{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = The Wretched Spawn | type = studio | artist = [[Cannibal Corpse]] | cover = Thewretchedspawn.jpg | alt = Controversial cover art image depicts three baby demons violently emerging from the naked woman surrounded by three other demons: One of three demons with wings seems to be bewitching the woman to get one of three baby demons emerge from her mouth, another one of them emerge from her belly and yet another one of them emerge from her vagina. | released = {{Start date|2004|2|24}} | recorded = October–November 2003 | venue = | studio = [[Sonic Ranch]], [[El Paso, Texas|El Paso, TX]] | genre = [[Death metal]] | length = {{Duration |m=44 |s=22}} | label = [[Metal Blade Records|Metal Blade]] | producer = [[Neil Kernon]] | prev_title = [[Gore Obsessed]] | prev_year = 2002 | next_title = [[Kill (Cannibal Corpse album)|Kill]] | next_year = 2006 | misc = {{Extra album cover | header = Censored cover | type = studio | cover = Cannibal Corpse - The Wretched Spawn Censored Front.jpg | border = | alt = | caption = }} }} {{Music ratings | rev1 = [[AllMusic]] | rev1Score = {{Rating|2.5|5}}<ref>{{AllMusic |class=album |id=mw0000324069 |label=''The Wretched Spawn'' - Cannibal Corpse |last=Birchmeier |first=Jason}}</ref> | rev2 = ''[[Martin Popoff|Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal]]'' | rev2score = 7/10<ref>{{cite book |last1=Popoff |first1=Martin |last2=Perri|first2=David|author-link1=Martin Popoff |title=The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 4: The '00s |publisher=[[Collector's Guide Publishing]] |year=2011 |location=[[Burlington, Ontario]], [[Canada]] |isbn=9781-926592-20-6 |pages=72–73}}</ref> | rev3 = [[Metal Storm (webzine)|Metal Storm]] | rev3Score = 8.5/10<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.metalstorm.net/pub/review.php?review_id=502 |title=Cannibal Corpse - The Wretched Spawn review |author=Undercraft |date=May 1, 2004 |website=www.metalstorm.net |publisher=[[Metal Storm (webzine)|Metal Storm]] |access-date=February 13, 2016}}</ref> | rev4 = [[Scream Magazine]] | rev4Score = {{rating|5|6}}<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Nørsterud|first=Bjørn|title=CANNIBAL CORPSE "The Wretched Spawn"|magazine=[[Scream Magazine]]|type=review|language=no|year=2004|issue=85|page=40}}</ref> | noprose = yes }}
'''''The Wretched Spawn''''' is the ninth studio album by American [[death metal]] band [[Cannibal Corpse]]. It was released on February 24, 2004 by [[Metal Blade Records]]. The cover art is by [[Vincent Locke]]. This is the last studio album to feature guitarist [[Jack Owen]], one of the band's founding members, and up to the 2012 album ''[[Torture (album)|Torture]]'', the last with an album cover depicting violence and gore. The album was distributed with a making-of [[DVD]] produced by Nick Sahakian. ''The Wretched Spawn'' is Cannibal Corpse's fourth album to be named after one of the tracks on the album, after ''[[Butchered at Birth]]'', ''[[The Bleeding (album)|The Bleeding]]'' and ''[[Gallery of Suicide]]''.
== Music and lyrics == "For songs like "Nothing Left to Mutilate", and "Decency Defied", I looked to friends for ideas they had. "Decency [Defied]" was based on a friend who had a nightmare that her tattoos were being torn off while she was still alive. "Nothing Left to Mutilate" was based on ideas from a friend who was studying pheromones in college, and told me all about how a woman's scent drives men crazy. So if my imagination doesn't kick in, I draw from other things. "Slain" was based on the Eastwood film ''[[High Plains Drifter]]''. And "Festering in the Crypt" is my own idea of dealing with the finality of death."- Jack Owen<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themetalweb.com/cannibalcorpseinterview.html|title=Interview with Jack Owen|publisher=The Metal Web|accessdate=April 25, 2009|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080804131528/http://www.themetalweb.com/cannibalcorpseinterview.html|archivedate=August 4, 2008}}</ref>
Other themes explored on the album include [[decapitation]] and [[stoning]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=updated |first=Metal Hammerlast |date=2017-11-10 |title=The 5 most gruesome Cannibal Corpse songs |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-5-most-gruesome-cannibal-corpse-songs |access-date=2026-01-26 |website=Louder |language=en}}</ref>
== Track listing == {{Track listing | total_length = 44:22 | title1 = Severed Head Stoning | lyrics1 = Webster | music1 = {{flatlist| * O'Brien * Webster }} | length1 = 1:45 | title2 = Psychotic Precision | lyrics2 = Mazurkiewicz | music2 = O'Brien | length2 = 2:56 | title3 = Decency Defied | lyrics3 = Owen | music3 = Owen | length3 = 2:59 | title4 = Frantic Disembowelment | lyrics4 = Mazurkiewicz | music4 = O'Brien | length4 = 2:50 | title5 = The Wretched Spawn | lyrics5 = Webster | music5 = Webster | length5 = 4:09 | title6 = Cyanide Assassin | lyrics6 = Webster | music6 = Webster | length6 = 3:11 | title7 = Festering in the Crypt | lyrics7 = Owen | music7 = Owen | length7 = 4:38 | title8 = Nothing Left to Mutilate | lyrics8 = Owen | music8 = Owen | length8 = 3:49 | title9 = Blunt Force Castration | lyrics9 = Mazurkiewicz | music9 = O'Brien | length9 = 3:27 | title10 = Rotted Body Landslide | lyrics10 = Webster | music10 = Webster | length10 = 3:24 | title11 = Slain | lyrics11 = Owen | music11 = Owen | length11 = 3:32 | title12 = Bent Backwards and Broken | lyrics12 = Webster | music12 = Webster | length12 = 2:58 | title13 = They Deserve to Die | lyrics13 = Webster | music13 = Webster | length13 = 4:44 }} {{Track listing | headline = Bonus DVD | title1 = The Making of The Wretched Spawn | length1 = 58:40 }}
== Credits == ;Cannibal Corpse * [[George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher]] – vocals * [[Pat O'Brien (guitarist)|Pat O'Brien]] – lead guitar * [[Jack Owen]] – rhythm guitar * [[Alex Webster]] – bass * [[Paul Mazurkiewicz]] – drums
== Charts == {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Chart ! Peak<br/>position |- {{Album chart|France|136|artist=Cannibal Corpse|album=The Wretched Spawn}} |- {{Album chart|Germany|id=25044|74|artist=Cannibal Corpse|album=The Wretched Spawn}} |- {{Album chart|BillboardIndependent|20|artist=Cannibal Corpse}} |- {{album chart|BillboardHeatseekers|27|artist=Cannibal Corpse|M|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211117182806/https://www.billboard.com/artist/cannibal-corpse/chart-history/tln/|title=Cannibal Corpse Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)|work=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=March 6, 2026}} |- |}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{AllMusic |class=album |id=mw0000324069 |label=''The Wretched Spawn''}} * [http://www.metalblade.com/us/releases/cannibal-corpse-the-wretched-spawn/ ''The Wretched Spawn''] at [[Metal Blade Records]]
{{Cannibal Corpse}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wretched Spawn}} [[Category:2004 albums]] [[Category:Cannibal Corpse albums]] [[Category:Albums produced by Neil Kernon]] [[Category:Albums recorded at Sonic Ranch]] [[Category:Metal Blade Records albums]]