The band has had little radio or television exposure throughout its existence, although a cult following began to build with the releases of their early albums, including Butchered at Birth (1991) and Tomb of the Mutilated (1992).

[3] Cannibal Corpse has seen several lineup changes throughout its run, with bassist Alex Webster and drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz being the only constant members.

The band's current lineup includes Mazurkiewicz, Webster, vocalist George Fisher, and guitarists Erik Rutan and Rob Barrett.

The band played its first show at Buffalo's River Rock Cafe in March 1989, shortly after recording a five-song self-titled demo tape, which is now commonly known as A Skull Full of Maggots.

Mazurkiewicz and Webster moved into an apartment just four doors down from the band's practice space, and composed the music to "Hammer Smashed Face" as a means to vent their frustrations with Barnes.

[12] Cannibal Corpse had a cameo appearance in the 1994 Jim Carrey film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, performing an abridged version of their song "Hammer Smashed Face".

I believe this was obvious with the music that the four of us were coming up with at the time.”[21] After The Bleeding's touring cycle had concluded, Barrett convinced the rest of the band to relocate to Florida.

[22] In 1995, during recording sessions for their fifth album Vile, singer Chris Barnes was dismissed from the band while on tour with Six Feet Under, which was at the time his side project.

"[21] In February 1997 Rob Barrett left Cannibal Corpse due to musical differences rejoined his previous bands Malevolent Creation, Solstice, and HatePlow.

Founding guitarist Jack Owen left Cannibal Corpse in 2004 to spend more time on his second band, Adrift, and also joined Deicide in late 2004.

[39] On January 18, 2019, Cannibal Corpse announced that Hate Eternal frontman and former Morbid Angel guitarist Erik Rutan would fill-in for O'Brien on their future tours.

A great deal of the band's early material was composed by original guitarist Bob Rusay, including tracks such as "Skull Full of Maggots," "Post-Mortal Ejaculaton," and "Beyond the Cemetery."

The band's later releases are generally considered to be more rhythmically and melodically complex, which was partially the result of Alex Webster's desire to explore the "technical side of music," beginning with Tomb of the Mutilated.

"[52][12][52][53][54][15][55] The band's early releases are described as "a progressively over-the-top approach to gore-themed death metal that pushed the envelope in every imaginable way, from cover art to song titles to the music itself."

In reviews of early albums, critics have made note of the unintelligible, "thundering," "grunting" death growls of vocalist Chris Barnes, who was called "one of the best growlers in the business".

[56][14][57] Founding guitarist Jack Owen described the band's first four albums: "Eaten is thrashy, Butchered is overwritten but in a good way, Tomb is abrasive and violent, and then The Bleeding was like 'okay slow it down and concentrate."

Despite the increasing technical proficiency and polish on the band's albums, their overall style has remained relatively unchanged, "in other words, zero chance of [any] stylistic experimentation -- [they] like things just the way they are," according to Greg Prato of AllMusic.

"[61] In an interview with Guitar World, he said, "Some of the side projects I’ve done have allowed me to stretch out a little bit more [in terms of style], but Cannibal is really about being a big, heavy rhythm machine, and stepping out too much might detract from that.

"[63] Chris Barnes' vocals on early Cannibal Corpse albums have been described as "indecipherable growls," while opting for a more intelligible style on The Bleeding.

In the early years of the Florida death metal scene, the group was considered one of the most shocking for its transgression of taste in its depiction of torture, murder, and mutilation, often in highly sexual, misogynistic and sadistic terms.

"[68] The band's lyrics are described as "parading a revolting fascination with the human body," drawing comparisons to Carcass, albiet "with a vividly cinematic perspective.

"[72] Examples of macabre song titles from the band's early releases include “Entrails Ripped From a Virgin’s Cunt,” “Fucked With a Knife,” "Addicted to Vaginal Skin," "Meat Hook Sodomy" and “Post Mortal Ejaculation.” According to sociologist Natalie J. Purcell, "the lyrics of these songs contain terrifying lines describing morbid urges to slaughter and sexually exploit others, particularly the weak.

"[85] On Tomb of the Mutilated, the band began drawing more technical and progressive influences from Florida death metal acts such as Atheist and Cynic.

Cannibal Corpse's lyrics, song titles, album covers and merchandise artwork frequently feature transgressive and macabre imagery, including depictions of extreme violence, which the band has always defended as artistic expression that is clearly fictional.

"[94] According to Metal Blade Records president Brian Slagel, "there were times in Europe that were really scary, to the point where the local government said if they played their songs then [they] would arrest them immediately.

"[99] In response to accusations that his band's lyrics desensitize people to violence, Alex Webster argued death metal fans enjoy the music only because they know the violence depicted in its lyrics is not real: "If you really saw someone get their brains bashed in right in front of you, I think it would have a pretty dramatic impact [...] you'd react to it, no matter how many movies you've watched or how much gore metal you've listened to [...] even though we've got crazy entertainment now, our social realities are actually a bit more civilized than they were back then [...] we're not hanging people or whipping them in the street and I think that's positive improvement for any society".

"[103] In May 1995, then-US Senator Bob Dole accused Cannibal Corpse—along with hip hop acts including the Geto Boys and 2 Live Crew—of undermining the national character of the United States.

We want regular jobs – great plan!” A year later, the band came under fire again, this time as part of a campaign by William Bennett, Senator Joe Lieberman, then-Senator Sam Nunn, and National Congress of Black Women chair C. Delores Tucker to get major record labels—including Time Warner, Sony, Thorn-EMI, PolyGram and Bertelsmann—to "dump 20 recording groups [...] responsible for the most offensive lyrics".

[111] The indexed songs may only be played in front of an adult audience and the organizer must ensure that no minors attend the event by means of an age check.

[113][114] In a 2004 interview, George Fisher attempted to recall what originally provoked the ban: "A woman saw someone wearing one of our shirts, I think she is a schoolteacher, and she just caused this big stink about it.