History & Biography American potheads from Denver, Colorado specialize in grindcore (or hydrogrind if you ask the band) and have worked with Headfucker and Relapse Records. Born in 1992, the Scrape My Lungs tape came out in 1993. Early bassist was Tom Clenin who died of a heart attack in 2020. The band split, but came back in 1996 with two Molester members to release the Fortuitous Oddity demo. The tape was heard by Headfucker and the rest is history!
The act was grabbed by Relapse Records soon and issued its first album for the US label in 2000. The band played shows with the likes of Internal Bleeding and in the summer of 2002 opened for Kreator and Destruction for the US leg of the Germans' North American tour. Cephalic Carnage also participated in a split-release with Anal Blast.
The Halls Of Amenti single-song EP of doomy material was also issued by Willowtip in 2002. The gang shot a video in 2004. The band's 2005 album Anomalies was issued in early spring, which was produced by Dave Otero. A tour in support of Shadows Fall followed. Subordinate Productions reissued the band's debut album, which was originally issued as Conforming To Abnormality as Hydro Grind in 2005. Swedish black metal band Marduk would tour North America in the spring of 2009. Dubbed Blackenedfest, the band would pillage through 21 cities, beginning with The Fillmore in New York City on March 21st and closing at Les Foufounes Electriques in Montreal alongside Norwegian black metallers Mayhem, Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation and Withered. Cephalic Carnage picked Misled By Certainty as the title for its 2010 album, which was due on August 31st through Relapse Records. Cephalic Carnage had just recruited guitarist Brian Hopp.
The band toured with Annihilator, Darkest Hour and Harlott in Europe in 2018. Hopp would later offer a guest solo on a Harlott track. The band had been using drummer Danny Walker of Intronaut intermittently. The group was also at Las Vegas Deathfest in 2018. Zac Joe came back as a live guitarist in 2022. The band toured with Cavalera Conspiracy in 2022. The band was part of a concert called Hell In The Harbor with Cannibal Corpse, Napalm Death and others in 2023.
Reviews CEPHALIC CARNAGE - ANOMALIES - RELAPSE
EPs, videos and other stop-gap measures aside, Cephalic Carnage has been away too long. The world needs more blasting explosions like this, not less, and Anomalies provides just that. It is not that the US grindcore experts are all hyperspeed all the time, but that particular brand of larm is the what the band does most of the time and does well one might add. The quintet takes a moment or two to slow down for an electronic break or a doomy interlude a la Cathedral which is quite appropriate. After all, this noisy bunch comes across as the bastard child of Napalm Death, only with added metallic elements. The vocals are mostly growled, but sometimes barked like Napalm's Barney and the music well-produced - although regular folk used to poppy mainstream stuff like Iron Maiden or Slayer (ha!) may still find it harsh. Cephalic carnage is like a omni-directional bulldozer. One can't simply move from its path. It destroys in all directions should one be exposed. - Ali "The Metallian"
CEPHALIC CARNAGE - XENOSAPIEN - RELAPSE 
Y’know how non-metal fans can’t seem to get their heads around the fact that there are various subgenres in metal? Well, waste your breath explaining the differences between death metal, black metal and grindcore no more - just hand the non-initiated a copy of Cephalic Carnage’s latest, Xenosapien. Xenosapien is the Coles Notes primer on seemingly every facet of the current metal underground, Cephalic Carnage writing death metal, black metal, grindcore, goregrind, stoner rock/doom, mathcore, and even traditional metal (!) to great effect. This really has to be heard to be believed, and the record’s highlights are Touched By An Angel (fast black metal), Vaporized (Carcass worship) and Ov Vicissitude (modern death). Cephalic Carnage has crafted the effort of its career, crafting strong songs
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