For the 11th Six Feet Under album, Crypt Of The Devil, the death metal magistrate himself, Chris Barnes, selected a brand new crew of evildoers to wreak havoc with. This time around; it’s essentially Cannabis Corpse backing the original Cannibal Corpse vocalist.

Barnes initially met Cannabis Corpse on tour in 2013, but was well aware of them prior to that as their moniker was chosen in tribute to his previous band, coupled with a substance he’s particularly fond of. “Yeah, for sure, you got that right man. I noticed them early on; I got a chuckle out of the whole thing, what they were doing. I was amazed by their musicianship and how they approached the whole concept behind their band. It really interested me, in the same way as when I found out about Torture Killer; it just felt right. I became friends with Phil (Hall – Cannabis Corpse bassist, vocalist) and his brother (Josh Hall – Cannabis Corpse drummer); it was a really good time. I had fun working on that song we did together for their album. It was really a continuation of that vibe we had. Phil came up and said, ‘I’ve got these songs that I think would be really good for Six Feet Under.’ I listened to them – and that’s the album! Most of the time, that’s how things snap together.”

The aforementioned song referred to by Chris is “Individual Pot Patterns”, which appeared on Cannabis Corpse’s 2014 album, From Wisdom To Baked. Admittedly, the Hall brothers go for a much more humorous slant on their titles and lyrics, whereas Barnes is fucking brutal and deadly. On paper, the pairing of comedy and horror seems unlikely, but the end result – being Crypt Of The Devil – is brilliant. “Well thanks man! To me, it’s just about musical ability and great writing talent. I dg that whole vibe, as far as the comedy thing, but it’s really about well written death metal. Phil knows that, it’s really who he is as a writer.”

It was strictly hands-off for Barnes when it came to the music that appears on Crypt Of The Devil. “Phil gave me a whole album’s worth of material. We had a bunch of demo stuff… I don’t really have any say. It’s like this man – you go to a restaurant that you’ve really wanted to eat at for a long time. Before you even sit down, you go into the kitchen and you start harassing the chef. I mean, what the fuck do you think is going to come out on your plate? Probably a meal with some extra bodily fluids. If I’m surrounded by great chefs, and I’m going to be eating up their food, why the fuck do I want to go in and tell them how to do their job? I don’t know how to be a chef. I know how to put the frosting on the cake though. That’s how I feel, surrounding myself with these great musicians and great writers for a reason. I just let them do their thing. Phil gave me his best work, and I don’t think it could be anything greater. It’s funny because the demos were slightly different; ins and outs, the feel. I am the guy that gets demo-itis really fast and tries to preserve those things. When things did start to change, and evolve a little bit during the process, it did shake me up. I had to kind of face my fears with all those things, kind of letting go of production. The past couple of albums, I’ve had to slightly let myself become less involved because I think that’s the better thing for the band and for myself as far as my own motivation and inspiration goes. I just let Phil take the wheel, man. Even though I would have stopped things and put the brakes on if it was a different point in time in my life. If I was overseeing things, I would have done it differently, but I’m really glad I didn’t.”

Crypt Of The Devil is a great album title, yet it isn’t the name of a song, nor is it a phrase contained within the lyrics; so where did it come from? “It was inspired by the artwork (created by Mike Hrubovcak). We had just started the final stages of studio work. I was about to start writing lyrics the day that came in. It was really an interesting way to start my side of things; just from the artwork itself.” Furthermore, Crypt Of The Devil might lead people to believe the album would be full of Satanic references. But it’s more about a serial killer; starting in extreme fashion with “Gruesome” as the deranged psychopath discards infant arms along the roadside! “Ha ha,” chuckles Chris. “I guess you read all the lyrics. There’s definitely some cool little things there that come about in the writing; storylines that are kind of over-the-top I guess you could say. There’s a little Satanism in there – ‘Break The Cross In Half’. But for the most part, I don’t know if it’s the Devil crawling out of the crypt; the dark thoughts within that coming out into the world… or if it’s climbing into this hole of putrid disgust and the most rotten core of human existence. There’s all sorts of facets to that whole title, that’s what I try to always go for.”

“Break The Cross In Half” is an immediate eye-catcher as far as song titles go. While organized religion might not appear to be a familiar topic for Barnes to write about, he has tackled this subject a couple of times in the past. “From ‘Vomit The Soul’ to ‘Deathklaat’ to this song, I think most of my writing deals with hypocrisy.” The other titles just weren’t as blatantly obvious. “Yeah, I was kind of surprised that title wasn’t taken already, cause it’s a good one!” You’d figure Glen Benton from Deicide would have had his mitts all over that. After the laughter subsides, Barnes retorts, “I got to the party first on that one.” Another song from Crypt Of The Devil that’s sure to shock Conservative Middle America is “Broken Bottle Rape”. “It might shock parts of Canada as well,” cackles Chris. “I haven’t been able to yet, but I’m hoping to with that one. I don’t know man, it just felt like the way that riff was going, it felt real old school to me. Maybe the title’s a little stand-out, but the subject matter is pretty normal for what I’ve been writing over the past three albums.” The question beckons, does Barnes ever shock himself with some of the lyrics he comes up with? “No, not really; I don’t ever second guess myself when I’m writing… I think some of the stuff I’m more proud of though.” “Lost Remains” may not be as bold of a title, but the song contains truly terrifying lyrics. “Yeah, those kind of things - a death that wasn’t known about, or a person that wasn’t even known to be missing; it’s kind of chilling.” The atrocities suffered by the victim prior to death – forced to eat their own shit and body parts. “That’s right out of a snuff film. It’s a way to get your frustration out of whomever you dislike by reading or writing a line like that.”

Controversial lyrics are a Barnes trademark. Going into the writing sessions, does he spend days prior watching horror movies to psyche himself up? Or is it just a simple scenario where the alarm goes off, a cup of coffee is brewed, and he goes to work. But instead of fixing cars or cutting lawns, Chris is singing about somebody’s eyes being poked out. “I wrote all the lyrics for this one when I was in Florida, I wrote this all before I moved (to Seattle). I actually wrote it in the first two weeks of July (2014), I wrote the whole thing in 14 days. Every time I write, people always ask me that, and I don’t ever get inspired by outside things like movies or books. It’s always internal filtering of daily life and my own imagination… just interesting ways to put violent thoughts into stories. I saw something the other day; I was watching a documentary on John Milius, that famous writer and director (Apocalypse Now, Conan The Barbarian, Dirty Harry). I didn’t really know who he was, but every movie he’d ever been involved in was really my all-time favourite growing up, and even now. A quote from him really caught my attention, he said something like, ‘I might not be the greatest guy in public or around people, but put me in a room alone with a pen and a pad of paper, and I’ll kill every fucking one of you.’ That’s really how I feel. I just sit down and concentrate on stuff within my own head; it’s puzzle pieces I’m putting together in this different way. I just write these tales of horror and put them to music.”

On the live front, Six Feet Under wrapped their European HateFest Tour in mid-April. “It really went well! It was a good turnout every night; it was great to see the Vader guys again. It was a lot of fun.”

With regard to upcoming shows, only two dates are currently confirmed: August 14th in France, and December 3rd in Germany. “Things are being worked on, there’s touring plans for the end of the year in Europe. Hopefully we’ll get a US tour booked sometime this summer.” Alongside Barnes, the SFU touring band consists of guitarist Steve Swanson, bassist Jeff Hughell, and drummer Marco Pitruzzella. But the thought of at least one show with the guys who recorded Crypt Of The Devil in the studio, namely Cannabis Corpse, is quite tantalizing.

“On this one, I wouldn’t mind it; that would be kind of cool. On the last two albums (Undead, and Unborn), it was so all over the place with who wrote what and who did what.” When pressed further, Barnes comments, “I’m not saying that it couldn’t happen. Is it something we’re planning out? No, but it would be kind of neat, wouldn’t it. Or, it would be neat, me doing a one-off show with those guys doing all old Cannibal Corpse songs – hint, hint. I think that would make a few people’s mouth water, don’t ya?”

That would have to be filmed for DVD and Blu-Ray release.

“Sure, put me under a bigger microscope.”