Rigor Mortis (band)


Rigor Mortis was a thrash/speed metal band that formed in 1983 in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas metroplex. Two schoolmates, Harden Harrison and Casey Orr, formed the band when they met Mike Scaccia. The three young men shared an interest in horror/gore films and very heavy music. With Bruce Corbitt on vocals, they created some of the heaviest thrash metal at the time often flirting with death metal. They were also one of the only major thrash bands from Texas and virtually created the underground metal scene there. The band was signed by Capitol Records in 1987.
In 2005, the original lineup reunited and performed at Ozzfest 2008 in Texas. In 2009, Rigor Mortis played in Germany at the Keep It True Festival.
Mike Scaccia also played guitar with industrial metal band Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Lard, and others.
Casey Orr also plays bass in the shock rock band Gwar, as the character Beefcake the Mighty. He also played bass for Dallas punk rock band The Hellions. He currently plays for Warbeast.
Harden Harrison also plays drums with the metal bands Speedealer and Mitra.
Bruce Corbitt also sang for the thrash metal band Warbeast. The band was signed by Phil Anselmo's label Housecore Records and their debut album Krush The Enemy was released on April 27, 2010. Warbeast's next release was a split album with Philip Anselmo's solo material titled War Of The Gargantuas and was released on January 8, 2013. Warbeast's second full-length album Destroy was released in 2013. Their final album "Enter the Arena", was released on August 4th, 2017.
Former Rigor Mortis vocalist/guitarist Doyle Bright also played guitar in the metal band Hallows Eve. He currently performs vocals and guitars in the band SOG.
Rigor Mortis is featured on the shirt of the creature on the Toxic Holocaust album Evil Never Dies from 2003.
On December 23, 2012, the band's guitarist Mike Scaccia died from a heart attack while performing onstage.
On October 6, 2014, Rigor Mortis released their final album Slaves to the Grave, which had been recorded in February 2012 at Ministry's 13th Planet Studios in El Paso. With no label interested in the album, Rigor Mortis successfully crowdfunded the new album by raising $22,838 from fan pre-orders to self-release the final album.
After years of battling with cancer, Corbitt died on January 25, 2019 at the age of 56, making him the second member of Rigor Mortis to die.
The remaining members perform Rigor Mortis music under the moniker Wizards of Gore in tribute to Mike Scaccia.

Select discography


ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
PlotArea = left:100 bottom:100 top:0 right:25
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1983 till:01/09/2015
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1984
ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1985
Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:2
Colors =
id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals
id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitar
id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass
id:Drums value:orange legend:Drums
id:Lines value:black legend:Studio Releases
LineData =
at:19/07/1988 color:Black layer:Back
at:08/05/1991 color:Black layer:Back
at:06/10/2014 color:Black layer:Back
BarData =
bar:Bruce text:"Bruce Corbitt"
bar:Doyle text:"Doyle Bright"
bar:Mike text:"Mike Scaccia"
bar:Mike2 text:"Mike Taylor"
bar:Casey text:"Casey Orr"
bar:Harden text:"Harden Harrison"
PlotData =
width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:
bar:Bruce from:01/01/1986 till:01/01/1989 color:Vocals
bar:Doyle from:01/01/1989 till:01/01/1992 color:Vocals
bar:Bruce from:01/01/2005 till:23/12/2012 color:Vocals
bar:Bruce from:14/07/2013 till:14/07/2013 color:Vocals
bar:Bruce from:14/07/2015 till:14/07/2015 color:Vocals
bar:Doyle from:11/08/2015 till:11/08/2015 color:Vocals
bar:Mike from:01/01/1983 till:01/01/1992 color:Guitar
bar:Mike from:01/01/1983 till:01/01/1986 color:Vocals width:3
bar:Mike from:01/01/2005 till:23/12/2012 color:Guitar
bar:Mike2 from:14/07/2013 till:14/07/2013 color:Guitar
bar:Mike2 from:14/07/2015 till:14/07/2015 color:Guitar
bar:Mike2 from:11/08/2015 till:11/08/2015 color:Guitar
bar:Casey from:01/01/1983 till:01/01/1992 color:Bass
bar:Casey from:01/01/1983 till:01/01/1992 color:Vocals width:3
bar:Casey from:01/01/2005 till:23/12/2012 color:Bass
bar:Casey from:01/01/2005 till:23/12/2012 color:Vocals width:3
bar:Casey from:14/07/2013 till:14/07/2013 color:Bass
bar:Casey from:14/07/2013 till:14/07/2013 color:Vocals width:3
bar:Casey from:14/07/2015 till:14/07/2015 color:Bass
bar:Casey from:14/07/2015 till:14/07/2015 color:Vocals width:3
bar:Casey from:11/08/2015 till:11/08/2015 color:Bass
bar:Casey from:11/08/2015 till:11/08/2015 color:Vocals width:3
bar:Harden from:01/01/1983 till:01/01/1992 color:Drums
bar:Harden from:01/01/1983 till:01/01/1992 color:Vocals width:3
bar:Harden from:01/01/2005 till:23/12/2012 color:Drums
bar:Harden from:01/01/2005 till:23/12/2012 color:Vocals width:3
bar:Harden from:14/07/2013 till:14/07/2013 color:Drums
bar:Harden from:14/07/2013 till:14/07/2013 color:Vocals width:3
bar:Harden from:14/07/2015 till:14/07/2015 color:Drums
bar:Harden from:14/07/2015 till:14/07/2015 color:Vocals width:3
bar:Harden from:11/08/2015 till:11/08/2015 color:Drums
bar:Harden from:11/08/2015 till:11/08/2015 color:Vocals width:3