Six Feet Under

Hailing from Tampa, Florida, Six Feet Under operates as an American death metal band whose sonic signature blends filthy, plodding, straight-ahead grooves with crunchy blastbeats and lyrics from founder and vocalist Chris Barnes that dwell on graphic violence, gore, and death, pushed to an extreme on the 1999 release Maximum Violence. Their direct performance style, which favors physical force over velocity, has won over concert crowds worldwide. Beginning in 2000, the group has supplemented its own material with a recurring, numbered sequence of covers collections called Graveyard Classics, applying their death 'n' roll method to standards from hard rock, punk, and metal. Bringer of Blood from 2003 saw Barnes incorporate his by-then trademark high-pitched pig squeal into his guttural vocals, introducing a readily identifiable textural layer to his singing. Death Rituals in 2008 wove thrash riffs and blastbeats across thirteen brutal tracks, while Undead in 2012 fused that approach with a nearly industrial strain of death metal. Graveyard Classics IV: The Number of the Priest from 2016 restricted itself to material by Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Torment in 2017 highlighted a more groove-oriented direction, and Nightmares of the Decomposed surfaced in 2020, followed four years and multiple tours later by Killing for Revenge.

Formed in 1993, Six Feet Under originated as a side project for Cannibal Corpse vocalist Chris Barnes and former Obituary guitarist Allen West, later becoming Barnes's main focus after he and Cannibal Corpse parted ways during the recording of Vile. The initial lineup also featured ex-Death bassist Terry Butler and drummer Greg Gall. The quartet inked a deal with Metal Blade and delivered the Brian Slagel-produced Haunted in 1995, which earned favorable notices. Once Barnes exited Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under began extensive road work and released the Alive and Dead EP in 1996 to bridge the gap until Warpath emerged the next year. West departed afterward and was succeeded by guitarist Steve Swanson. Maximum Violence arrived in 1999 as the third album and drew criticism in the mainstream rock press for the brutality and misanthropy in Barnes's lyrics, yet it established the band internationally among metal listeners. The first Graveyard Classics installment appeared a year later, delivering death metal renditions of tracks by Black Sabbath, Dead Kennedys, Deep Purple, Venom, AC/DC, the Monkees, Jimi Hendrix, and others, marking one of the year's most discussed metal releases. True Carnage from 2001 included guest vocals by Ice-T and Karyn Crisis, becoming the band's most popular album to date; it reached the Top 20 on the Heatseekers chart and secured prime international touring opportunities. The live Double Dead surfaced in 2002 alongside a separate concert video. Bringer of Blood from 2003, produced by Barnes and mixed by Slagel, introduced a notable shift through Barnes grafting a high-pitched pig squeal onto his dirty, growling vocals, creating a disorienting double-tracked texture that became a signature element on later studio efforts.

Graveyard Classics, Vol. 2 arrived in 2004 with a complete reinterpretation of AC/DC's Back in Black album. On the 2005 studio album 13, Barnes introduced another vocal texture by barking his words, lending a percussive quality to the already drum-heavy sound that resonated with fans and enhanced the group's live standing. After ten years together, the band had risen to headline status globally and marked the milestone with the five-disc box set Decade in the Grave, which gathered familiar studio tracks, rarities, and live recordings, closing with a concert DVD; Six Feet Under toured worldwide in support of both projects.

Commandment in 2007 returned to fundamentals with the group's seemingly perfected equilibrium of hard grooves and retro death metal. Following a brief U.S. tour, they reentered the studio late that year and emerged with Death Rituals in 2008, then spent nearly two years on national and international touring. After a short hiatus, SFU returned to the studio and, by all reports, enjoyed recording Graveyard Classics, Vol. 3, released in 2010 with radical takes on songs by Mercyful Fate, Metallica, Van Halen, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, the Ramones, and Slayer, among others.

Membership shifts unfolded in 2011 and 2012: bassist Butler joined Obituary and was temporarily replaced on the road by Matt DeVries, while Gall exited to launch Exitsect. Barnes brought in drummer Kevin Talley and guitarist/bassist Rob Arnold. This quartet issued the well-received Undead in 2012. Its successor, Unborn from 2013, featured a quintet completed by bassist Jeff Hughell and guitarist Ola Englund of the Haunted, who replaced Arnold, plus guest guitar contributions from Whitechapel's Ben Savage and Torture Killer's Jari Laine.

Following exhaustive European and U.S. tours, extensive lineup turnover took place within Six Feet Under. By the arrival of Crypt of the Devil in 2015, the band existed in flux, incorporating collaborations between Barnes and Cannabis Corpse bassist/guitarist/vocalist Phil Landphil Hall, studio drummer Josh Hallhammer Hall, and guest guitar appearances by Rebecca Scammon, Brandon Ellis, and Ray Suhy, the last of whom joined the group the following year. Graveyard Classics, Vol. 4: Number of the Priest appeared in 2016 and centered on the catalogs of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden; given Barnes's limited vocal range, SFU downtuned each selection, yielding occasionally controversial outcomes.

After a U.S. festival tour, SFU delivered its twelfth studio album, Torment, in 2017. Recorded by the trio of Barnes, guitarist/bassist Hughell, and touring drummer Marco Pitruzzella, who became an official member just prior to the release and world tour, the set rekindled Barnes's connection with ex-Cannibal Corpse guitarist and songwriter Jack Owen, who joined the band. Now a quintet, the lineup entered the studio with producer and mixing engineer Chris Carroll, resulting in Nightmares of the Decomposed in October 2020; in December they issued all four volumes of Graveyard Classics as a deluxe boxed set. Six Feet Under resumed touring in 2021 and continued through the next two years. In May 2024 the band released Killing for Revenge, produced by Jack Owen, mixed and mastered by Chaz Najjar, whose thirteen tracks include a cover of Nazareth's Hair of the Dog.