INSATIABLE CREATIVE HUNGER
INTERVIEW WITH BASSIST VINCENT PRICE BY JOHN SILVA
O
n the cover of Body There are dead bodies in the streets. Count’s seventh studio Cars wrecked. Chaos consumes an album, Carnivore (out apocalyptic depiction of Los Angeles. March 6, 2020 via Century Media Records), is a flesh-eating “The word ‘carnivore,’ it can be [inmonster staring at you like he’s ready terpreted] a lot of different ways,” to devour you raw. With a pistol in says bassist Vincent Price. “It can be one hand and brass knuckles in the [eating] meat. Or, it can be, you’re other, the image of the creature is the king of your own domain, so to jolting. And yet, as abrasive as the speak. You take over whatever you album cover is, something far more put your hands on.” sinister lurks beneath the surface. When zooming in on the illustration, a The image of the monster on the closer look reveals that the monster is album cover is sprawling, as if made up of many tiny images—and it he’s taking over whatever he isn’t a pretty picture. A city is on fire. wants to consume. The same way
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violence, racism, and inequality can take over a city, eating up everything in their path. Price explains that the album cover is inspired by a song on the record called “Colors - 2020.” “If you look at that [artwork] and you listen to the song ‘Colors,’ that’s it right there. In the song, it’s about gang violence and taking over things. And, if you look at that art work, you see that’s exactly what it’s doing. It’s taking over everything. It’s taking over the city; it’s taking over people. It’s very strong.”
The artwork is a great analogy for the album as a whole. The surface-level image is aggressive, but the images viewers see when they zoom in are much darker. In the same way, on first listen, Carnivore sounds like a lot of other hardcore records. It’s aggressive, angry, and carries the same macho, tough-guy attitude that is often associated with the genre. But, a closer look at the lyrics reveals a deeper ugliness, one that is infecting the entire country right now, as it has been for centuries. From the aforementioned song “Colors - 2020,” which ad-
