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Alex Webster | |
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![]() Webster performing in 2010 | |
Background information | |
Born | Akron, New York, U.S. | October 25, 1969
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
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Instrument(s) | Bass |
Years active | 1987–present |
Member of | |
Formerly of |
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Spouse(s) | Alison Webster (m. 2001) |
Alex Webster (born October 25, 1969) is an American musician who is the bassist and a co-founder of the death metal band Cannibal Corpse. He is one of two original remaining members, alongside drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz. He is also the bassist of Blotted Science and the supergroup Conquering Dystopia. Before Cannibal Corpse was formed, he was a member of Beyond Death.
Webster was born in Akron, New York. Webster was originally part of the band Beyond Death, with ex-Cannibal Corpse guitarist Jack Owen, in 1987. Both met up with Chris Barnes, Bob Rusay and Paul Mazurkiewicz, all of whom were in the band Tirant Sin. Webster was the one to come up with the band's name, Cannibal Corpse. In an interview, he said that he thought it was a very catchy name for a band.
Webster recorded bass for Hate Eternal, Erik Rutan's death metal band.
In 2005, Alex was contacted by guitarist Ron Jarzombek about a possible collaboration which became Blotted Science, an all-instrumental extreme metal project. They released their debut album, The Machinations of Dementia , in the fall of 2007.
Webster currently uses Spector 'Alex Webster Signature Edition' [1] (based on Euro 5lx basses), DR Strings, and His signature Hammer Smashed Bass pickups by Seymour Duncan paired with a Darkglass Electronics tone capsule preamp wired for 18 volt operation.
Webster lives with his wife in Oregon, U.S. He is agnostic, though he was "brought up with a fairly religious upbringing [which was] Protestant, Methodist". [2]
Webster is known for his interaction with fans of the band, regularly answering questions on the band's forum. [3]
When describing his relationship with music, he has stated "I just always liked music since I was a little kid. Music was always a soundtrack in my head to things going on in my life. I always wanted to play. I wanted to play drums when I was about three. I made a drum out of an old butter container and hit it with tinker toys. I was going to make music. Most people who are musicians didn't have to have anyone tell them to do it. I would never push music on someone, because it is something that doesn't need to be pushed. If you're going to make music, you're going to make it." [4] Webster has stated that he is a big fan of Slayer, and that if any band could cover a Cannibal Corpse song, it would be Slayer. [5] [6]
Webster's five all-time favorite albums are (in descending order) Accept's Restless and Wild , Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness , Metallica's Master of Puppets , Iron Maiden's Powerslave and Slayer's Reign in Blood , [7] and, in a 2006 interview with LambGoat.com, Webster named his five favourite albums of the past five years as Spawn of Possession's Cabinet , Necrophagist's Epitaph , Aeon's Bleeding the False , Hate Eternal's I, Monarch , and Spastic Ink's Ink Compatible . [8]
Webster named the Morbid Angel album Altars of Madness one of his all-time favourites, citing "Chapel of Ghouls", "Immortal Rites", and "Visions from the Darkside" as his favorite tracks in particular; though prior to naming these three tracks, Webster states that "that whole album is so amazing, it's hard to choose [a favourite]".[ citation needed ]
Aside from metal, Webster has also expressed a liking for Ohio New Wave band Devo, [6] and, when asked what a musical guilty pleasure of his was, he replied "there's some good songs from the first No Doubt album". [6]
When asked about his favorite Cannibal Corpse song, Webster answered: "I don't know, it would be hard to choose one that's the "best", but one of my favorites is "From Skin to Liquid", mainly because it was so different for us. It showed we didn't necessarily have to be playing at warp drive and have gory lyrics to be heavy." [9]
The prehistoric giant marine worm species Websteroprion armstrongi is partially named after Webster. [10] Luke Parry, one of the scientists who described the species, said of the name, "Mats and I are both massive metalheads and think Alex Webster is a monstrously good bass player... (He) just seemed like the perfect fit for a giant worm with saw-like jaws." [11]
Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1988, now based out of Tampa, Florida. The band has released sixteen studio albums, two box sets, four video albums, and two live albums. The band has had little radio or television exposure throughout its existence, although a cult following began to build with the releases of their early albums, including Butchered at Birth (1991) and Tomb of the Mutilated (1992). As of 2015, they achieved worldwide sales of two million units for combined sales of all their albums. In April 2021, Cannibal Corpse received their best "first week" sales of all-time and first Top 10 on the Billboard Top Album Sales Chart as Violence Unimagined entered at No. 6 with 14,000 copies sold.
Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida, formed in 1983 by guitarist, primary composer and sole remaining original member Trey Azagthoth, vocalist and bassist Dallas Ward, and drummer Mike Browning. Widely considered one of the most influential bands in the genre and important in the transition of death metal from its thrash metal roots, they were one of the first bands to incorporate guttural vocals, up-tempo blast beats, multiple tempo changes and a dark atmosphere. They have been described as one of "the most influential and emulated bands in death metal", alongside Obituary, Death, Cynic, Autopsy and Deicide, and have been cited as an influence by many later bands. They were also the first death metal band to experience mainstream success in connection with being signed to Giant Records in 1992, heavy rotation of their music videos on MTV, and having the music video for the song "God of Emptiness" shown on an episode of Beavis and Butt-Head. Their first three albums – Altars of Madness (1989), Blessed Are the Sick (1991), and Covenant (1993) – are considered classics in the death metal genre.
Paul Mazurkiewicz Jr. is an American musician best known as the drummer of the death metal band Cannibal Corpse. He was originally the drummer for the band Tirant Sin alongside two other future Cannibal Corpse members, Chris Barnes and Bob Rusay. The trio joined Alex Webster and Jack Owen in 1988, forming Cannibal Corpse. Mazurkiewicz, along with Webster, is one of the remaining members of the band since its inception. Besides drumming, he also plays the guitar, and is the group's primary lyricist and contributes heavily to composing songs; he penned the songs "Dead Human Collection", "Frantic Disembowelment", "Monolith", "Carrion Sculpted Entity", and "Worm Infested". Mazurkiewicz is also the drummer for assorted side projects including Umbilicus and Heaven's Gate.
Jeffrey John Hanneman was an American musician, best known as a founding member and guitarist of the thrash metal band Slayer. Hanneman composed both music and lyrics for every Slayer album until his death in 2013.
Chris Barnes is an American death metal vocalist. He is noted for his low guttural vocals and explicitly violent lyrics. He was the co-founder, original lead vocalist and lyricist of Cannibal Corpse from 1988 to 1995, later founding and performing as part of Six Feet Under, and has appeared on Torture Killer's second album Swarm! Barnes designed the original Cannibal Corpse logo, the Six Feet Under logo and also created the artwork for Warpath, released in 1997.
George Fisher, better known by his stage name Corpsegrinder, is an American death metal vocalist who is the lead singer of Cannibal Corpse, Paths of Possession and the supergroup Serpentine Dominion.
Butchered at Birth is the second studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse. It was released on July 1, 1991 through Metal Blade Records.
The Wretched Spawn is the ninth studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse. It was released on February 24, 2004 by Metal Blade Records. The cover art is by Vincent Locke. This is the last studio album to feature guitarist Jack Owen, one of the band's founding members, and up to the 2012 album Torture, the last with an album cover depicting violence and gore. The album was distributed with a making-of DVD produced by Nick Sahakian. The Wretched Spawn is Cannibal Corpse's fourth album to be named after one of the tracks on the album, after Butchered at Birth, The Bleeding and Gallery of Suicide.
Eaten Back to Life is the debut studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse. It was released on August 17, 1990, through Metal Blade Records.
Bloodthirst is the seventh studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse. It was released on October 19, 1999 through Metal Blade Records.
Gore Obsessed is the eighth studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse, released on February 26, 2002 by Metal Blade Records.
Hammer Smashed Face is the debut EP and single by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse, released in 1993 by Metal Blade Records. There are two versions of the release, a single version that features the title song "Hammer Smashed Face" with two covers of songs by Black Sabbath and Possessed, and the EP version which includes the three tracks of the single version along with two original Cannibal Corpse tracks. The single version and the EP version both have different cover artwork.
Kill is the tenth studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse, released on March 21, 2006, through Metal Blade Records. This release marks the return of guitarist Rob Barrett, who had previously played on The Bleeding and Vile. The European version of the album comes with a live DVD filmed in Strasbourg in 2004 called Hammer Smashed Laiterie. The album was produced at Mana Recording Studios by Hate Eternal and future Cannibal Corpse guitarist Erik Rutan. It is also the first album in which the band tuned down to G♯ standard.
Pat O'Brien is an American musician best known as the former lead guitarist for death metal band Cannibal Corpse. He is also a former member of heavy metal band Nevermore, a former live guitarist for Slayer, and is currently the lead guitarist for Exhorder.
Blotted Science is an instrumental progressive metal supergroup headed by Ron Jarzombek, bassist Alex Webster and drummer Hannes Grossmann. They formed under the name Machinations of Dementia, but later changed their name to Blotted Science.
Fury & Flames is the fourth studio album by the band Hate Eternal and their debut album on Metal Blade Records worldwide and EMI Records in South America. The album features the addition of new members Shaune Kelley as second guitarist and Jade Simonetto on drums, while bass guitarist Alex Webster returns to replace Randy Piro. Cover art by Paul Romano. The album has had a lot of praise for the album's heaviness and emotion. Erik Rutan, the band's frontman, says he put a lot of emotion into the album because of the death of his friend Jared Anderson who played bass for the band.
Evisceration Plague is the eleventh studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse. Released on February 3, 2009 by Metal Blade Records, the album was produced at Mana Recording Studios by Hate Eternal guitarist Erik Rutan.
Torture is the twelfth studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse, released on March 13, 2012 by Metal Blade Records. The album was produced at Sonic Ranch Studios by Hate Eternal guitarist Erik Rutan.
A Skeletal Domain is the thirteenth studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse. Released on September 16, 2014 by Metal Blade Records, the album was produced at Audiohammer Studios by Mark Lewis.
Red Before Black is the fourteenth studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse, released on November 3, 2017. This is the band's final album to feature guitarist Pat O'Brien before producer Erik Rutan officially replaced him in 2021.