Robert Joseph Barrett III (born January 29, 1970) is an American

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

musician, best known as the current guitarist for

Cannibal Corpse Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1988, now based in 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 ...

. He played with the band from 1993 to 1997 and rejoined in 2005. He has cited

Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career, he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, Heavy metal music, heavy ...

Malcolm Young Malcolm Mitchell Young (6 January 1953 – 18 November 2017) was an Australian musician who was the rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and a founding member of the hard rock band AC/DC. Except for a brief absence in 1988, he was a member of AC ...

, Randy Rhoads,

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex V ...

Tony Iommi Anthony Frank Iommi Jr. (born 19 February 1948) is an English musician. He co-founded the pioneering Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader, primary composer, and sole continuous member for over ...

and

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai ( ; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a Transcription (music), transc ...

, among others, as his influences. He currently resides in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Career

Barrett was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

. Barrett started playing guitar at age 15, and his brother’s friend sold him his first guitar for $30. It was a flying-V shape. He started his professional career in 1990 when he formed the band

Solstice A solstice is the time when the Sun reaches its most northerly or southerly sun path, excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around 20–22 June and 20–22 December. In many countries ...

with drummer Alex Marquez and guitar player Dennis Muñoz. The band recorded a demo in 1991 produced by Jim Morris and signed a record deal with the German label SPV/Steamhammer. In 1992 they released their debut album entitled ''Solstice'' (the name changed to "The Sentencing" on some pressings). That same year, Barrett and Marquez decided to join

Malevolent Creation Malevolent Creation is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York in 1986 and later based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The band's original members were guitarists Phil Fasciana and Jim Nickles and vocalist Bret Hoffmann, who were ...

after their previous drummer and second guitar player didn't show up to a rehearsal, putting Solstice on hiatus. They took part on the recording of ''Retribution'' and toured with the band.

Cannibal Corpse

In February 1993, Barrett was contacted by Alex Webster and asked to join Cannibal Corpse a few months following the release of '' Tomb of the Mutilated'', as a guitar fill-in for Bob Rusay. Barrett had known the band prior due to their mutual locality, and from their bands sharing a van together on a previous tour. Barrett commented in a 1993 interview, "The kids in Europe were disappointed about it, 'cause hey were like 'What happened to Bob?! He was the brutal-ist!' So I kind of had my work cut out for me, you know?" He stayed with the band for the subsequent tours and eventually became a permanent member. He recorded the 1994 album '' The Bleeding'' and the 1996 album '' Vile''. He also made a brief

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

with the band in the 1994 film '' Ace Ventura: Pet Detective'' starring

Jim Carrey James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian and American actor and comedian. Known primarily for his energetic slapstick performances, he has received two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for BAFTA Awards and ...

. In 1997, Barrett left Cannibal Corpse due to musical differences and was replaced by Pat O'Brien. Barrett rejoined Malevolent Creation in 1997, staying with the band for seven years. Barrett returned to Cannibal Corpse in 2005, replacing Jack Owen. Since then, he has been featured on the albums '' Kill'', '' Evisceration Plague'', ''

Torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

'', '' A Skeletal Domain'', '' Red Before Black'', '' Violence Unimagined'' and '' Chaos Horrific''. Rob Barrett und Alex Webster

HatePlow

In late 1994 right after Malevolent Creation recorded their third album, Barrett formed the death metal band HatePlow with guitarist Phil Fasciana and late drummer "Crazy" Larry Hawke, both members of Malevolent Creation. Barrett was the original vocalist, the band eventually got Kyle Symons to join on vocals due to Barrett's commitment to Cannibal Corpse Although HatePlow was intended initially as mere a fun side-project, the trio recorded a four-song demo that enjoyed a wide spread throughout the underground trading circuit. After his departure from

Barrett extended his commitment to Malevolent Creation & HatePlow and participated in the recording of the albums ''Everybody Dies'' and ''The Only Law Is Survival'' which came out in 1998 and 2000 respectively. In 2004, he left HatePlow. The same year Barrett left, the "Moshpit Murder" compilation was released which features tracks recorded live during "The Only Law Is Survival" U.S tour with Stormtroopers Of Death in 2000, tracks from their 1996 demo, and one song from their 1999 demo that was done with a drum machine.

Collaborations and side-projects

Since the 2000s Barrett has made a few guest appearances, providing extra guitar playing for bands such as Eulogy, Hollenthon, Infernäl Mäjesty, Pro-Pain and Unearthed. In 2005 Barrett joined in on the recording of the Roadrunner United album '' The All-Star Sessions'' where he played guitar on the tracks "Annihilation by the Hands of God" and "Constitution Down". In 2019, Rob Barrett recorded with death metal band Deicide for a tribute album for the 40th anniversary of the Dayglo Abortions titled "Fuck The World If It Can't Take a Joke". The track recorded was "Inside My Head" from their 1985 release '' Feed Us a Fetus''. In the mid-2000s, Barrett planned on starting a hardcore band with J.C. Dwyer on drums and Jonathan Buske on bass. It is currently unknown if a name was decided or if any recordings exist.

Equipment

Guitars

Barrett is currently endorsed by

Dean Guitars Dean Guitars, commonly referred to simply as Dean, is an American importer and maker of stringed instruments and musical products with its headquarters in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida. Its products include solid-body electric guitars, bass gu ...

and uses their custom guitars, mainly

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

's but also V's and Z's. All of his guitars are equipped with either an EMG set or a Fishman Fluence set and are tuned to A# and G# Standard, he also tunes his guitars like the top 6 strings of a 7 string guitar. Around 2007 Dean Guitars produced a signature model in limited numbers called the Cadi-Kill. In the past Barrett used to play two

Gibson Les Paul The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typic ...

's, a Jackson Dinky, briefly a B.C. Rich Bich, a Custom ESP M-1, and a Charvel 475 that was also in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, the Charvel featured stickers from bands such as Black Flag,

Biohazard A biological hazard, or biohazard, is a biological substance that poses a threat (or is a hazard) to the health of living organisms, primarily humans. This could include a sample of a microorganism, virus or toxin that can adversely affect huma ...

, Slapshot, Wasted Youth and

Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Initially consisting of lead guitarist East Bay Ray, bassist Klaus Fl ...

. His Les Paul's are now only used for studio recording. He now uses Fishman Fluence pickups in his signature guitars.

Amplifiers

Like O'Brien, Barrett uses Mesa/Boogie amplifiers, such as the Dual Rectifier (old 2-channel version), Triple Rectifier and, more recently, Mark V. For cabinets, he uses

Crate A crate is a large shipping container, often made of wood, typically used to transport or store large, heavy items. Steel and aluminium crates are also used. Specialized crates were designed for specific products, and were often made to be reus ...

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...

, and Mesa/Boogie 4x12s, which are loaded with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers. Before Mesa/Boogie, Barrett used Crate and Marshall amplifiers.

Effects and accessories

Barrett runs a few pedals, namely an ISP Technologies Decimator noise gate, Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner and a Maxon ST-9 pro+ Super tube. The units are connected with Monster cables.

Discography

* 1991: ''Demo'' * 1992: ''Solstice''

* 1992: '' Retribution'' * 1998: '' The Fine Art of Murder'' * 2000: '' Envenomed'' * 2002: '' The Will to Kill'' * 2004: '' Warkult''

* 1994: '' The Bleeding'' * 1996: '' Vile'' * 2006: '' Kill'' * 2009: '' Evisceration Plague'' * 2012: ''

'' * 2014: '' A Skeletal Domain'' * 2017: '' Red Before Black'' * 2021: '' Violence Unimagined'' * 2023: ''Chaos Horrific'' Eulogy * 2010: ''Burden of Certainty'' (demo) HatePlow * 1996: ''Demo'' * 1998: ''Everybody Dies'' * 2000: ''The Only Law Is Survival'' * 2004: ''Moshpit Murder''

Guest appearances

Hollenthon * 2001: '' With Vilest of Worms to Dwell'' Infernäl Mäjesty * 2007: ''Demon God'' (EP) Pro-Pain * 2008: ''No End in Sight'' Roadrunner United * 2005: '' The All-Star Sessions'' Unearthed * 2007: ''Imposition of Faith''

References

External links

Cannibal Corpse website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Rob 1970 births Cannibal Corpse members American death metal musicians Living people Malevolent Creation members Rhythm guitarists Musicians from Buffalo, New York