Review by Sonny for Living Death - Vengeance of Hell (1984)

This debut album from German speed/thrash crew Living Death was released in 1984, the same year as Piledriver's excretious Metal Inquisition and it is hard to say which is the worse of the two. Firstly, the production is atrocious and it sounds like a rough-arsed demo that has been rushed straight out the door to cash-in on the new speed and thrash metal craze before the kids get tired of it. Secondly (and most importantly) is the presence of vocalist Thorsten "Toto" Bergmann. This guy's vocals are so poor it is hard not to assume that this is some sort of pisstake. He was obviously a bit of a King Diamond fan, but that is no excuse for these crimes against singing. No, really, the guy cannot sing - at all. Vengeance of Hell is less than forty minutes long and his out-of-tune caterwauling makes it seem like twice that length. By far the best track on the album is Labyrinth and that's an instrumental.

I guess the band were aiming for a kind of punkish, fuck you, kind of attitude with a garage aesthetic for a real underground feeling, but it has misfired horrendously and just sounds amateurish, but not in a good way. The songs aren't particularly good either with riffs that already by 1984 sound a bit tired. A special mention must go to Riding A Virgin for it's utter crassness - lyrically one of the most embarrassing tracks since that one from Samson's debut - if you've heard the album you know the one I mean - and to think this is in the same year Metallica were writing songs like For Whom the Bell Tolls and Ride the Lightning it just wasn't good enough. I know there is no objectiveness in art appreciation of any kind, but all those (and there seems to be quite a few) who claim this as an underground classic are just plain wrong. I refuse to wear out my fingertips on typing any more about this other than to urge you all to give it as wide a berth as possible.