Vincent Locke Interview

One of the most important figures in the history of death metal likely wouldn't be recognized if he strolled into a concert. In fact, people would probably think he was a parent watching out for his kids. Vincent Locke is a soft-spoken dad who lives in the Michigan suburbs and spends most of his days working in his art studio.

Locke recently finished his most ambitious project yet for Cannibal Corpse; a full-length Evisceration Plague graphic novel that was distributed at stops on the Rockstar Energy Mayhem tour and during Cannibal's European tour. The book features a comic strip based on each song. If you don't have one yet, you might want to start scouring eBay as copies are already scarce. However, Locke hints that a similar collaboration with the world's biggest death metal band is a possibility.

Justin M. Norton: Which Cannibal Corpse cover is your favorite and why?
Vincent Locke: My favorite is the one that didn't make it on the cover of Kill. That was technically the best piece, and I think I captured my original idea, what I saw in my head. It's a really creepy image without being gory. It kind of upsets people, even though it isn't gory. I was influenced by Ivan Albright (magic realist painter who worked in the 20th century). He did the paintings for The Portrait Of Dorian Gray. In the movie there's a final painting, this horrific picture that showed how evil Dorian had been. I wanted to do that in this painting. Read the complete Vincent Locke Interview

(artwork courtesy Metal Blade Records)