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A History of Violence: The gory artwork of Vince Locke


Vince Locke’s artwork for the 2017 Cannibal Corpse album ‘Red Before Black.’ The concept for the image was to capture the victim’s perspective as they are about to die.
 
If you’re a fan of Buffalo, New York death metal band Cannibal Corpse, then you know the artwork of Vince Locke. Kerrang! magazine has called Locke “a man who reinvented the meaning of the word “disgusting.” If the title of this post rings a bell, it should, as one of the many comic book ventures Locke has worked on—including Neil Gaiman’s epic The Sandman—the graphic novel A History of Violence (1997) written by John Wagner. The novel would later be adapted into David Cronenberg’s 2005 film of the same name. Locke’s work in A History of Violence earned him a Haxtur Award (Spain) for Best Long Comic Strip.

Locke’s masterful work with both Cannibal Corpse and with the ultra-violent zombie comic Deadworld is pretty legendary within the interwoven worlds of heavy metal and comic books. The impact of Deadworld was so seismic at the time that, according to Locke, it was in the early stages of development before The Walking Dead turned the world of zombies on its necrotizing ear. A huge fan of the classic horror filmography he cites his favorite Hammer film as the ultra-creepy Masque of Red Death starring Vincent Price. This checks out, as Locke liberally uses the color red in his paintings because there is so much BLOOD. His long collaboration with Cannibal Corpse was initiated by Cannibal Corpse vocalist Chris Barnes, who called Locke up telling him he had a job he “might be interested in.” In 1990, Locke would create the artwork for CC’s record Eaten Back to Life and thus began a goretasticly beautiful relationship which would go on to inspire other artwork within the death metal arena. However, trying to out-gross Locke (long considered an “honorary” member of CC) and his artfully repulsive work is next to impossible. Trust me. In his teens, Locke had some formal art instruction, later studying art for two years in college before he dropped out to pursue comic book illustration. His work with Cannibal Corpse, as noted by Kerrang!, has been censored and even banned around the world.

In 2009 Locke combined Cannibal Corpse and his love of illustration into the graphic novel. Evisceration Plague named after CC’s eleventh record from 2009. The individual stories in the book are based on the songs on Evisceration Plague like “Evidence in the Furnace,” “Shatter their Bones,” something I hope never becomes a thing, “Scalding Hail.” Here’s more from CC’s bassist Alex Webster on how Locke was able to bring the band’s lyrics to “life”:

“Vince Locke has done an incredible job turning our lyrics into blood-soaked and vicious illustrations for the Evisceration Plague comic book. He really has captured visually what we were trying to convey lyrically. His artwork has brought our macabre songs to life in truly explicit fashion…fans of graphic horror will not be disappointed.”

While this kind of artwork might not be for everyone, it is important to bring up the fact that Locke’s work with Cannibal Corpse changed the trajectory of the genre as it relates to how bands use imagery to further connect to their audience. And without a doubt, Locke’s work connected with fans across the world and then some. And though I shouldn’t need to say so, the images you’re about to see are like watching a Lucio Fulci film on PCP. Speaking of the great Italian master of gore, in 2018, Locke was enlisted by the incredible Eibion Press to illustrate a graphic novel adaptation of Fulci’s 1981 film House by the Cemetery. Like the other Fulci titles in Eibon’s catalog, it’s bloody fantastic. Lastly, in April of 2021 Cannibal Corpse will release their fifteenth album, Violence Unimagined with Locke’s artwork gracing the cover. If you haven’t eaten recently, are not easily offended, and feel as though “you’ve seen it all,” click here to see Locke’s latest cannibalistic conjuring for Cannibal Corpse.

If you’re in the Long Beach, California area, you may make an appointment with The Dark Art Emporium to see an exhibit featuring work by Vince Locke, Ryan Bartlett, and Brian Mercer which opens on March 13th.
 

Artwork by Locke for the cover of Deadworld #1 (1986).
 

The original artwork for the cover of Deadworld #7 (1988).
 

Deadworld #9.
 

Deadworld #10.
 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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03.12.2021
06:42 am
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‘MAKE AMERICA HATE AGAIN’: Get your Mexican death metal anti-Trump shirts—from Walmart!
09.13.2016
02:43 pm
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When Brujeria arrived on the death metal scene in 1990, they announced their existence with the 7” “¡Demoniaco!.” Its cover was a cheap punk collage of extremely graphic crime photos probably culled from ¡ALARMA!, the infamously gory Mexican tabloid (accordingly graphic content at that link). The band was comprised of members of Faith No More, Fear Factory, and Napalm Death, but they hid their identities, pretending to be actual Mexican drug lords who hid their identities to keep law enforcement at bay. I’m not sure how many people bought into that preposterous conceit (though I know one person who did, JIM), but they kept the music and the gory artwork coming, releasing the classic “¡Machetazos!” single on Alternative Tentacles in 1992, then the 1993 full-length Matando Güeros, which instantly became notorious for sporting their nastiest cover yet—a hand from out-of-frame displaying a decomposing severed head.
 

 
Once the cat was out of the bag about the band’s true identities, it turned out that for the most part its members really were Latino—which made their “Macarena” parody “Marijuana” all the more potent and hilarious a stab, IMO—and the band has continually existed to this day, albeit with a massively revolving lineup. And as would seem sensible for a band partly comprised of Mexican-Americans, they really do not like Donald Trump, and to register their displeasure, they’ve released a t-shirt that swaps in the Donald’s shitlousy fucking head for the decaying head from Matando Güeros, complete with the necrotic skin on the nose. Do I need to warn you that graphic images of severed heads are graphic? I don’t, right?
 

 

 
Compounding the extremely dark humor in this is the fact that the shirt is being made available through Walmart. (I include a link to Walmart for illustrative purposes only, and I would encourage you, if you want one of these, to buy one elsewhere. They’re way less expensive on Amazon, and of course buying one from the band’s label is a more directly supportive option.) I understand this, actually—there are significant pockets of death metal fans in areas where Wallyworld is the only retail outlet, but are these shirts actually in stores? I would tend to doubt it, since far less graphic record covers have been banned from the chain. And on the political end of the discussion, while Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, famously served on Walmart’s board from 1986 to 1992—at a time when she was married to the governor of Arkansas, where that chain is headquartered—it’s hard to imagine that company would officially or even privately support her candidacy over the virulently anti-ACA, anti-immigrant, anti-corporate tax, pro-wage depression Trump. On the other hand, Trump has talked about a 45% tariff on Chinese imports, which couldn’t possibly make Walmart very happy.

Brujeria’s new album Pocho Aztlan will be released on Friday.

Check out the lead-off single “Bruja” (and more) after the jump…

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Posted by Ron Kretsch
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09.13.2016
02:43 pm
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Brutal death metal version of John Cage’s avant garde classical work 4′33’’
05.09.2016
09:05 am
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Here at Dangerous Minds, we’ve hipped you to the death metal version of “You’re the One That I Want” from Grease, as well as the death metal version of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from Mary Poppins, but this right here may be the ultimate “death metal version” of all time.

Depending on who’s doing the talking, John Cage’s 4’33” is either a brilliant minimalist classical masterpiece which challenges the very definition of music, or the greatest musical in-joke of all time, or a pretentious load of horse-shit devised to make you feel dumb because you “just don’t get it.” It’s probably, to varying degrees, some vivid combination of the three.

The band Dead Territory have created their own wickedly unique take on Cage’s vision, and quite frankly it’s one of my favorite performances of this groundbreaking piece of music.

To those of our readers unfamiliar with the piece, I’d rather not spoil it by explaining it before you take in this BRUTAL death metal rendition of the work. The wikipedia page devoted to the controversial 4’33” has plenty of information on the piece, its background, and critical reception.

Without further ado, the absolutely sickest rendition of 4’33” to date. Top this, Internet…
 

 

 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Finally, the death metal version of ‘Grease’ we’ve been waiting all our lives for
Mary Poppins goes all death metal: ‘A spoon full of glass helps the hate go down’

Posted by Christopher Bickel
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05.09.2016
09:05 am
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Florida cop fired for singing anti-Christian song at a death metal show, was gonna quit anyway
11.20.2015
10:57 am
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A Sanford, Florida police officer was relieved of duty after video surfaced this week of him singing, while uniformed, onstage with death metal band Vital Remains.

It was reported that Officer Andrew Ricks attended the Vital Remains concert in uniform on November 13th and joined the band on stage to sing “Dechristianize.”

There seemed to be some degree of public outrage over the song’s lyrics, which include the line: “Let the killing begin.”

Police chief Cecil Smith stated in a report that:

“An incident of this nature erodes the thin fibers of trust which already exist between the community and the police, and it will not be tolerated within the Sanford Police Department.”

Officer Ricks had worked for the department for six years without incident.

The twist to the story is that Officer Ricks had already submitted a letter of resignation from the department on October 30th, with a pending separation date of November 20th. The department became aware of the “singing incident” on Novemebr 17th and proceeded to fire him only days before his scheduled final day on the force—perhaps qualifying him for unemployment? Considering how many cops got to keep their jobs after shooting unarmed people, termination for growling along with a death metal band seems just a tiny bit extreme, but it seems Ricks was already done with the job.

Anyway, it looks from the video like Officer Ricks is having the time of his life:
 

 
Via: WFTV

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Metal albums with googly eyes

Posted by Christopher Bickel
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11.20.2015
10:57 am
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Finally, the death metal version of ‘Grease’ we’ve been waiting all our lives for
07.06.2015
09:09 am
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We’re grateful to Andy Rehfeldt for reminding us that most things can be improved with a little death metal. In this case, the classic 1978 musical Grease provides no exception to the rule. Rehfeldt worked up a death metal overdub for the climactic “You’re the One That I Want” scene late in the movie, and it’s fantastic!

The best thing about this version is that it lets us enjoy John Travolta’s idiotic facial expressions in a whole new way.
 

 
via Uproxx
 

Posted by Martin Schneider
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07.06.2015
09:09 am
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Death metal logos for America’s 2016 Presidential candidates
06.25.2015
12:08 pm
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The presidential election is 17 months away—egad—so that means that according to recent tradition, it’s the season of “lots and lots of candidates.” This time around, the Democrats have a strong presumption that Hillary Clinton will be the eventual nominee, and that has limited the number of potential candidates willing to enter the race. But on the Republican side, no worries—the New York Times currently lists 16 people who either are running or are “probably” running as Republicans. Because that Times page will change over time, let’s record here what those names are: Jindal, Trump, Perry, Graham, Pataki, Santorum, Huckabee, Fiorina, Carson, Rubio, Paul, Cruz, and Bush are listed as “running,” with a trio of governors, Kasich, Christie, and Walker, listed as “probably.”

Fast Company, a business website that has often championed “branding” as the key to corporate success, hired well-known death metal logo artist Christophe Szpajdel to create new branding identities for some of the contenders. Szpajdel, who is from Belgium but lives in the U.K. has been a professional logo designer since 1977 and is responsible for the logos of more than 7,000 (!) black metal bands, including Morgawr, Anamorph, Fistula, Arcturus, Old Man’s Child, and Moonspell. It sounds like Fast Company got the right guy, at least. Here’s a coffee table book of Szpajdel’s logos.

Here are side-by-side views of each campaign logo with Szpajdel’s black metal-style creation. For Trump, amusingly, they used a toupee in lieu of his actual “TRUMP” logo. In every case you can click on the logo to see a larger view.
 

 

 

 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Martin Schneider
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06.25.2015
12:08 pm
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A Bing Crosby death metal Christmas
12.10.2014
02:43 pm
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Composer/musical prankster Andy Rehfeldt has struck again. You may remember his hilarious smooth-jazz sendup of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” or his polka-fication of Chris Brown. He’s also done metal versions of Abba and Coldplay songs. But in the spirit of the holiday season (gag), Rehfeldt is fucking with Der Bingle. He’s recorded a death metal version of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” synced to old TV footage of Bing Crosby’s rendition. And why not? You’ve got to be sick of that deathless “Little Drummer Boy” with Bowie by now, right?
 

Posted by Ron Kretsch
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12.10.2014
02:43 pm
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Death metal construction worker
07.03.2014
08:43 am
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This fellow looks especially skilled at knocking shit down and destroying things, but I’m not too sure about his bricklaying and tiling skills.

Maybe that’s for another music video to a different number?
 

 
Via Nerdcore

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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07.03.2014
08:43 am
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Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra sing Death Metal
03.23.2011
09:21 pm
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Another excellent death metal redub by YouTube user Andy Rehfeldt, with a little help from someone called Bördi. Wait for Louis to sing - why wasn’t the connection between Louis Armstrong and death metal more obvious before now?
 

 
Previously on DM:
Louis Armstrong sings Death Metal version of ‘What A Wonderful World’

Posted by Niall O'Conghaile
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03.23.2011
09:21 pm
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