When we caught up with him over Christmas, Cannibal Corpse bassist, Alex Webster, was looking forward to a quiet Christmas with his family. But now it’s back to business as usual – Hugh Platt caught up with him to talk gore, guts, and their new album of death metal grinds.

When Britney Spears has a Parental Advisory sticker on her album, it undermines the symbol as a warning God-fearing parents to not let their little lambs get their hands on is. Not that there’s any such doubts when said sticker is on a Cannibal Corpse record though – the Buffalo-based 4-piece are the kind of warped musical experience that could give the Pope a prolapse.

“We’re much more interested in making ultra-heavy death metal rather than simply trying for lyrical shock value,” disputes Cannibal Corpse bassist, Alex Webster. “If our lyrics are shocking, it’s only because they needed to be that way to properly compliment the music.” Strong words from a member of the outfit that brought us ‘Fucked By A Knife’.

Okay, that’s being trite, as Cannibal Corpse have tested the boundaries of extreme metal for two decades – a milestone marked last year by Centuries of Torment, a DVD chronicle of their career. “We really had no idea that our music would become influential,” says Webster who, along with drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz, is one of only two remaining founder members still in the group. “We were very honored and humbled by the cool things our fellow musicians said about us on the DVD.”

Watch the video to ‘Make Them Suffer’ by Cannibal Corpse

“I think we all just really enjoy playing death metal,” he continues. “Even though we’ve been doing it for a long time we still manage to find new and interesting musical challenges within that style. Death metal doesn’t have a lot of rules, and having that kind of artistic freedom is perpetually inspiring.” That freedom has seen the band return to their macabre best. Both 2006’s Kill, and the forthcoming Evisceration Plague (due 9 February) hit home with the power and precision of Leatherface’s cleaver into a teenager’s jugular.

“We aren’t very concerned about being more successful than Kill, but rather with topping that album musically. M an album that is (hopefully) better required a lot of work; we practiced and prepared for this album more than any other we’ve done.”

“We really work to make the songs memorable while simultaneously being brutal, and I think that is something that some other brutal death metal bands might have trouble doing. There may be other bands that are faster or more offensive lyrically, but I think we have a lot of song-writing talent and that trumps just about everything.”

Cannibal Corpse’s impending return to Europe – as support act to Children of Bodom – was met with a few raised eyebrows, but Webster is unfazed. “It does reduce the pressure somewhat,” he admits. “Although we’ll certainly be working hard to make a good first impression on COB’s audience, as many of them might not have seen us before. The main difference in the set is that we can’t take much time between songs since we have a limited amount of time whereas as headliners we usually can play as long as we want.” We’d argue that the main difference is while Children of Bodom keep one foot planted in power metal and another in thrash, Cannibal Corpse are waist-deep in bone-snapping, flesh-tearing death metal. And fully deserving a whole stickerbook of those warning stickers.