Death
Scream Bloody Gore
[Combat]
This is Death's first album, and as far as I'm concern, their only worthwhile
release. I know a lot of people swear by later Death material, but for my
money, "Scream Bloody Gore" was really the only listenable thing they ever
produced (although I'll admit that their 2nd album (Leprosy) wasn't
quite as turgid as everything else after it).
Musically, this is first generation/wave American death metal, and has very little to do with the "brutal" death metal of today - you won't find any blast beats or cookie monster vocals on this. Simplistic song structures, and equally simplistic riffs (in contrast to later day Death), but that's all part of the "charm". Comparisons could be drawn to the other big name in American death metal at the time : Possessed (although where Possessed also mixed in a satanic black metal feel and aesthetic, Death instead chose to align themselves with all things horror and gore related), and parallels could also found to Canada's Slaughter (of which Evil Chuck was actually a member for a very brief period in time - previous to this recording). The production duties on this album were handled by Randy Burns, and he does a fine job in capturing the dynamics in the music (although the vocal sound on this is WAY too close to that of Jeff Becerra, and at times I also find the bass guitar to sound too "plucky" for my liking)...still, both of these are minor irritations at worst (although I can remember the vocals sound being quite a source of disdain for myself when this was first released - not because they're bad, but because (as I've already said) they are just too similar to the Possessed vocal style...having followed Death from their early demo days (both with and without Kam Lee on vocals), this was NOT what I (and a lot of my friends) were expecting).
Highlights of the CD ? "Evil Dead" (my all-time favorite Death song), "Baptized in Blood", "Zombie Ritual" (both also old favorites from the "Live at Ruby's" tape days), and "Beyond the Unholy Grave" (the second best Death song ever after "Evil Dead", and a nice addition as one of the two bonus tracks not originally available on the LP release, but presented on the CD version (the other bonus track being "Land of No Return").
Conclusion : A good CD which stands the test of time (it's almost 13 years old now), and while not quite the glorious Death of 1984, still the best Death CD out there...
© 1999 chorazaim
Musically, this is first generation/wave American death metal, and has very little to do with the "brutal" death metal of today - you won't find any blast beats or cookie monster vocals on this. Simplistic song structures, and equally simplistic riffs (in contrast to later day Death), but that's all part of the "charm". Comparisons could be drawn to the other big name in American death metal at the time : Possessed (although where Possessed also mixed in a satanic black metal feel and aesthetic, Death instead chose to align themselves with all things horror and gore related), and parallels could also found to Canada's Slaughter (of which Evil Chuck was actually a member for a very brief period in time - previous to this recording). The production duties on this album were handled by Randy Burns, and he does a fine job in capturing the dynamics in the music (although the vocal sound on this is WAY too close to that of Jeff Becerra, and at times I also find the bass guitar to sound too "plucky" for my liking)...still, both of these are minor irritations at worst (although I can remember the vocals sound being quite a source of disdain for myself when this was first released - not because they're bad, but because (as I've already said) they are just too similar to the Possessed vocal style...having followed Death from their early demo days (both with and without Kam Lee on vocals), this was NOT what I (and a lot of my friends) were expecting).
Highlights of the CD ? "Evil Dead" (my all-time favorite Death song), "Baptized in Blood", "Zombie Ritual" (both also old favorites from the "Live at Ruby's" tape days), and "Beyond the Unholy Grave" (the second best Death song ever after "Evil Dead", and a nice addition as one of the two bonus tracks not originally available on the LP release, but presented on the CD version (the other bonus track being "Land of No Return").
Conclusion : A good CD which stands the test of time (it's almost 13 years old now), and while not quite the glorious Death of 1984, still the best Death CD out there...
© 1999 chorazaim