Author Archives: Guido
Death ’til Death – Day 2: Possessed
Yesterday Death were my first pick in our Death Metal week. When someone’s talking about archetypal Death Metal and mentions Death, you’ve also got to acknowledge Possessed’s legacy. Arguably the very first band to play the genre, known as Death Metal nowadays, Possessed influenced countless bands.
Possessed, just like Death, were formed in 1983. Their first lineup included Barry Fisk on vocals, but his time in the band was cut short when he committed suicide by gunshot in front of his girlfriend. Shortly after that Jeff Becerra joined the band handling vocal and bass duties.
Yesterday in my post about Death, I argued that the term “death metal” was coined by Death, or rather people referring to them. That was just one theory though. There are a bunch of theories about who came up with the term. In 1984, for example, Possessed recorded a demo called Death Metal. Jeff Becerra himself claimed to have come up with the term. After all, it’s up to debate, and it’s not really that important either way.
What’s important though, is the music Possessed created. Their debut album Seven Churches, released in 1985, further pushed Slayer-esque Thrash Metal into a heavier direction and remains a classic of the scene. Their second album Beyond The Gates couldn’t match the overwhelming reaction Churches received, mostly due to poor production and a change in direction. The band only released one EP after that, The Eyes Of Horror — which was produced by none other than guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani. Shortly after that, the band disbanded.
Even though Possessed only released two studio albums and one EP, the band had left a huge mark on the early Death Metal scene. Seven Churches remains one of the most important releases of the genre, and Possessed remain one of the most important bands of the genre.
Possessed – The Exorcist
Death ’til Death introduction – Day 1: Death – Day 2: Possessed – Day 3: Morbid Angel
Day 4: Cannibal Corpse – Day 5: Nile – Day 6: Hypocrisy – Day 7: Obituary
Death ’til Death – Day 1: Death
When I announced our week dedicated to the most important Death Metal bands of all time yesterday, I guess everyone had one band in mind: Death. They’re an obvious choice, and were the very first band to spring to my mind when I came up with this idea. My idea was to either cover them first or last, and ultimately decided to go with the fathers of Death Metal first.
Death were started under the name of Mantas in 1983. Mantas recorded five demos, including the infamous Death By Metal demo, before changing their name to Death. “Evil Chuck” Schuldiner; vocalist, guitarist and temporarily bassist of the band; named the band Death to turn the death of his brother Frank into something positive.
The name “Death,” and the early demo Death By Metal, are also the reasons why the genre was named Death Metal. Early Death Metal bands usually played a heavier Thrash Metal style, up until Death, and some notable other bands, changed the game. In the early and mid 80’s, people therefore referred to this style of music as Death’s metal — which over time turned into Death Metal.
This band is not only responsible for the name of this Extreme Metal genre, they’re also responsible for a number of groundbreaking metal releases. While Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy are landmarks of the early Death Metal scene, Individual Thought Patterns and especially Symbolic were pioneering releases of Progressive Extreme Metal.
Symbolic was, and still is, one of the most important monuments in all of metal. Death were, and still are, one of the most important bands in Death Metal. That is the reason why I just couldn’t skip this band in this one-week column. Death Metal without Death wouldn’t be Death Metal.
Death – Empty Words
Death ’til Death introduction – Day 1: Death – Day 2: Possessed – Day 3: Morbid Angel
Day 4: Cannibal Corpse – Day 5: Nile – Day 6: Hypocrisy – Day 7: Obituary
Death ’til Death – Death Metal week coming up
Some of our older readers may remember the four editions of ‘Thrash ’til Death,’ I posted earlier this year in March and April (links below). I just recently stumpled across these articles again and thought about how much fun I had writing about one of my favorite music genres. And it got me thinking.
Thrash Metal is indeed not only one of my favorite music genres, but it’s up there with another Extreme Metal genre. You’ve guessed it: Death Metal. If I had to choose between the two, I’d probably go with Death Metal, because I listen to more Death than Thrash Metal bands. Luckily I don’t have to choose, so I can just embrace both of them.
And that’s what I’m going to do this upcoming week. I’ve already covered my favorite Thrash Metal bands, so it’s time to talk about my favorite Death Metal bands. Not only my favorite bands, but I’d like to cover the quintessential, most important Death Metal bands of all time. Unlike my posts about Thrash, I’m dedicating each post to one band, and I’m going to post these articles daily for the next week.
So for all the slow ones: Dose of Metal starts its Death Metal week tomorrow. For seven days, we are going to post daily about the seven most important bands of the most extreme genre known to man. This is going to be brutal.
To get you into the right mood, here is a band that didn’t make my list, but deserves an honorable mention.
God Dethroned – Execution Protocol
And you can find my Thrash ’til Death posts here:
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4
Hemoptysis still slaughter, release new video
Our friends of Hemoptysis just released a new music video for the song ‘M.O.D.,’ which is my personal favorite song off their album Misanthropic Slaughter. You can view the video above and read a little statement from Masaki Murashita, Hemoptysis frontman, below.
“We are very excited to release the video for ‘M.O.D.’ We shot the video in Vail, Arizona with Big Shot Studios, the same company that filmed ‘Shadow of Death.’ We had a blast shooting this video and we hope our fans enjoy it.”
If you haven’t seen the video for ‘Shadow Of Death’ already, shame on you. But being the nice guy that I am, you can watch that video after the jump.
Weak Recap: Metalheads Anonymous
Hello and welcome to your daily MA meeting here at Dose of Metal. We are here to guide you, through group therapy sessions, from music for posers to music for true metalheads. Metalheads Anonymous is the only way to turn you into a headbanging, beer-drinking metal elitist.
The first item on the MA agenda is the weekly Weak Recap. If you want to look forward to become a metalhead, you have to look in the past how the metalhead elite has done it. And let’s face it, there is no better place to learn of metal than at Dose of Metal.
So let’s get it started, shall we? Go ahead and make the jump.
