Sonny's Forum Replies

I'm gonna kick off the next phase of my journey with the 1988 Creepshow demo from a band who produced one of my all-time favourite OS death doom albums, Sempiternal Deathreign:

Sempiternal Deathreign - Creepshow EP (1988)

I'm not completely sure, but Sempiternal Deathreign may well have been the first Dutch extreme metal band, but they did release one of my favourite early death doom albums in 1989's The Spooky Gloom. Anyway before that they released this demo in 1988. The sound isn't bad at all, especially seeing as SD favour a fairly raw sound anyway and it is absolutely packed with bottom end that is a trademark of early OSDDM. Half of the runtime is taken up by seven and a half minutes of the first track Devastating Empire Towards Humanity which may well be the first genuine death doom classic and was destined to become the centrepiece of their one and only album. Slow, tortuous and evil-sounding as fuck, the death growls are impressive, particularly as guitarist/vocalist Frank Faase was only fifteen at the time of recording! Although it is raw and needs some polishing, this is a genuinely great track to kick off.

The four tracks of the B-side are much shorter affairs, the longest clocking in at just under two and a half minutes. The shorter runtimes make for more out and out death metal affairs (and these definitely ARE death metal) they pack a hell of a punch, particularly the fifty seconds of Unperceptive Life which is the only other track here to make the full-length. A pretty impressive demo from a young band that should have gone on to bigger and better but sadly disappeared too quickly.

4/5

I get the feeling that S.O.A.D.'s stock has fallen over recent years and I'm not sure if it's cool to like them anymore, but fuck that because personally I loved both Toxicity and this album and I still do to this day. I'm not so keen on the debut or Steal This Album and Hypnotize is a bit patchy, but Mezmerize and Toxicity are brilliant examples of punky, hook-laden metal that have rarely been equalled, let alone bettered. Their ability to write such catchy metal numbers and to cover serious subject matter lyrically, yet do so with humour and biting wit, is an ability not to be underestimated. They are like a metal version of Dead Kennedys in a way.

I don't think Mesmerize reaches Toxicity's heights, Cigaro and This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm on This Song fall a bit flat, but the rest is inordinately enjoyable. I mean a song like Violent Pornography is just begging for you to sing along at the top of your voice whilst walking down the high street while everyone stares after you like you're some kind of maniac! SOAD's great skill is to sound subversive and yet accessible all at the same time. Lyrically a bit too serious and risque to be termed as pop metal, but in truth it's not a million miles away (and I mean that in the most positive way). If that's an issue for you, then that's your loss.

4/5

I've blasted this month's playlist a fair bit over the last week and have to say it got off to a good start. I enjoyed the first four tracks immensely, Nordjevel being a new one on me as are BFC. I haven't listened to Dawn's Slaughtersun, but I am a fan of the debut and the track here is great, so I must rectify that. It doesn't seem a particularly popular opinion, but I quite like BaN's psychedelic-tinged recent stuff and this seems to be continuing the trend, so it's all good by me.

Unfortunately I became unstuck with both the Xasthur and Falls of Rauros tracks, I have always struggled a bit with FoR and haven't really bothered with Xasthur. I found both the tracks here to be a bit dull to be honest. I love the DsO track and their latest album generally, having recently taken possession of my vinyl copy, so that was a win anyway and Infernal Coil was as brutal as I would expect from an album tagged as war metal and deathgrind. Unfortunately, it seems that Shade Empire were trying to become the first black metal band to write a James Bond theme song with their track here and I couldn't listen to it without picturing Daniel Craig jumping out of a helicopter!

I'm not mad keen on Dark Funeral (from what I have heard) but this track from their latest sounds pretty decent. Äera seem to be under everybody's radar with very few ratings on RYM, but deserve better on the strength of this 2020 single. Enslaved's track is one of my picks, so is obviously a favourite but, in all honesty, this really is a classy slab of progressive BM I'm sure you will all agree. Saidan are a new one on me (and seem to be a relatively new band anyway). More black n roll than black metal, but actually quite enjoyable nonetheless, despite not being earth-shattering.
Blood & Valour is my all-time favourite war metal album so needless to say the Bestial Warlust track, Barbaric Horde, gets a massive thumbs-up from me. I have always found Torn Beyond Reason a bit of a chore to be honest and agree with Vinny that this track from Woods of Desolation is way too -gazey for my own particular taste. I haven't listened to a lot of Ultha, but what I have heard has been damn fine. Their contribution here is great - soaring and pummelling atmo-black.. and who the fuck expected a sax solo to close out the playlist!?

So generally a solid playlist, a couple of classics and some new stuff I will have to check out, although there are probably more tracks I didn't care for than has been the case over recent months, but hey, you can't win 'em all can you?

Hi Ben, please could you add Italian symphonic black metal band Abhor.

II will probably only rarely comment on the features from The Gateway, Revolution or Sphere because I am not sure I can say anything helpful about most of them. 

You may want to make an exception for this month's The Sphere feature Sonny as I have a feeling you'll appreciate it.

Yes, you are correct!!

In fairness I only said rarely would I comment, not never (that probably only applies to The Revolution). The Gateway, Sphere, Guardians and Infinite will likely all throw up releases I won't feel up to getting involved with, but equally I am just as likely to find something to enjoy there too, it depends really.

Quite simply the best industrial black metal album available. My review:

Thorns were formed in 1989 as Stigma Diabolicum, changing their name to Thorns in 1990 and are the brainchild of Snorre W. Ruch who, as any black metal historian knows, was the man sentenced to eight years in prison in 1994 for being an accomplice in the murder of Euronymous by Burzum's Varg Vikernes (although Vikernes has since said Ruch was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time). This enforced hiatus meant that despite releasing a couple of well-received demos in '91/'92 Thorns didn't release their debut and sole (up to time of writing) album until 2001. According to well-known metal historian Fenriz, Ruch actually invented the black metal riffing technique and was the guy who taught it to Euronymous, so certainly his black metal credentials are impeccable. Apart from Ruch, the album features Mayhem's Hellhammer on drums and vocal duties were shared between Dødheimsgard's Aldrahn and Satyricon's Satyr. The album musically is an unholy alliance between quite brilliant early second-wave black metal menace and machine-like industrial influences. Now I have never tried to hide my love of nineties black metal, but I find industrial metal to be hit and miss, too often sounding contrived and even corny on occasion. Luckily Thorns seem as adept with their industrial rhythms and effects as they do with their black metal blasting and manage to marry the two with unrivalled skill and as a result produce one of the all-time great industrial black metal albums and my personal favourite in the style.

Thorns' agenda is set from the off with opening track Existence kicking off like a straight-up BM track, very much like Emperor's earlier stuff actually, but after about thirty seconds or so the track stops abruptly and someone exclaims "Jesus... what a mindjob!" The track then kicks back in, but significantly changed with a weird, theremin-like effect added and a much more machine-like aesthetic, particular in the percussive department, as if they are saying "we can do that, but instead we're gonna do this". They also like to intersperse their black industrial core with some dissonance to further prevent the listener from getting too comfortable and to keep them on their toes. One such track is the second, World Playground Deceit, which is initially quite dissonant, but then right in the middlle of the track they plant a thrash metal riff and you just start to get your head nodding when the angular and dissonant nature of the track suddenly returns and you are left hanging (but in a good way!) Shifting Channels is a track where the band seem to go all-in on the industrial side and is extremely machine-like in both percussion and riffing with a slower tempo and disturbing, almost crooning vocal that sounds like a serial killer talking to himself. The second half of the album opens with a brace of connected tracks, Underneath the Universe parts 1&2 which bring something quite different. Part 1 is mostly a dark ambient piece, that features some excellent martial drumming earlier on before giving way to a fairly reflective cosmic ambience that provides a stillness at the heart of the album in contrast to the industrialised cacophony going on elsewhere. Part 2 sees the return of the martial drumming which is joined by an equally military-sounding riff as the vocals intone once more the inner workings of a disturbed mind.

All in all this is an exceedingly adept realisation of the industrialised black metal aesthetic, with neither component dominating the other, both working together in a synergy that lifts the music to a level few similar practitioners have ever come close to. I think it would probably appeal to fans of black metal more than it would your average Fear Factory or Ministry fan, but that is as much down to BM being a hard sell outside of it's adherents than any commentary on the quality shown here. If you are in the market for industrial black metal then you really have got to start with Thorns as most others are merely pale imitations.

4.5/5

Arð only has one album out Ben and yes, the track on the playlist is representative of the album as a whole. He is the keyboard player with Manchester black metallers Winterfylleth and I think this is his first stab at doom metal. There's a lot to like on the album as it provides something a bit different.

I have only properly got into Ufomammut myself recently, actually since Daniel selected the collab with Lento as a feature, and I've really been enjoying what I've been hearing. A completely underrated band.

Not one, but two fantastic albums turn thirty years old today - Baphomet's The Dead Shall Inherit and Incantation's Onward to Golgotha.

That was some day that 5th May 1992!

Thanks for the feedback guys (and the vote of confidence). I'll continue to baffle you all with my self-opinionated bullshit then!

Could you add Canadian sludge metal duo Mares of Thrace please Ben.

Also, could you add Firebreather's new album Dwell in the Fog, Fostermother's latest, The Ocean and Alunah's 2022 release Strange Machine.

Thanks Ben.

I must confess that prior to my short hiatus three weeks or so ago, there were certainly things that felt like they were becoming a chore. More specifically, I was feeling obligated to check out all the monthly features even though it was fairly obvious that  I was never going to enjoy some of them. As a consequence I will probably only rarely comment on the features from The Gateway, Revolution or Sphere because I am not sure I can say anything helpful about most of them. And, let's be honest, I am also unlkely to ever listen to a playlist from The Revolution either. I was starting to feel that my listening habits were being taken over by the site and was beginning to feel disenfranchised from my own listening!

I say these things only as a cautionary tale, because I was feeling under (self-imposed) pressure to contribute and try to improve engagement with the site, but unfortunately that kind of backfired. I think we should all contribute only as much as provides enjoyment otherwise it does run the risk of becoming chore-like.

One thing I would appreciate some feedback on is what is acceptable as constituting a review on the site. I have sensed a certain attitude that you must write some sort of academical treatise on every release you review for it to be acceptable. My own style of review writing is never going to fall into that category as I have neither the skill nor knowledge to produce such pieces, but I would rather say something about a release, even if it is only one paragraph, especially if there are no other reviews for it rather than just let it sit there with a pile of numbers next to it. Do the rest of the membership consider that view to be acceptable or would you rather be like metal-archives and require everyone to have a masters degree in music before accepting their review submissions?

There are some fantastic album titles there Ben: Cave Attack!, Pre-Historic Eruption, Bullet Wind, Holy Krieg - Crimson Axis and my favourite The Hard Facts of the Scary Touhou world!

I may have to check some of these out...

...[edit] OK, after checking out a couple of tracks on Hard Facts of the Scary Touhou world, I don't think I'll be delving any further. I'll be charitable and say it just isn't for me. It puts me even more in awe of your unswerving tenacity and dedication though Ben!

1. How are you all enjoying them? Do you look forward to listening to & compiling them?

I enjoy the ones relating to my chosen clans and I do look forward to checking out what is on them each month. I may occasionally spend an hour or two with additional ones from The Horde or The Infinite. They are a good source for finding new stuff to check out more fully. Obviously, since I finished working, I may have more time than most members, but even for me it is a lot of time to invest in listening to more playlists than relate to my own clans.

Compiling the playlist for The Fallen is a task I get a huge amount of satisfaction from and enjoy immensely.

2. Is the two hour length appropriate?

For clans where the overall track lengths tend to be longer I think two hours is fine (Fallen, North, Infinite). Maybe for Clans like The Pit where the tracks tend to be shorter a reduced runtime would be more appropriate. I would suggest more than twenty tracks is probably too many for a monthly playlist.

3. Do you think monthly is the right release schedule? Would bi-monthly or quarterly be more suitable & encourage a higher quality of submissions? Could it be different for different clans?
This is a question I must admit I am not sure about. A month is definitely too short a time to check out more than two or three.

4. Should we consider dissolving a couple of the less popular playlists altogether or would that potentially confuse things?

What are the less popular playlists? I don't know about getting rid of them, but maybe ones with little support, such as The Sphere would be better reduced to an hour.

5. Do we have the track submission limits right? Is there a better way to manage the compiling of the lists?

As regards The Fallen, yes I think the track submission limits are fine. I am unsure now whether you are saying that we should still be submitting tracks we have been listening to recently or not. I thought the primary purpose was to reflect what members had been listening to over the previous month or so. Is this no longer the case and if not what should we be using as a criteria for selection?


5. Any other suggestions or comments?

In common with Vinny I wonder who we should be aiming the playlists at. If the intention is to showcase the clan in order to gain new listeners/members then I would probably include more well-known acts in order to attract attention. If the primary consideration is existing clan members then I would probably go for a higher percentage of lesser-known material, under the assumption that fellow clan members are already very familiar with the more popular releases. But as I said above I was under the impression that the lists were meant to reflect the listening habits of the clan members over the prior weeks.

I think we could all help each other a bit more by providing more feedback on the success (or otherwise) of the monthly playlists, allowing us all to learn what works and what doesn't. Do you have any listening statistics from Spotify (is it even possible to access any)?

Can I assume from your questions Daniel, that you and Ben are unhappy with how the playlists are panning out in their current form?

That was definitely a challenge!!

Nice one Vinny. Jetsetting to the home of death metal eh? Let us know if you bump into Glen Benton!

As you say, Vinny, the debate around what was the first death metal release is kind of a moot point as fans will all view it differently, but I have made allusion to it throughout the thread as it seems like such a good point for stimulating discussion. I personally don't really care because whether a release is extreme thrash or early death metal, if it sounds great, it sounds great whatever and I enjoy both styles anyway. The main reason for this exercise is that there is an awful lot of modern (i.e. post-2000) death metal that I don't "get" and so I wondered if I retraced the path through death metal history if it would ultimately give me some deeper insight and understanding of more modern DM (plus I would hopefully get to discover some previously unheard gems).

Also, I am hoping along the way that I might complete a Horde clan challenge that may see me accepted into the mead halls of The Horde to sup with the Champions of Death Metal!

I think most of us (certainly us pre-internet metalheads anyway) have similar experience with albums like you had with Slowly We Rot. I've not had to hide my stuff from my parents personally, but back in the day I did have to buy The Sex Pistol's Never Mind The Bollocks for my younger sister and keep it with my albums and pretend it was mine (my dad was more protective of the girls than he was us lads)! But as I have said earlier in the thread, there are albums that just mean more to me for different reasons, some are very dependent on time and place and the people they remind me of, so that the attachment to them transcends the mere music on the disc or in the grooves of the LP. These are the albums I find it hardest to review because some of the feelings I have towards them are so intangible and are difficult to put into words. Sadly I also think that is another of the experiences the internet has robbed us of - there just isn't the same attachment to an album being streamed or downloaded as there was if you had made the effort to go into town, hand over hard-earned cash and buy an LP then sit poring over the sleeve on the bus on the way home, dying to throw it onto the stereo and blast the shit out of it. As music has become more accessible it has also become far more disposable as a result I feel.

Sorry, just a stupid old codger waxing nostalgic again!

Morbid - December Moon Demo EP (1987)

Morbid were a death/thrash/black metal band from Sweden who never had an official release before splitting in 1988, a couple of it's members going on to form Entombed (guitarist Ulf Cederlund and drummer Lars-Göran Petrov who was vocalist for Entombed). This demo is (in)famous for featuring legendary Mayhem vocalist Dead and features four tracks with a runtime of 17 minutes. I have loved this from the very first time I heard it, so much so that I managed to get a copy of the Reaper Records 2000 version a couple of years ago that set me back about £30. It's death metal is very thrashy in execution and, mainly because of Dead's contribution, has quite a black metal sound, at least vocally. The production is very good for a demo, there is a hefty bottom end to it that contributes to the deathliness of the riffs and the playing itself is very good indeed with the band sounding like an inordinately tight outfit for a bunch of guys who had only been together a couple of years and had never put out a studio album. The songs are brilliant and easily rival the early stuff from the German thrashers on whom a lot of their material seems to be based. Similarly to the Poison demo this is probably more important to the black metal historian than the death metal antiquarian but either way it is a fantastic snapshot of a band who I wish could have produced more because if they were this good on a demo then we can only guess how fucking great they could have been had they put out a proper album or two.

5/5

OK, so that takes me up to the end of 1987. I am going to take a break from this thread for a few days while I check out some other stuff I've been wanting to listen to and queue up the next batch of releases for perusal here. We're on to 1988 next and things are starting to get serious!

Autopsy - 1987 Demo EP (1987)

The first demo from one of my favourite death metal practitioners, California's Autopsy. It was released in December of '87 and is made up of four tracks with a runtime of 13 minutes. The tracklisting is: 1. Human Genocide 2. Embalmed 3. Stillborn 4. Mauled to Death, the middle two of which would appear later on their Severed Survival debut. In common with many of these early DM demos there is still a certain amount of thrash metal riffing present within the sound as the band explore the realms of extremity and move towards what would ultimately be defined as death metal and more explicitly the doomy, cavernous-sounding style that they would make their own during the early nineties. That said, they are well progressed down that path to death metal heaven and this is one of the most brutal and filthy-sounding of these early demos it has been my fortune to encounter. The sound is very good indeed for an eighties death metal demo and there are no massive issues with the recording quality. Musically the band are quite tight for a group of guys who had been together for a relatively short amount of time. The downtuned guitars are obviously a major distinctive feature of Autopsy's aesthetic and they do sound deeper and more seismic than most of their peers. Ex-Death skinsman Chris Reifert's drumming is pretty lethal too and I would suggest he has improved considerably from the performance on Scream Bloody Gore to the one he turns in here. His vocals are still a work in progress as he hadn't at this point perfected the guttural growl of Autopsy's later official releases. My favourite track has got to be the occasionally slower-paced closer Mauled to Death which is as unforgivingly brutal a track as you could hope to have heard in 1987 and, for me, is a whole new level of brilliant. I would hold this up as close to Morbid's December Moon EP as one of the best ever metal demos.

4.5/5

Holocausto - Campo de extermínio (1987)

An album that is as infamous for it's imagery as it is for it's music, these Brazilians were probably just trying to find a new way to be shocking (instead of the already overdone satanic/occult imagery used by countless others) rather than harbouring any fascistic tendencies. Hailing from Belo Horizonte, home of Sepultura and many other Brazilian extreme metal outfits, vocalist Rodrigo Magalhães and drummer Armandinho Sampaio were in previously featured thrashers Mutilator.
It must be said that despite Holocausto's attempts at extreme metal, they are nothing like as accomplished as a band like Sepultura were at this stage - a fast-paced track like Facção revolucionária armada for example really shows the band struggling, both drums and guitar having trouble keeping up and playing in time and ultimately coming across as a bit of a mess to be honest. The bass seems to be mixed to the fore and is actually louder than the guitars on some tracks (III Reich for example). To be fair, the band are much more effective with the less blisteringly-paced material. I don't know if this was a particularly influential release at the time of issue, but I wouldn't place any particular importance on it historically other than for the ill-advised aesthetic and within the Brazilian thrash scene of the late eighties.

3.5/5

That's a very interesting explanantion Daniel. I don't personally know any DJs (although I do have a friend who is a brilliant graffiti artist!) so I wasn't aware that is what they do. It must certainly help in forming an opinion if you have trained your mind to pick up on things so quickly.

Tne "active listening" thing is a good point too. This is partly what I mean about having to "work" at listening to music because, for various reasons, I find it hard sometimes to concentrate. The first couple of listens I tend not to even try and just sort of let it wash over me to get a handle on it and how it chimes with me emotionally. A further listen or two are then when I try to form an opinion of the music and then I will try to put it into words, usually while listening to it again at the same time.

Of course if I don't much care for it after a listen or two then I won't bother delving further. This is sometimes where I will later pick up again on releases I have previously dismissed and reassess them more favourably.

I wonder, Ben, if the fact that neither you nor I are musicians, whereas Daniel is, colours how we assess the music we listen to. My attatchment to the music I hear is emotionally-based rather than technically and, as we all know, emotions are volatile and can change, sometimes quite abruptly, so it could be that someone like myself hears music differently than someone like Daniel who has a deeper understanding of what he is hearing on a more objective level, whereas my own experience is entirely subjective as I have no deeper understanding of what I am listening to. I imagine it a bit like an engineer looking at a technical drawing and being able to envision what is depicted, whereas to me it is just a mess of indecipherable lines. Just a thought.

I know this is probably overthinking things but I think it is endlessly fascinating how the exact same piece of art, be it literature, painting or music is viewed and appreciated completely differently by different people.

I know I'm going to fuck up explaining myself here but I'll give it a go. When I talk about putting music in it's proper context I don't really mean historically in the usual respect, but rather from a personal perspective. It is just a fact that certain albums stick with us because of a time and place or the circumstances of our coming across them. I have personal favourites from the mid-eighties like Death Angel's The Ultra-Violence or Sabbat's History of a Time to Come or even earlier albums like Witchfynde's Give 'Em Hell that I am fully aware aren't perfect or maybe even top tier, but the circumstances and timing of my discovery of them chimed with me in a way other, better albums may not have - like Justice for All which at the time I was a little disappointed in and so have never allowed to become a personal god-tier release, Rust in Peace being another one. These are both generally acknowledged by most metalheads as being better than those others I have mentioned, but they aren't to me.

So what I mean by putting an older release into perspective is coming at it with fresh ears and taking it for what it is, not what I may or may not have previously perceived it to be. I guess others are able to approach music with less personal bias than myself, but I often have to make a conscious effort to strip away personal expectations and prejudices. So with Scream Bloody Gore I was lazily listening for an album that wasn't there when, in fact, what actually was there was right up my street, I just hadn't noticed it. I know I've probably made myself sound like a fucking idiot, but that is just how it is with me. For all sorts of reasons, music appreciation and critiquing isn't something I am naturally able to fall into easily, I sometimes have to work quite hard at it and may not often be that successful, but I do love it so I'll keep going.

Death - Scream Bloody Gore (1987)

So at last we arrive at Death's debut full-length, but first off let me say I have been a massive jerk. Now hear me out before you try to argue with me on this! I have always been a bit dismissive of Death and failed to see the reverence in which they are held. The reason, I now realise, is that I have always taken them out of context, something I actually get quite chippy about with younger metal heads when they do it. Now listening to this after Possessed's Seven Churches and their own demos, I can at last hear it for what it really is, which is a groundbreaking bridge between the more brutal thrash metal and true death metal. No, I don't feel that this is yet death metal fully-formed, as it still has too many thrash riffs and the drumming is still not quite there yet, but it has definitely advanced things on in extremity from Possessed's debut. Scream Bloody Gore takes riffs from the most aggressive thrash metal and brutalise them, turning them into something more primal and dark even than those cranked out by the likes of Slayer and Possessed. Chuck Schuldiner's vocals still don't really have that guttural quality that the best death metal singers possess, but they are still pretty evil sounding for 1987. The drums and bass are moving towards the more cavernous sound that would epitomise the death metal of the early nineties and the vocals have that distant quality that plays into this aesthetic.
This isn't cerebral metal, not by any means, this is visceral and dangerous music with extremely violent lyrics that would most definitely have upset Tipper Gore and the PRMC back in '87 (which has got to have been a good thing). This was blue collar metal for those who wanted to work out some aggression after a day of putting up with shit at their place of work and needed to put on a disc and bang their fucking head until it went away. And that is something I can really get behind. This was for people like me from shitty industrial towns who saw bands like Motley Crue and Ratt and thought "This isn't fucking L.A., these guys have nothing to do with me". In truth, if I had heard this when it was released (which I didn't, it was many years later when our paths crossed) then I would most definitely have lapped this shit up - something that out-brutalised Reign in Blood, fuck, sign me up! The tracks here are insanely brutal-sounding for 1987 and still manage to provide an adrenaline rush all these years later, such is their quality. So, on  reflection, I must wholeheartedly apologise for my previous attitude towards Death and in particular their debut. I was probably guilty of misplaced expectations and was listening for what I wanted to hear, not what the band had presented, which is an album that pushed metal further than any other at that point and sowed the seeds for a whole new genre of metal brutality which would still be going strong these 35 years later.
4.5/5

Necrophagia - Season of the Dead (1987)

It seems as if Necrophagia's debut album was actually released a few months before Death's Scream Bloody Gore, so it is surprising that it isn't mentioned much in the "what was the first death metal album" discussion. Maybe that's because it isn't anything like as good or consistent as Death's debut or possibly because Necrophagia didn't go on to be as influential as Death. Whatever the reason, it is certainly not a record or band I knew anything about prior to listening to it now, 35 years after it's release. In truth, despite it certainly having death metal credentials, at least more so than Seven Churches, I found it a bit patchy and inconsistent. There are still a degree of Slayerisms present and it often sounds similar to Sodom, but there is also more than that here and a greater dive into extremity that results in some undeniably death metal-sounding riffs. Of course, what we tend to forget is that death metal was not yet a thing as such and the process was an evolution as much as revolution. It's not a bad record at all, but personally I think it pales beside Seven Churches, Scream Bloody Gore and the early Sepultura stuff I've been listening to and is merely second-tier material.
3.5/5

Fucking hell, I really hated those guys. The glam "metal" (about as metal as Elvis) scene produced some shit, but these guys were the shittiest. I may have to abandon this thread now that there's a picture of them tossers in it!

Just so we are clear, this is the REAL Poison:

I think a bit of patience probably wouldn't go amiss. Apart from the time differences, people do have a life outside of the internet. We may not be aware of another member's current situation and sometimes an internet forum may not necessarily be their highest priority. Remember we all do this voluntarily and don't need to be hassled if things aren't done bang on time.

I was quite recently going through The Fallen's releases for the early nineties to see if there were any gems I may have missed over the years and yes, there were a few. Standing on  the Sun is one such release and is a real belter. It is sometimes genuinely hard to believe that some albums have gained zero traction over the years - this is thirty years old and has a mere 120 ratings on RYM. I know I'm a bit biased as far as doom metal goes and this probably won't do much for the younger members out there, but this is a far better album than that suggests. Anyway I'll repost my review as I still stand by it:

This is truly one of the hidden gems of the early nineties' doom scene and is a record I can't believe isn't more popular among fans of traditional doom metal. Hailing from Frederick, Maryland, Internal Void were apparently pretty well-known in the Washington DC area, yet seem to have gained little traction outside the US capital's rarified atmosphere, which is a great shame as this album kicks all kinds of ass and, to these grizzled old ears at least, gives more highly-regarded releases from the time a run for their money if not actually whupping them into submission. Despite being in existence for since 1987, with a two-year hiatus around 2013, Internal Void have unbelievably only released three full-lengths of which Standing on the Sun is their debut.

Musically Ithe band sit somewhere between Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus and sound similar to The Obsessed, particularly the guitar work of Kelly Carmichael who's dirty riffs are obviously influenced by Wino. Carmichael also turns in some red-hot solos that seem to howl into the aether like a wounded beast and contain passing nods to both Tony Iommi and, I would dare to suggest, Rush's Alex Lifeson. Vocalist J.D. Williams often times sounds like Ozzy but at others sounds more like Wino but either way, his vocals are perfectly appropriate to this style of grimy trad doom. The rhythm section of future Earthride drummer Eric Little and bassist Adam S. Heinzmann, whilst not doing anything showy or overtly impressive, provide enough of a solid foundation for both Carmichael and Williams to launch their sonic salvos on unsuspecting metalheads' ears.

Standing on the Sun is an impressive slab of doom metal and contains enough remnants of Sabbath's heavy metal to perfectly illustrate what is meant by the traditional doom metal tag. There are some supremely heavy riffs and some that have a nice "groove" to them as well in a more stoner-influenced style. In fact, Kelly Carmichael has turned in one of my favourite guitar performances of nineties doom metal on this, with both his dirty riffs and psych-influenced leads really sticking with me. His intro to Utopia of Daze even apes the anticipatory build-up intro to one of my favourite tracks of all-time, The Stooges I Wanna Be Your Dog, before slowing it down and turning in yet another killer riff-fest.

So there we have it, if you are into old-school, Sabbath-influenced doom metal as practiced by Saint Vitus, The Obsessed, Count Raven or Pentagram then you really should wrap your ear'oles around this fantastic hour's worth of trad doom awesomeness.

Poison - Into the Abyss (1987)

Poison were a German extreme thrash outfit that never had any official releases except for a single track on a Roadrunner sampler before splitting in '87. This is the last of their demos and consists of four tracks spanning thirty-three minutes with a really good sound quality for a 1980's underground demo. It is hard to ascribe any particular genre to Into the Abyss... other than to say that this is a definition of extreme metal in the late eighties. Combining elements of Slayer-inspired thrash with Possessed/Death death metal and Bathory/Sodom/Celtic Frost first wave black metal, coupled with a Lovecraftian horror aesthetic, these guys produce half an hour of extreme metal nirvana. That is the great thing about this time in the history of metal - there wasn't any hard and fast guidelines yet so some bands just went balls-out to produce the most extreme shit they could manage. The playing itself is quite accomplished and proper respect needs to be shown to drummer Alex Gilliar (aka Witchhammer) who gives a good account of himself with some outstanding skinswork as he batters the shit out of anything that moves. The riffs are great and vocalist Armin Weber (aka Virgin Slaughter) has an evil-sounding blackened snarl. This may ultimately have been more of an influence on black metal than death metal going forward, but I just couldn't ignore such a cool recording for this thread. This is a much respected and well-regarded demo for damn good reason. Surprisingly, considering the reverence for Poison and Into the Abyss... in particular amongst devotees of extreme metal, only one of the four members (guitarist Uli Hildenbrand) continued any career in metal beyond the lifespan of Poison. If you have any interest in the development of extreme metal then you really need to hear this seminal demo.
4.5/5

Another couple of thrash bands from Chile if you would be so kind Ben:

Nuclear

Apostasy

Nice choice Vinny. This was one of my favourite albums of 2020 which was quite a strong year for black metal. I have already written a review which I have revised slightly and will repost here as it still sums up my feelings towards the album:

Onirik hails from Portugal, hardly known as a hotbed for black metal and is the solo project of one Gonius Rex who has released several reasonably-received albums since 2004 under the moniker. For me, this is my first exposure to the project so I went in having no particular expectations for this latest album. It features seven songs with a total running time of forty-five minutes, the longest, Assigned to the Inexorable Flames, weighing in at nine minutes. Vocally, Gonius Rex goes more for the croaking style of Abbath rather than soul-shredding shrieking and actually sounds impressively evil. Lyrically the themes explored involve the usual dark, occult-based search for forbidden knowledge and experience so intrinsically linked to black metal's core aesthetic - so far, so expected. Musically, it is a bit more ambitious than that however, with a discordant, busy guitar sound that gives it some avant-garde credentials and replaces traditional black metal riffs with a still direct, but more chaotic style that is heavily influenced by Deathspell Omega I would suggest. The overall effect is a lightning-in-a-jar exercise in controlled chaos and may either set your head a-spinning or fire up your blood, depending on your state of mind at the time of listening. That said, there is an absolute killer of a riff during penultimate (and my personal favourite) track Murmurs of the Aging Vessel that any real fan of black metal should lap up and closer Apathy of Might is in a more conventional black metal vein than the preceeding forty minutes. Initially I was under the impression that this was entirely a solo project, so was extremely impressed by Gonius Rex's drum skills, but this isn't the case, rather he hired ex-Enslaved and Gehenna skinsman Dirge Rep to handle the drumming. I think this was a very sound decision as an electronic kit or a less adept practitioner could have had a severe detrimental effect on the album's execution, but Rep's skills are such that the material is significantly enhanced by his presence. The songwriting and instrumental skills exhibited by Gonius Rex mark him as an exceedingly talented individual with black metal circles and this talent probably deserves more attention than Onirik currently enjoy.

Overall, this isn't actually the style of black metal I prefer, I am much more of a traditionalist, yet there is something about this album that appeals and I can't help but keep coming back to it and I guess that is the mark of a great album, so I consider this one a winner.

4.5/5

Hi Andi, I would like to submit a track for June's Revolution playlist:

Converge - "Trespasses" from "All We Love We Leave Behind" (2012)

It is hard to reconcile mid- to late-nineties and beyond Sepultura with the band that produced their first few releases. I know you can't expect bands to keep playing the same old stuff, but later Sepultura just doesn't compete with the albums from Morbid Visions to Chaos A.D. in my opinion (and I suspect a lot of other people's too).

Hi Ben, my submissions for The North's June playlist are:

Slaughtbbath - "Black Revelation of Death" (5:42) from "Contempt, War and Damnation" (2017)

Marduk - "Throne of Rats" (2:43) from "Plague Angel" (2004)

Dissection - "A Land Forlorn" (6:40) from "The Somberlain" (1993)

Teitanblood - "Anteinfierno" (4:57) from "Death" (2014)

Runtime: 20:02

My submissions for the June playlist Vinny:

Hellish - "Souls of Desolation" (5:47) from "The Spectre of Lonely Souls" (2018)

Slaughtbbath - "Amulets of Carnage" (3:33) from "Alchemical Warfare" (2019)

Megadeth - "Five Magics" (5:39) from "Rust in Peace" (1990)

Anthrax - "Indians" (5:41) from "Among the Living" (1987)

Nuclear - "War Depletion" (4:16) from "Jehovirus" (2010)

Possessed - "March to Die" (3:12) from "Beyond the Gates" (1986)

Total runtime: 28:08

May 2022

1. Firebreather - "Kiss of Your Blade" from "Dwell in the Fog" (2022)

2. Mares of Thrace - "Offerings of Hand and Tongue" from "The Exile" (2022)

3. MonumentuM - "Fade To Grey" from "In Absentia Christi" (1995)

4. Down - "Temptations Wings" from "NOLA" (1995)

5. Mar de Grises - "Sleep Just One Dawn" from "Draining the Waterheart" (2008)

6. Bismuth - "Weltschmerz" from "The Slow Dying of the Great Barrier Reef" (2008)

7. Obsidian Sea - "Mythos" from "Pathos" (2022)

8. Electric Wizard - "We Live" from "We Live" (2004)

9. Type O Negative - "Love You to Death" from "October Rust" (1996)

10. Isole - "Soulscarred" from "Silent Ruins" (2009)

11. Acid Bath - "The Blue" from "When the Kite String Pops" (1994)

12. Hangman's Chair - "Cold & Distant" from "A Loner" (2022)

13. Arð - "Only Three Shall Know" from "Take Up My Bones" (2022)

14. Profetus - "Northern Crown" from "The Sadness of Time Passing" (2019)

15. Ufomammut - "Stardog" from "Idolum" (2008)

16. The Ruins of Beverast - "Exuvia" from "Exuvia" (2017)

Sepultura - Morbid Visions (1986)

The version of Morbid Visions I have been listening to also has the Bestial Devastation tracks from the 1985 split with Overdose so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and cover both here. As much as I am a huge fan of the four albums from Schizophrenia onwards, I have never even listened to these earlier releases before now... and wow, what a treat they are! It is amazing to think that the Cavalera brothers were mere teenagers at the time, but the fearlessness of youth, I suspect, enabled them to produce a brace of releases that pushed the envelope of what was then considered extreme in the metal world.

First off, Max has got the best iteration of the death growl heard up to this point, being deeper and gruffer than most of the other frontmen of the time who's vocals still remained very much in the Tom Araya / Mille Petrozza barking style. The playing is a bit messy and some of the transitions aren't as smooth as people would like, but hell, they were still learning their craft and yet mananged to produce a fireball of furious riffing and incendiary soloing that gives a real insight into just how fucking awesome and ahead of the curve early Sepultura were. I am not a person who is impressed by flashy showmanship or technical wizardry (in fact, quite the opposite) so I may be better disposed to such an obviously flawed release as Morbid Visions because, for me, it succeeds by sheer force of will and energy in presenting something that is just so damn exciting I can't help but love it. This is heartfelt metal from a band of youngsters in it solely for the love of metal at this point and that ethos shines through really brightly on this debut album. It seems strange that this is never mentioned much in the conversation about early death metal releases because there seems to be plenty here that qualifies - Mayhem and War both sound very death metal to me and as a whole I would venture it is more death metal adjacent than Possessed's Seven Churches is. The production isn't great, the drums seem to be pushed too far to the fore, sometimes at the expense of the guitar and there isn't much by way of bottom end but, for me, this is only a minor issue and certainly isn't a deal breaker as far as future listening potential goes.

Bestial Devastations consists of an intro and four tracks, again the production leaves a lot to be desired (sounding a bit like Seven Churches production-wise) and the performance could be tighter, but all the tracks have great riffs and an infectious energy that true metal heads should find difficult to ignore. Both the split and debut full-length marked Sepultura out as a band who would most likely go places and were pretty extreme-sounding for 1986 and are deserving of being part of the conversation surrounding the development of death metal in the 1980s.

4/5

Morbid Angel - Abominations of Desolation (recorded 1986/released 1991)

This was recorded in 1986 but was shelved by the band as they faced some lineup issues and were unhappy with the sound of the album. It was heavily bootlegged but eventually was cleaned up and given an official release by Earache in 1991 and this is the version I have been listening to. It's got to be said that this seems to raise the bar as far as metal extremity went in 1986 and you can't help but wonder if the argument about the first death metal album would have been well and truly been settled if it was put out at the time of recording. The riffs here sound like something beyond the ultra-aggressive thrash metal that was being produced by the most extreme bands at this time and more like a whole new thing entirely, Trey Azagthoth proving that from the very get-go he was ahead of the curve when it came to writing death metal riffs. In fact the riffing and the solos are the major draw for me here, their sheer brilliance somewhat overshadowing the other aspects of the album. Lyrically Morbid Angel looked to the Necronomicon for inspiration and consequently the lyrics are very much occult-centric. As many other commentators have pointed out, the weak point is drummer / vocalist Mike Browning and his performance behind both kit and mic may well be the reason that Abominations of Desolation was shelved (and his leaving the band, although an altercation with Trey over a girl is also cited as the reason for the latter).

To choose to shelve the album was a brave move really when you think about it, after having put the effort into producing a debut record, then holding off until they considered themselves better placed to produce a worthwhile release must have taken a great deal of discipline. Rather than just wanting to see their name on a record sleeve they took the conscious decision to wait and that must be applauded as it shows a band willing to go the extra mile to get across their true vision rather than settling for less. Most of the tracks here (all except for Demon Seed I believe) have been reworked and released on later albums, proving that they never felt the material itself was weak, but rather it didn't come across as they had envisioned in this form. On the whole, I would say this is not merely a release of historical importance in the emergent death metal scene of the 1980s, but is a decent release in it's own right and the perceived weaknesses aren't complete deal breakers for me, as the material and guitar work is still strong enough to give the recording value.
3.5/5

Possessed - Beyond the Gates (1986)

Possessed's follow-up to Seven Churches was always going to have a struggle to live up to it's seminal older sibling. Beyond the Gates seems to see Possessed pull back from the abyss and doesn't pack the punch of Seven Churches, as the band settle for a more conventional thrash metal release, toning down the more extreme aspects of what made Seven Churches such compulsive listening. This doesn't make Beyond the Gates a poor album, it is a good album, no doubt about it. There are some terrific riffs, the band have tightened up and the production is very good. But therein lies the problem, especially within the scope of this thread - the chaotic, kinda messy sound of the debut contributed massively to it's apppeal for a lot of it's fans and the fact that the follow-up was cleaner and less extreme was seen as a negative and a backward step. While others were cranking-up the extremity in their sound, Beyond the Gates feels like a safe move. Ultimately your opinion of the album is going to depend on what you are looking for. If you just want to hear a really solid mid-eighties thrash album then roll on up because this has the goods, but if you want to hear a band developing the extreme sound of a landmark release even further down the rabbit hole then you will be disappointed I think.
4/5

Not one of my favourite genres by any means, but my top five looks like this:

1. Sepultura - "Chaos A.D." (1993)

2. Grip Inc. - "Nemesis" (1997)

3. Slayer - "Diabolus in musica" (1998)

4. Machine Head - "Through the Ashes of Empires" (2003)

5. Mutant - "Pleiades" (2016)

What is becoming increasingly obvious as my project proceeds is that the eighties were a kind of primordial swamp of metal music from which the earliest forms of extreme metal genres emerged to further evolve into distinct entities on the dry land of the nineties. Albums like Hymn to Abremalin were probably only possible then because everything was still up for grabs and although conventional thrash was quite well established at this point, black and death metal were still being distilled and refined from a thrash foundation and even doom metal still had much evolution to go through before reaching it's more extreme forms. Interesting times indeed weren't they?

Look, I've always quite liked Messiah's "Hymn To Abramelin" to be honest. It's certainly not something I return to all that often but I think there's enough quality there to keep me interested. The problem I find with it though is that the tracklisting is so inconsistent with the quality levels differing greatly between excellent tracks like "Messiah" & "The Dentist" & disposable stuff like "Anarchus" & "Future Agressor". Thankfully I find that the highlights are strong enough to carry the filler though. I've got it pegged for a 3.5/5 rating personally. It's probably worth mentioning that I've never seen it as a death metal record. It's a thrash metal release with black/speed metal influences to my ears. 

I can hear thrash, black, doom and some death metal here, with a thrash primary and rhe others as secondary genres, but even then the black and death metal aspects aren't fully-formed. This general "try a bit of everything" approach is the album's great failing and the reason for it's inconsistency. Oh, and the spoken intros are horrible. But it IS an interesting release for anyone who is interested in the development of extreme metal. Again, this is an album I have only become aware of by doing this project, so as much as I am trying not to, I am coming at it with modern prejudices and it still sounds a bit of a mess to me - not without it's moments it must be said, but still a mess.

Messiah - Hymn to Abramelin (1986)

Well, this is certainly an interesting album in the evolution of metal during the mid-eighties. What is it with these Swiss bands that they can't just stick to one genre on an album? This one seems to blend thrash, black, death and doom metal into an unholy fucking stew of extreme metal - and all before some of these genres even really existed! Does this mean it's any good? Well actually, not necessarily because, to be honest, it is just such a fucking mess sometimes that it is hard to keep patience with it and what the hell is going on with the numerous spoken word intros? Unsurprisingly given my history, my favourite track was the doom metal of Space Invaders, this track and it's slower pacing being less sloppy and messy than most of the others, sounding a bit like Cathedral's Serpent Eve from Forest of Equilibrium. Future Agressor is quite decent too and kind of reminds me of Burzum's War from Varg's first album.

Full marks to them for trying to out-extreme virtually every other band on the planet, but minus points overall for the fact that they were actually, well.. a bit shit - enthusiastic for sure, but shit nonetheless. I know I have stated before that I would take enthusiasm and energy over technical adroitness, but this stretches the point. A curiosity release in the development of extreme metal and an interesting album for the metal historian, but nothing more than that I would say.

2.5/5

Another trio of demos this time from 1986, from Genocide (Repulsion), Death and Mutilator:

Genocide: The Stench of Burning Death EP (1986)

The final demo from Genocide before they changed their name to Repulsion is an important release in the US grind world. It is pretty rough sounding but it's twelve tracks are brutal and unforgiving grindcore, most of which would eventually end up on Horrified. The guitars struggle a bit to be heard, but it is an interesting demo nonetheless as it is hard to believe it didn't influence the emergent death metal bands as well as the grindcore scene.

I don't intend to delve any further into grindcore at this point, but merely use the Genocide demos as an indicator as to where extreme metal was at in 1986. A journey through the world of grindcore may  well be a project for the future!

Death - Mutilation EP (1986)

Three-track demo recorded in San Francisco on April 12th & 13th 1986. Tracks are: Land of No Return, Zombie Ritual and Mutilation, the second and third finally appearing on Scream Bloody Gore. This demo sounds really good and the vocals sound particularly great, exuding an evil not even achieved on the debut LP. They have obviously come on quite a bit from the Death by Metal demo at this point and the sheer vitality and professionalism on show here are probably how they got their deal with Combat records - I would certainly have given them a deal on the strength of this demo!

Mutilator - Bloodstorm EP (1986)

A much better demo than '85's Grave Desecration, the sound here is very good indeed. The three tracks featured are Bloodstorm, Mutilator and Evil Conspiracy, the first two of which ended up on '87's debut album, Immortal Force. The track Bloodstorm sounds a real slab of evil death metal, although it seems to have been cut off quite abruptly. Definitely an illustration that Brazil was no mere backwater in the evolution of extreme metal in the 1980s.

Note that the demo depicted isn't this one it is the earlier Grave Desecration demo, but the audio is for Bloodstorm.

I have always approached Seven Churches from a thrash metal perspective so that may be why I score it higher than yourself Daniel, because when considered as a thrash album it is undeniably fucking brutal. I agree about the Slayerisms present in Possessed's material, I dont know if Jeff was just fucking with everybody, but the Slayer influence isn't really up for debate is it? Apparenttly he was massive mates with the Exodus guys, so maybe he gave them a nod to keep them sweet.

What do you think about the production on Seven Churches? Do you think that echoey, "cavernous" sound it possesses was particularly influential on bands like Autopsy and the other death/doom bands of the early nineties?

Death - Death By Metal EP (1984)

Legendary five-track cassette demo from 1984 that has all the expected production issues, yet despite that it still manages to give an idea of how vital and aggressive Death's early tracks were. Opener Legion of Doom is a slower tempo piece that just sounds fucking evil through and through. The band are obviously very young and more than a little sloppy, but there is enough on show here to indicate where they were trying to get to and the fact that they could write a decent fucking riff, such as on Evil Dead. Despite it's poor sound this is a really interesting early Death demo and has legendary status for good reason.

Despite the general consensus pointing to Possessed's "Death Metal" demo, I've always thought that Death's "Death By Metal" was the true birth of true death metal, despite its tendency to emulate Possessed. I just find that it manages to push over that line in ways that Possessed couldn't manage consistently at that early stage. In saying that though, I get a fair bit of enjoyment out of the Possessed demo but none of the Death ones hold up to much scrutiny other than from a purely historical perspective these days in my opinion. "Reign Of Terror" probably came the closest to being something I can genuinely say that I enjoy but still fell a little short. 2/5 for "Death By Metal" from me.

I must admit, it is a little bit intimidating discussing Death Metal with guys so obviously well-versed in the genre as our Horde members, as my knowledge of it is severely lacking, but that is why I'm doing this in the first place. I will always say what I think, but if any of you think I'm full of shit please don't be afraid to say so.

I think it's fair to say that Death are nearer to what is accepted as death metal than Possessed, certainly at this point. It's difficult to assess in looking back retroactively as obviously Death Metal didn't yet exist as a separate entity, so in appraising retroactively the perception of these demos is coloured by our foreknowledge of what Death Metal would become, whereas at the time they had to be taken on their own merits and it is obvious that both Possessed and Death were pushing the envelope of metal extremity. As I said, I really love that opening track, Legion of Doom but I think Evil Dead is great too.

Luckily, and I know there are those who won't believe me, but I don't struggle much with shitty sound issues and I try to hear beyond the physical limitations of the recordings, so I genuinely do get a ton of enjoyment out of these early demos.

Apparently El infierno de Dante has Glenn Benton on a couple of tracks, so they must at least have grabbed his attention somewhere - maybe a support band from a Deicide Mexican tour? Benton's presence here is probably why that is the most popular of their albums.

And so to the first contender for the title of "First Ever Death metal Album"

Possessed - Seven Churches (1985)

I wish I could say that I have been a fan of Seven Churches since it first came out, that it changed my metal world and set me on my path to extreme metal appreciation, but unfortunately I was never so cool that I got into underground metal as soon as it was released, especially as, at the time, I lived in the arse-end of nowhere in England's industrial north west where the metal underground was on another planet entirely and the metal community I was part of numbered only one - me. Anyway, despite coming to it late, it was still instantly obvious, even to me, that, given the date of release, this is one hell of an influential album in the evolution of death metal.

Possessed were born out of the rarified atmosphere of the early eighties Bay Area thrash scene and although their sound would indicate that they were heavily influenced by Slayer, they themselves always cited Exodus and Venom as their main influences (quite plausibly I suppose, if you think about it). They released a demo in 1984 featuring three tracks which would eventually turn up on Seven Churches, Evil Warriors, Burning in Hell and of course, Death Metal. After playing a few shows with them, Exodus got Metal Blade interested and the track Swing of the Axe (featured on their second demo and a blistering track in it's own right that sadly doesn't appear on Seven Churches) was featured as the opener on the compilation Metal Massacre VI. This track got the attention of Combat Records and Possessed were offered a deal, releasing their debut full-length in 1985. The rest, as they say, is history. Now, is this the first death metal album? Personally I don't think so as it still retains a huge amount of thrash metal DNA, but Possessed had definitely pushed thrash to it's limit and had introduced elements that would be expounded upon later by true death metal outfits like Death and Morbid Angel.

So to the album itself and after the Tubular Bells intro, The Exorcist bursts from the speakers like a wild animal, tearing through your eardrums with an aggression and savagery that had been unthought of at this point in '85. Sure Slayer were plenty aggressive, but this opening salvo from the new boys was on a whole new level and it becomes apparent very early on that there is to be no respite from this blitzkrieg until the last notes have played out. The production first off isn't anything like as clear as the majority of metal albums you would hear in 1985, it's slight echoey sound possibly being the first iteration of that quintessential cavernous sound that became so requisite of old-school death metal. The riffs are tore through at breakneck pacing and are ridiculously heavy, the soloing is straight out of the Jeff Hannemann school of blistering, psychotic-sounding and squealing guitar torturing. Jeff Becerra's vocals and satanic / demonic lyrics went even further into the extreme than Tom Araya, his half scream / half growl paving the way for more and more vocal extremity in metal as subsequent singers tried to sound even more "evil" than the Possessed frontman. The drums are more in keeping with the thrash metal zeitgeist, not really possessing the blastbeat-heavy pummelling of true death metal drumming and are one of the main reasons why I still consider this mainly a thrash album. But of course there's that final track and, much like Venom with Black Metal, the band are at least assured a mention in the death metal conversation having coined the genre name. Every track here is killer and still sound great now, closing in on forty (count 'em) years later. This album has every right to be mentioned alongside thrash greats like Reign in Blood and Master of Puppets for it's sheer aggression and an almost tangible evilness and whether it is death or thrash metal is moot because either way it is a classic metal album in it's own right.

Sadly, Possessed never approached this level of awesome again in my opinion, but does that really matter because what they produced here was a catalyst and a precursor to one of the most prolific extreme music genres in history and most definitely secured them a legacy and immortality beyond the vinyl grooves of a mere record into the collective folklore of metal - listen to early Morbid Angel and Possessed's influence is plain for all to hear.
5/5

A couple more demos from 1985:

Possessed - 1985 Demo

An eleven minute, three track demo featuring tracks, Fallen Angel, Swing of the Axe and Death Metal. Tracks 1 and 3 would end up being the closing brace of tracks on Seven Churches and Swing of the Axe was featured as the opening track on Metal Blade's Metal Massacre VI compilation. Typical eighties demo quality sound, but the sound issues can't dampen the exhilharation induced by these heart-pumping slices of metallised adrenaline.

Mutilator - Grave Desecration EP

Mutilator hailed from Belo Horizonte in Brazil, home of Sepultura and this early demo is very much in the same vein - super-aggressive extreme thrash with gruff, growling vocals from singer Sílvio Gomes, who was actually a roadie for Sepultura (and still is I believe). Guitarist Alexander "Magoo" also turned down a chance to join Sepultura in 1987 when Jairo Guedz left the band. The sound is quite poor and doesn't really do the three tracks justice but does show that thrash metal in Brazil was moving in a more extreme direction.

Metal Blade Records - Metal Massacre VI (compilation)

I was only concerned with listening to Possessed's contribution, Swing of the Axe, which is the first track and so I didn't delve any further than that. Swing of the Axe is a pretty good slab of thrash, but I can maybe see why it didn't make it onto Seven Churches. The comp also features tracks from Hallows Eve, Hirax, Dark Angel and The Obsessed so I'll maybe have to check the whole album out at some point.

I decided to start in 1984 with some demos from bands recognised as influential in the development of early death metal:

Possessed - Death Metal EP (1984)

A 1984 three-track demo, all three of which would turn up on Seven Churches: Death Metal, Evil Warriors and Burning in Hell. Obviously, the production isn't great, but it isn't completely terrible either and the tracks still sound pretty good, exhibiting a lot of the energy and aggression their later versions would exude in excess. The only problem is with Burning in Hell, the production is unable to handle the track's extreme tempo and it's faster parts just become a fairly incoherent aural blur.

Death - Death By Metal EP (1984)

Legendary five-track cassette demo from 1984 that has all the expected production issues, yet despite that it still manages to give an idea of how vital and aggressive Death's early tracks were. Opener Legion of Doom is a slower tempo piece that just sounds fucking evil through and through. The band are obviously very young and more than a little sloppy, but there is enough on show here to indicate where they were trying to get to and the fact that they could write a decent fucking riff, such as on Evil Dead. Despite it's poor sound this is a really interesting early Death demo and has legendary status for good reason.

Genocide - Toxic Metal EP (1984)

An eight-minute, three-track demo from the band that would become Repulsion. The sound isn't great, but it does have an energy and vitality that comes across even in such primitive form. The three tracks are out-and-out, hi-energy, extreme thrash metal, no more no less and are well worth checking out if you are a fan of the thrash metal underground.
Tracks: Armies of the Dead, Satan's Whores and Crack of Doom.

A verry good month as far as the clans I am interested in are concerned:

1. Monarch! - Omens 4.5/5

2. Sinister - Diabolical Summoning 4.5/5,

3. Sear Bliss - Glory and Perdition 4/5

4. D.R.I. - Full Speed Ahead 4/5

5. Godflesh - Merciless 3/5

I can't really be bothered with the rest of the features as I would just be listening to them out of obligation and don't have any real interest in any of them. In all honesty I think I'm going to take a hiatus for a couple of weeks as I'm feeling a little bit burnt out. Nine features and playlists, compiling the Fallen playlist, feeling the pressure to repeatedly listen to stuff outside my comfort zone and then feeling obliged to try to write five paragraph reviews of albums I only have a few lines to say about, are all taking their toll and draining the joy out of my listening experience at the minute.

As a result I am going to take a break for the rest of the month and try to connect with what I enjoy in metal. I will still submit a playlist for the Fallen at the end of the month as I have already done most of the work on it.

This is no reflection on the site itself which is fantastic, but is more about my own interaction with it. So I'll see you all in May. Happy Easter!!