Biography

This US death metal band was formed in 1989 in Chicago, Illinois, by Mike Perun (bass/vocals) and Scott Carroll (guitar). Like so many others from their genre, Cianide made their initial impression with two demo cassettes, Funeral and Second Life. The addition of drummer Jeff Kabella helped bring their crushing musicianship and steadfast exhortations on the nature of decomposition to a wider audience, and the trio went overground in 1992 with The Dying Truth. Building on their influences (Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Venom, Death), A Descent Into Hell (1994) delivered a further caustic epistle, including a cover version of Canadian death metal crew Slaughter’s ‘Death Dealer’. Kabella was replaced by Andy Kuizin on 1996’s Rage War demo (later re-released by Cyronics Records), while the following year’s Death, Doom And Destruction found the band increased to a quartet with the addition of second guitarist Jim Bresnahan. Their first album of the new millennium, Divide And Conquer, was released by Merciless Records. Reduced to a trio with Bresnahan’s departure, Cianide have continued to plough their old-school death metal furrows with steadily diminishing returns.