Category Archives: Rants

Writhing

With Guido discussing some of the most influential Death Metal bands in his “Death Metal Week” series, I thought I’d highlight a band that influenced more or less nobody, but still caused me some psychological damage when I was 17.

I was never a Death Metal kid. Since none of my friends were either, my exposure to Death Metal was limited to catching a Morbid Angel or Obituary video on ‘Headbanger’s Ball.’ While good, these bands were hardly the most “extreme” bands in the genre, even in those early days. I wanted something that was uncomfortable to listen to and, if found, would force my parents to stage some sort of intervention.

Then one day, while browsing the cassette racks at the local music store, I came across The Dead Youth’s album Writhing. I knew instantly where my lawn mowing money was going. Make the jump for more.

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

Metallica would suffocate with just metal, says Ulrich

For those of you still hoping that Metallica will one day snap out of it, and actually return to their thrash roots, here’s a little Lars quote for you:

“People would like us not to stray beyond certain boundaries. That would kill Metallica. We feed on freedom. We love coming back to metal, but we need to turn over rocks or we’d suffocate. That’s our DNA.”

Read full article here.

Look, there’s nothing wrong with ‘straying beyond boundaries’ for a band. We understand, you’re musicians, it’s your band, you have the right to go softer or do weird collaborations with the elderly citizens.

Problem is, you never actually ‘come back to metal.’ You really don’t, unless you count the live shows where, indeed, you do play mostly the classic songs. No one would have cared about the Load/ReLoad albums if they were just a phase, followed by AJFA (or at least Black Album) part deux.

But it never happened, once you strayed, you were gone, and that’s what upsets the fans. Again, I understand the concept of ‘my band, my rules.’ Start playing pop music if you want, it’s your right. But if you’re wondering why fans are upset and the metal community angry, this is why.

You’ve seen the positive comments on Death Magnetic. Go all the way next time, and everyone will forgive you for Lulu.

By the way, here are a few photos of Mr. and Mrs. Hetfield visiting the Taj Mahal: Photo 1 | Photo 2 | Photo 3 | Photo 4

Source: Blabbermouth

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