domination up as comfort, then selling it back to the willing and the weary as a form of pleasure. It sounds academic on paper, but the song itself is no lecture. It lurches in with too much poise to be innocent, too much muscle to be casual, and from the first seconds it knows exactly where it wants your attention: somewhere between your hips and your conscience, with the skull rattling along behind trying to file an objection.

Holy Death Temple (Bryan Edward, Amy Tung-Barrysmith, and Jon Barrysmith) have stalked nearby ground before, especially on Algo-Rhythm Is Gonna Get You, but Someone To Blame tightens the focus and sharpens the blade. The trio’s style fuses the icy gloom of Joy Division and Bauhaus with the irreverent rage of Sex Pistols, then jolts the whole affair with a strain of digital decadence that calls to mind Daft Punk and Justice.

The song arrives with a breathy female voice that opens the door in a manner that feels warm, intimate, almost coaxing, and then, with a kind of calm cruelty, that invitation gives way to command. A presence steps forward and begins spelling out what it wants, how it intends to proceed, and what role it has already chosen for you. It moves with the slow authority of machinery built to press, stamp, crush, and keep going while the poor soul caught inside is still deciding whether this is ecstasy, terror, or some grubby alliance of the two.

Amy Tung-Barrysmith handles synth duties with the kind of force that turns the floor into a pressure plate, while Jon Barrysmith’s drumming keeps the track driving forward with a hard, relentless exactness. Over that foundation, the guitar cuts clean and sharp, spring reverb giving it a cold gleam without blunting the edge.

“There’s something for everyone on the dance floor,” says frontman Bryan Edward. “If you want an S&M-fueled goth club banger, we got you. If you want an intellectual parallel between S&M and the descent into fascism, we also got you.”

That line could have landed like a clever pitch, some quick bit of black-lipstick copy meant to sell the song’s angle, but in practice it feels like a statement of method. The oldest systems of control work, because they seduce before they subjugate. They offer structure. They offer intensity. They offer release from the burden of thinking, deciding, resisting, carrying your own hurt. Then they hand your pain back to you with better packaging and a stricter dress code. Someone To Blame is written from the perspective of a Dom who knows how to turn damage into devotion. It is nasty work, and the band play it with enough clarity to make you laugh, wince, and squirm.

By the time the outro finally lands on “someone to blame for your pain,” it feels like a lock clicking into place somewhere behind your ribs. That’s the song’s ugliest insight: there are people who ache for deliverance, and there are sadists who learn to market themselves as the answer by becoming the warden.

“It’s coming from a place of disgust with people that get off on watching ‘less thans’ suffer,” says Edward. “It’s not about kink-shaming, but if anyone deserves to be kink-shamed, it’s them.” Good. That bluntness serves the material. Too many songs with this sort of subject matter get coy and start admiring their own leather gloves in the mirror.

Even the cover art gets in on the scheme, taking the old Uncle Sam image and turning it into something masked, armored, depersonalized, with authority standing there as role and costume at once. The face is hidden; the function remains. That’s the point. Systems survive because the individuals inside them can swap out while the gesture stays the same. New mouth, same order. New mask, same appetite.

Listen to Someone To Blame below:

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The post Seattle’s Holy Death Temple Shares Their Disgust for Bootlicking Sadists With “Someone To Blame” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

Beartooth was originally published on HM Magazine by Zak DeFreze.

Beartooth was originally published on HM Magazine by Zak DeFreze.

Kid Cudi is back. A few days ago Cudi announced a new EP titled HAVE U BN 2 HEAVEN @ NITE. It was created over the past 10 days, with Cudi streaming the recording process on Twitch, calling the episodes “Someone Cooked Here.” Now those four songs are packaged into a self-released EP full of…

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When I go swimming in the North Sea

burning ships are guiding me.

You can hear the room tightening around Dry Skin‘s new record, Dead Wood, from the start, like the walls have decided they’ve heard enough excuses and would now prefer a beat. This post-punk act from Dresden possesses a kind of wiry conviction with this offering: nothing here feels overly fussed with; the pleasure comes from how directly it moves, and how casually it slips a knife between the ribs of modern life.

Robert E. Smith has been dragging this project through various states of existence since 2007, first under the gloriously dubious name I’M YOUR STALKER, later through a long interruption imposed by money, work, and the general insult of adulthood. Then the world shut down, live music temporarily vanished, and the band finally had time to become…a band. He was joined by drummer Simon Herzog, synth aficionado Bernd van den Broedericken, and bass virtuoso John Köhler. Dead Wood carries that feeling of delayed gratification as it finds its proper form. This is not the sound of people discovering themselves; it is the sound of people deciding to get on with it.

Dry Skin describes their coordinates with a wink: “Somewhere between Factory Records or Daniel Miller’s Mute Records, Captured Tracks or Mexican Summer. Between Talking Heads and The Cure. Between James Murphy and the Muppets.” Good line. Better still, the EP earns it. These songs have the clipped drive of stripped-down new wave, the odd little smirk of post-punk, and the occasional bounce of something that might have once stumbled out of Manchester at 3 a.m. with its shirt half untucked and its head full of ideas.

Again and Again opens the EP by staring straight at the tidy little coffin of adult aspiration: work, mortgage, inherited fantasy, fear on a loop. The song moves with a pared-back insistence that brings Suicide, Fad Gadget, and The Normal to mind, almost like doo-wop got locked in a concrete room with minimalist post-punk and came out with its tie hanging loose and its faith shot through. It’s funny…until you realise it’s also your life.

The video for the song is as minimalist as the song itself, with a charming DIY choreography video starring dancer Cindy Hammer. “I am really happy to have found a visualization of the forever returning stupidity of human behaviour the lyrics are about,” Smith reflects.

So Clean is the sound of social performance turned rancid. Everybody’s composed, everybody’s respectable, everybody’s standing on a nice clean street while the ugly business gets filed somewhere out of sight. The refrain lands like a command barked by a culture obsessed with presentation and allergic to conscience. Its energy has that jumpy, needled edge that calls up LCD Soundsystem and Dan Deacon, though Dry Skin sound less interested in catharsis than in exposing the stench underneath the deodorant.

The title track Dead Wood is one of the EP’s best turns, a warped little travelogue through environmental collapse, lifestyle vanity, and cheerful self-involvement. Burning ships, hiking crews, photographs in the firelight: the world is caving in, but at least the picture came out nice. There’s real humor here, black and bracing, which makes the song hit harder.

No Tears slips into estrangement and bad ideas with a cool stare and a slow, fuzzed-out, glitchy pace, moving like a late-hour comedown through streets that no longer feel familiar. There is a sly nod to Tuxedomoon in the way it holds emotion at arm’s length, letting alienation pool quietly rather than boil over. The song captures that peculiar state of feeling unmoored in your own life, where temptation, disconnection, and self-protection all start speaking in the same voice.

Reach Your Hands Out To The Lost shifts the EP into more guitar-driven territory, channeling traces of The Horrors, The Smiths, and Pulp through Dry Skin’s scrappier post-punk frame. There is uplift in it, but not the kind that arrives wrapped in platitudes. Instead, the song reaches toward solidarity with real feeling, extending sympathy without sermonizing, which is rarer than most bands seem to realize. It understands that compassion carries more weight when it sounds lived-in, slightly battered, and entirely sincere. Backseat handles romantic wreckage with a surprising degree of grace, filtering heartbreak through a lo-fi haze that makes the song feel intimate without becoming overly polished or precious. There is tenderness in the way it sits with memory, with movement, with the awkward persistence of love after the fact.

Just A Thought Is A Way Worth Living closes the EP with a bruised kind of wisdom, turning over questions of honesty, love, self-regard, and the daily labour of staying awake inside your own life. It feels restless, searching, and deeply aware that clarity is less a revelation than a practice.

Listen to Dead Wood below and order the album, out now via Blood Service, here.

For an EP named Dead Wood, this thing is very much alive. It knows the world is ridiculous, expensive, cruel, and often cosmetically clean in all the wrong places. It also knows that a sharp song, played with purpose, can still make that mess feel briefly legible.

Follow Dry Skin:

• YouTube
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• Spotify
• Tidal

The post “Burning Ships are Guiding Me” — Dresden Post-Punk Outfit Dry Skin Navigate the Ashes With “Dead Wood” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.