# Paul Mazurkiewicz's Drum Setup on Cannibal Corpse's Tomb of the Mutilated (1992)

> Complete drum gear breakdown for Cannibal Corpse's Tomb of the Mutilated (1992). Paul Mazurkiewicz's pre-endorsement Pearl kit, Morrisound recording with Scott Burns, the "Hammer Smashed Face" anchor track, and the German ban that defined a death metal landmark.

**Type:** Album Drum Setup
**Drummer(s):** [Paul Mazurkiewicz](/llms/drummers/paul-mazurkiewicz.md)
**Band / Album:** Cannibal Corpse — *Tomb of the Mutilated* (1992)
**Genre:** Death Metal
**Label:** Metal Blade Records
**Studio:** Morrisound Studios, Tampa, Florida
**Producer:** Scott Burns

## Overview

Released on September 17, 1992 through Metal Blade Records, Cannibal Corpse's third album "Tomb of the Mutilated" arrived at the precise moment when Florida death metal had become a fully formed genre — and immediately became its most notorious flashpoint. The album was banned in Germany alongside its predecessor "Butchered at Birth" (1991), pulled from shelves under youth protection laws over its cover art and song titles. That ban only amplified its legend. Today, "Tomb of the Mutilated" is considered a foundational text of death metal, with "Hammer Smashed Face" functioning as the genre's most universally recognized anthem.

Behind the kit was Paul Mazurkiewicz, co-founder of Cannibal Corpse and the band's only drummer since their formation in Buffalo, New York in 1988. By 1992 he was 24 years old, three albums into a career that would eventually run for more than 35 years and counting. "Tomb of the Mutilated" represents Mazurkiewicz at the moment his approach to death metal drumming crystallized into the style that would define the band: brutal consistency over flashy technical excess, blast beats as compositional architecture rather than speed exhibitions, and a percussive identity built on conventional grip and a relentless locomotive double-bass attack.

The sessions took place at Morrisound Studios in Tampa, Florida — by 1992 already the indisputable epicenter of death metal production. Producer Scott Burns had engineered or produced virtually every important death metal record of the era: Death's "Human" (1991), Morbid Angel's "Altars of Madness" (1989), Obituary's "Cause of Death" (1990), Deicide's self-titled debut (1990). When Cannibal Corpse rolled into Morrisound to track "Tomb of the Mutilated," they were stepping into a studio that had already invented the sound they needed.

## Gear Breakdown

- **Drums:** Pearl Export or Pearl Masters MX (pre-endorsement era) — dual 22" x 16" kicks, 10" and 12" rack toms, 16" floor tom
- **Snare:** 14" x 5.5" wood-shell snare (maple or birch, era-typical Pearl or comparable)
- **Cymbals:** Era-typical Paiste / Zildjian budget-and-pro mix — 14" hi-hats, 16" and 18" medium crashes, 20" medium ride, 18" China
- **Hardware / Pedals:** Camco-style chain drive or Pearl P-201 single pedals (one on each kick); Pearl heavy-duty hi-hat stand; Pearl throne
- **Sticks:** Vic Firth 5B Wood Tip (pre-signature)
- **Heads:** Remo Powerstroke 3 Clear (kicks), Remo Emperor Clear (tom batters), Remo Ambassador or Emperor Coated (snare batter), Remo Ambassador Snare Side (resonant)
- **Snare tuning:** Medium-high tension — bright crack with controlled sustain, wires tight for blast articulation

### Pearl Export / Masters MX: The Working Drummer's Pre-Endorsement Kit

In 1992, Paul Mazurkiewicz was not yet the Pearl endorsee he is today. The kit he brought into Morrisound for "Tomb of the Mutilated" was working-class professional gear from Pearl's Export or Masters MX series — the same drums thousands of touring metal drummers were using at the time because they could be bought, transported, and beaten on without bankrupting a young band still building its commercial base.

Pearl's Export was the entry-pro tier — mahogany or basswood shells with a hardware package designed for reliability over refinement. The Masters MX (Maple/Mahogany hybrid) was a step up in shell quality without crossing into the boutique price range. Either kit gave Mazurkiewicz what he needed: punchy attack on the toms, solid low-end on the kicks, and shells durable enough for constant double-bass abuse.

The dual 22" x 16" bass drum configuration is the defining feature of the setup. Cannibal Corpse's material on "Tomb of the Mutilated" — particularly the blast sections of "Hammer Smashed Face," "I Cum Blood," and "Necropedophile" — demanded continuous double-kick patterns at tempos that would later be associated with Mazurkiewicz's "locomotive" identity. Two independent kicks (rather than a single drum with a double pedal) gave him symmetric foot independence.

### The 14x5.5 Wood-Shell Crack: Cutting Through the Tampa Wall

The snare voice on "Tomb of the Mutilated" is the percussive signature of the record. In a mix that pushes the down-tuned guitars and bass into the entire low-mid range, the snare had to claim its space through sheer brightness and cut — and a 14" x 5.5" wood-shell snare delivers exactly that profile: enough body to feel substantial, but enough top-end attack to slice through the wall of Tampa guitar tone.

Wood shells (maple, birch, or hybrid constructions) give the snare a warmer voice than the bright, metallic crack of steel shells. Across "Hammer Smashed Face," the snare's backbeat anchors the iconic mid-tempo groove; across the blast passages, the snare articulates each rapid single-stroke distinctly even at speeds that would blur lesser instruments together.

### Budget Paiste and Zildjian: The Pre-Endorsement Cymbal Reality

In 1992, Paul Mazurkiewicz had no cymbal endorsement deal. The Meinl partnership that defines his modern setup was years in the future. What he played on "Tomb of the Mutilated" was the era-typical working-band cymbal arsenal: a mix of Paiste 2002s, Paiste 502s, Zildjian A, or Zildjian ZBT cymbals — whatever combination he could assemble and replace as cracks and bell separations took their toll across constant touring.

The 14" hi-hats are the rhythmic anchor of the record. On the iconic groove of "Hammer Smashed Face," they sit just under the snare backbeat, driving the song's mid-tempo pulse with locked, unwavering eighth notes. The China cymbal is increasingly central across the album — Mazurkiewicz uses it as a trashy accent for major riff transitions, and Burns mixed it forward enough to make those accents readable through the guitar density.

### Scott Burns at Morrisound: The 1992 Drum Capture

By the time Cannibal Corpse arrived at Morrisound in 1992, Scott Burns had already engineered more landmark death metal albums than anyone else on Earth. He treated the Morrisound tracking room to minimize reflections, close-miked every drum with the standard Tampa kit (AKG D112 inside each kick, Shure SM57 on snare, Sennheiser MD421 on each tom, AKG C414s in tight XY overhead), and let the drum sound be defined by direct attack rather than acoustic environment. No triggers reinforced the kicks; no samples blended into the snare. Mazurkiewicz's consistency was good enough that Burns could trust the pure acoustic capture.

### Conventional Grip, Locomotive Double-Bass: The Cannibal Corpse Percussive Identity

What separates Paul Mazurkiewicz from his peers in the early-90s Florida death metal scene is his commitment to a specific philosophical and technical approach: brutality over flash, weight over speed. The most distinctive single element of his technique is his use of traditional (conventional) grip on the snare hand — in an era when nearly every death metal drummer had moved to matched grip, Mazurkiewicz kept the angled, jazz-derived traditional grip and built his entire vocabulary around it.

His double-bass approach is "locomotive" — relentless, powerful, locked to the grid, built for sustained operation rather than peak velocity. His blast beats use the standard alternating pattern rather than gravity-blast technique, and consistency makes them function as compositional architecture rather than sprints demanding attention. The iconic groove of "Hammer Smashed Face" became death metal's most recognizable single precisely because Mazurkiewicz left the spaces between the snare hits empty rather than filling them with showy double-bass flurries.

## Key Facts

- Released September 17, 1992 — Cannibal Corpse's third album on Metal Blade Records
- Banned in Germany alongside Butchered at Birth (1991) under youth protection laws
- Recorded at Morrisound Studios, Tampa, Florida — the epicenter of early-90s death metal production
- Producer Scott Burns — also engineered Death's Human, Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness, Obituary's Cause of Death, and Deicide's debut
- Drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz, co-founder of Cannibal Corpse and the band's only drummer since 1988
- Iconic tracks: "Hammer Smashed Face" (death metal's most recognized single) and "I Cum Blood"
- Pre-endorsement gear — Pearl Export or Masters MX kit, no Pearl Reference, no Meinl cymbals, no signature Vic Firth stick yet
- Dual 22" x 16" bass drums with individual single pedals (Camco-style chain drive or Pearl P-201)
- 14" x 5.5" wood-shell snare for cutting attack through the Tampa guitar wall
- Pure acoustic drum capture — no triggers, no kick sample reinforcement
- Conventional (traditional) grip — a distinctive choice in an era of matched-grip dominance
- "Locomotive" double-bass — consistency over peak velocity
- Estimated kit value: $1,200–2,200 (1992 new) / $2,000–4,000 (vintage today)

**Source:** https://metalforge.io/articles/tomb-of-the-mutilated-drum-setup

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*Last updated: 2026-06-26 · Source: [MetalForge.io](https://metalforge.io)*