We caught up with legendary CANNIBAL CORPSE drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz to discuss their new album Torture (Metal Blade). Paul chatted with us at length about the recording process of the new album, how the band approaches songwriting, how he stays tries to get improve his drumming and the legacy of the band.

Torture was released last month on Metal Blade Records.

MAA: The sound of the new record is immense. Is that a result of another magical Corpse/Eric Rutan collaboration?

PM: Yes and thanks for the kinds words about the album. We really just wanted to get a better sound we thought. Every instrument stood out on its own kind of a thing. I think when you listen to it that’s what your getting. The bass sits in so great with the guitar tones. The whole mix and sonically it’s the best of the Rutan three! But I think it’s a mix, Eric’s of course gonna strive and thrive at getting a better sound I believe. And we’re always looking for that as well. So if there’s anything we can tweak or try or do different we will, and try to make it better then the last one. So it’s a bit of magic from everybody here. Magic just meaning we’ve got some great musicians in our band and a great producer to work with to get the sounds that we need to have CANNIBAL sound as best as we can.

MAA: I hear a lot more grooves on Torture versus Evisceration Plague. Was that done consciously?

PM: I think it’s a little of both, but more how the writing went down. If you look at the two albums Evisceration and Torture; if you look at the credits for Evisceration Plague and Alex pretty much wrote 80% of that record. I think it turned out great, but I can understand what you’re saying how it’s a little more proggy in a sense. I think it’s indicative of Alex’s writing most of the material. They are great songs, but he just writes in that manor that’s heavy and brutal, but definitely could have some twists in it to make it a little more interesting in that way if that what you’re going for. Of course we don’t mind that. But when you compare it exactly to Torture, when you’re looking at the song writing credits for this one where you have Alex only writing about 50% of the music, having Pat writing four songs and Rob having three songs in there. I think that makes a huge difference. Because you’re dealing with diversity in the song writing department and of course the three of them are gonna be writing in different manors. That is the way it’s going to be. They have their own great style for CANNIBAL and I think arguably Pat and Rob wrote the best songs they’ve ever written for CANNIBAL CORPSE on this album. Aside from the fact that there’s more of them contributing. Rob has never contributed more than full one song per album has been on with us in the past, aside from some amazing collaborations. So for him to have three is huge! I think that differently those styles of writing a little more groove to it. I think that plays a key. I also gotta touch on when we were recording, if anything about how we recorded Evisceration Plague: we started using a click track for the very first time in the writing process and in the recording process. I think it was a great thing and I think Evisceration turned out awesome. But I think looking back it was such a new thing for me and I didn’t have a lot of time to really get around that and get it in me kind of a thing. Being it was only been a few months we were recording for Evisceration Plague and I think I did the best I could at the time, but man, when we started writing for Torture here and were pulling out the click track again and everything it was night and day in comparison to how both sessions started in that way. And I felt so much more comfortable to be able to do some more things around that click instead of being a little more stiff, which I think Evisceration is in the drumming department. I think that really helps us open up, and really helped me open up. It made the songs breath a lot better and just have a more natural air about them. And exactly makes the songs have a lot more groove going on in this record.

Paul pounds the drums live in 2010. Photo by Return to The Pit.

MAA: You co-wrote all of your five songs on the album with Pat. Why do the two of you work so well together?

PM: Obviously since Pat got in the band and he wrote his first song “Stabbed in the Throat” (from 1998s Gallery of Suicide), he’s not a lyricist. We’re at that point where Alex was writing lyrics and Jack (Owen) was writing lyrics so all the other musicians were writing lyrics, but Pat came in and only wanted to write music. He just didn’t feel comfortable, didn’t want to do it. So I took it upon myself and said ‘Hey dude I’ll write the lyrics’ and for some reason every song Pat comes up with I’m the lyricist for. But if you ask him he’ll say it’s us working together. He definitely knows that I’m gonna end up doing the song justice in that department. I love writing for his stuff and I think on this record as I was saying earlier I think Pat’s songs are best he’s ever written for us. They’re a bit more moody for him, mixed with a lot of the technical stuff he’s known for, but that fact that I’m writing these songs; especially “Followed Home and Killed” and “As Deep as the Knife Will Go”. They just kind of wrote themselves, at least in the pattern department. And then of course your just filling in what the words will be, but he just did a great job writing these songs. I think they’re his best and I’m really proud of the lyrics and they way they turned out in that department as well. It’s a good thing.

CANNIBAL CORPSE in 2012. Photo by Alex Morgan.

MAA: What keeps you motivated after all these years to keep improving as a player and a writer?

PM: I think its weird. To start off I’m think I’m playing better than I ever have. I’m 43 years old and starting back with this band when I was 20 or whatever. So looking back; it’s weird the way things go. It’s just that you mature. For me it’s just fine tuning everything and trying to be the best you can be. For some reason you get a little older and it matters to you a little more so. It’s a weird answer the way I’m thinking. I think I just wanna do the best I can do. You only live once, the band is not gonna be around forever and it’s your dream come true. It’s what you wanted to do your whole life and the fact that you’re able to do it, is giving the most to it. If you’re feeling good and you’re mentally prepared and you really love what you do then you should always wanna thrive to be the best you can be. I guess what I was getting at earlier was I realize that more so now than I ever have in the last say five years, mentally. I don’t know if that’s growing up, getting more mature. Whatever you call it I don’t know. I’ve done a lot to really do what I can do to be the best drummer I can be: sitting up a little higher, working out all the dynamics, changing pedals, what have you. It’s all these little things and really practicing my ass off and wanting to do the best for these songs these guys wrote. They worked so hard as well. So I think if it’s in you, you should be thriving and striving to be the best you can be. I guess that’s where I’m at this day and point in my life and career.

MAA: Have you added any new drum gear to your kit since the recording?

PM: I’m using Ddrum drums now, I was using Tama for a few years. It’s the basic set up I’ve always used. Pretty much at the end of Evisceration since the start of the writing is when I changed. I’m using new pedals I’m not using Axis anymore. I’m using Czarcie (pronounced shar-shee, Monolit Czarcie Kopyto Pedals). They’re these polish pedals and they’re incredible and it’s a huge plus for me. They’re great pedals! I’m very happy to be playing on them. I’m still using Regal Tip drumsticks, but I just changed sizes. There are the new E-X series with their nylon hybrid tip. I’m using the SpeedX and they’re a little bit better than was I was using I was using the quantum 3000s then I went down to the 1000 with the big nylon ball. I did notice a difference it’s helping me in a lot of ways. It’s really helping with my speed. Other than that not a lot has changed other than sitting up higher. Just working on all of the physics part of it to play optimally. I want to tighten things up to be the best drummer I can be. It’s the little things like gear and other things together. Everything came out great so it’s really cool.

The 2012 Summer Slaughter tour will begin this July.

MAA: Any thoughts on the upcoming Summer Slaughter co-headlining dates?

PM: We’re totally looking forward to that. The festival is doing really well. The mix of newer kind of metal with some death metal in there and all that. We were looking forward to that. It should be a lot of fun!

MAA: At this point CANNIBAL CORPSE is almost twenty-five years old. Do you feel duty bound to keep the quality of the band so high?

PM: We’re lucky to still be doing it this long. Obviously were doing something right to the people and the fans keep buying our records and going to ours shows all that kind of thing. Cannibal’s bigger than it’s ever been. We just look at it as we do our thing. But it also comes back to what I was saying about me stepping up doing the things I’ve got to. If were supposed to be a popular band playing some big shows and doing all that stuff, we owe it to the fans to be the best we can be. Like I said, we love doing what we do so as long as were having fun doing it and were able to do it and have the passion for it. We feel we can just keep going for as long as we want. I think we owe it to ourselves and the fans. Hopefully, when people can look back they’ll be very appreciative of what we’ve tried to accomplish in our career: to just be a brutal death metal band that fans can count on. At this point we just take it every day, one day at a time and hopefully forging forward as long as we’re passionate about it, why not? Who would’ve thought here we are releasing our twelfth album twenty-three and half years into being a band and it being arguably the best we’ve ever done.

MAA: Thanks for your time and for the music Paul!

PM: Thanks for the interview! Take care!

(special thanks to Paul and CANNIBAL CORPSE, Metal Blade Records, EarsplitPR and Return To The Pit for the live photo)

by Keith (Keefy) Chachkes