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Things to Do in Denver When You Shred

The metal miscreants in Cephalic Carnage are ready to thrash and burn

By Alex Distefano

With a name like Cephalic Carnage, it should come as no surprise that this Denver-reared band is metal through and through. But, this is not your average group of longhairs with nothing to say. The band

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The metal miscreants in Cephalic Carnage are ready to thrash and burn

By Alex Distefano

With a name like Cephalic Carnage, it should come as no surprise that this Denver-reared band is metal through and through. But, this is not your average group of longhairs with nothing to say. The band’s ultra-fiery mix of grind, metalcore, black metal, thrash and even jazzy interludes brings the group—which has been destroying eardrums since the early ’90s—to the forefront of medication-friendly heavy music. Cephalic Carnage plays music that is fast and complex but with plenty of groove. Adding a potent dose of humor, knowledge and madness into its brutal live shows, the band’s toured the world, playing with such luminaries as Napalm Death, Cannibal Corpse, Hatebreeed and even Mastodon.

Founding member and vocalist Leonard Leal spoke with CULTURE about the band’s emergence from Denver’s extreme metal scene and the singer’s views on cannabis. Cephalic Carnage—the band’s latest album, Misled By Certainty, dropped last August—is playing at the Marquis Theater on July 20.

 

Tell us about your summer tour plans.

Well, at the moment we only have the summer tour with our friends in Exhumed; also Macabre and Withered will be playing most of the tour. It’s going to be extreme metal’s best tour of the year. We love all the bands playing and are looking forward to partying across the states. We do have some other big tours coming up, both in Europe and in the States, but it’s all speculative now. We’re very excited to be piling up in our van once again to do this tour!

 

What was it like coming up in Colorado’s underground metal scene?

When we first started this band in late ’92-early ’93, we toured in a truck. Now, we finally have our own tour van! Coming from Denver was cool; there was always support for us in the underground metal scene, but nothing [from the] mainstream on radio. Also, the shows have always been killer, the bands are awesome and the fans are ready to help you out in the scene. Denver really is a cool place to be.

 

Cephalic Carnage is a very 420-friendly band. Give us your insight into cannabis. Where do you think the nation, and each state is, in terms of legalizing it for medical and/or recreational use for adults?

Oh yeah, we support all that shit. I have my medical card here in Colorado . . . But don’t let that fool you; cops out here will still sometimes bust you. But it’s not like in the past . . . so the cops usually focus on other crimes like heroin and meth, you know the serious [stuff]. Let’s face it; people aren’t getting stoned and committing violent, dangerous crimes.

 

Do you think in our lifetime we will see marijuana fully legalized in the U.S.?

Definitely. Let’s f*#@ing do it. It’s worked for our economy; after all, you can get more per acre of hemp than you can from corn. It’s the best cash crop and our economy could use the revenue . . . They talk of all these [budget] deficits, and this could be a solution. Industrial hemp and hemp for other uses have so many benefits we need to tap into it to help us in . . . fixing our economy and environment. All around, the need to legalize is more important now than ever.

 

 

 

Back to the Grind

 

Cephalic Carnage isn’t the only extreme metal band out there that flies the green flag proudly. After vocalist Chris Barnes left Cannibal Corpse around 1995, he gave the gory lyrics a rest for a bit and focused more on issues such as the legalization of marijuana. The 1997 album Warpath (by another of Barnes’ bands, Six Feet Under) contains two tracks that delve into the topic; “4:20” (do I really need to tell you what this song’s about?) and “Caged and Disgraced” (about people being detained for possession).

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