In a recent interview with Spain’s “Made In Metal,” former Cannibal Corpse and current Six Feet Under guitarist Jack Owen was asked whether there’s an album from his catalog he isn’t satisfied with and might consider revisiting or re-recording.
He replied: “Hmm. Yeah. Maybe the Cannibal Corpse album Butchered At Birth that came out in 1991. The production could be a lot better and the writing process was a little more stress filled, I think. We were trying to make up for sounding simple on the first album, so we overwrote a little bit. So, yeah, I think that’s the only one that’s hard for me to listen to, to this day… Of the first four [Cannibal Corpse] albums, it’s the one that’s probably number four out of those four — for me, anyway.”
Owen also discussed his creative chemistry with former Cannibal Corpse bandmate and current Six Feet Under vocalist Chris Barnes, stating: “Oh, [it’s] very simple. I write a song, I demo it, I record it and send it to him. And it’s usually, ‘Yes, let’s go with that.’ Or, ‘Eh, maybe not,’ and I just move on to the next song. I’ve known him so long, we’re just kind of family and we’re brothers, really. So, we can always talk to each other about anything, musically or really anything about life… I can just e-mail him songs as I finish them. So [during the songwriting process for Six Feet Under‘s upcoming album Next To Die] we ended up with a lot of extra songs that weren’t very good on my part. So maybe we will retool those and they’ll end up on the next album.”
A founding member of Cannibal Corpse, Owen later joined Deicide in 2004, contributing to four studio albums: The Stench Of Redemption (2006), Till Death Do Us Part (2008), To Hell With God (2011), and In The Minds Of Evil (2013). In 2017, he became a member of Six Feet Under, the death metal outfit led by Barnes.
In a recent appearance on “The Growl Podcast,” Owen explained that his departure from Cannibal Corpse unfolded during an especially volatile chapter of his life.
”Oh, it was a combination [of things],” he said at the time. “My life was changing at that time. I got divorced and my mom passed away. And I never really told the Cannibal guys why I left — I never told those guys, but it was ’cause I had to get away from one of those guys. Managerial stuff was going on in the band, and it’s, like, ‘Hey, that guy’s taking over the band, so I’m out.’ [It was] a combination of that and, like I said, life changes.
Owen added: “This decision shouldn’t be that hard. It’s, like, three things going on right now. So I never really told ’em. I just had to get out. It was a toxic environment for me. And look at how it’s turned into an even more toxic environment the past few years.”
When Owen revealed his departure from Cannibal Corpse in May 2004, he stated in an official announcement: “After 15 years with Cannibal Corpse, I’ve decided to leave the group. My heart just wasn’t in it anymore, and it was reflected in my appearance on stage. Times change, and I just don’t enjoy the music as much as I used to, and the only thing keeping me in the band was steady work, and the pay. These things makes it unfair to myself, my band members, and especially the fans.”
