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Possessed - Seven Churches
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There has been a lot of debate among heavy metal fans on what band
is considered the originators of death metal. Some give the honors
to Florida’s Death, the band who can be credited to proving that the
state had more going for it than retirement and mouse ears. I
suppose it all comes down to an East Coast, West Coast thing, and
while Death certainly did quite a bit for the genre, I’m not alone
with the feeling that it was Possessed who can be herald as the
first death metal act.
Possessed’s 1985 release Seven Churches was unlike anything else at
the time heard in the underground scene. While bands like Metallica
and Slayer were already gaining a huge following, Possessed played
faster, heavier, and while they didn’t have the guttural growls that
many death metal bands have these days, their first release became
the influence of a number of future artists.
The early days of metal, before black metal came along with Bathory,
was filled with evil lyrics, and Possessed had songs that were ripe
with references to Satan, hell, and darkness. These however do seem
rather junior high when compared to what some bands are writing
these days, and though lyrics like “Hell, evil, Satan's curse/From
the sky it falls/Metal burns my fucking brain/Satan took the fall”
are definitely laughable, but again, these became influential in the
industry.
Seven Churches really doesn’t have a bad track on it, and Possessed
unleashes faster, grinding guitars, noisy leads, and the once
typical one-two drum beat to create a masterpiece of death metal
mayhem. There are definite strand out tracks such as The Exorcist,
Pentagram, Death Metal and the title cut, Seven Churches, but this
is also one of the few albums that can be listened to start to
finish without need to skip a song. Though many of the riffs seem
simplistic by today’s standards when you have bands like Decapitated
and Krisiun using complex patterns, Possessed has an unrelenting
approach to their music.
On an interesting side note, for anyone who didn’t already know, the
demise of Possessed years later eventually lead guitarist Larry
Lalonde to a more unlikely band. Primus is a definite change from
the doom and gloom that was a part of Possessed’s sound, but Larry
is an incredibly unique guitarist no matter what project he’s in,
and Seven Churches merely highlights one style from this capable
musician.
Death Metal is becoming more and more popular as the years go by,
but for all new bands that come along, Possessed can still be
considered the first in terms of release, and Seven Churches is a
death metal masterpiece that any fan should add into their
collection if they haven’t already.
-mike-
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Line-Up:
Mike Torrao (guitar)
Mike Sus (drums)
Jeff Becerra (bass & vocals)
Larry Lalonde (guitar)
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Track Listing:
01 - The Exorcist
02 - Pentagram
03 - Burning in Hell
04 - Evil Warriors
05 - Seven Churches
06 - Satan's Curse
07 - Holy Hell
08 - Twisted Minds
09 - Fallen Angel
10 - Death Metal Running Time:
38 Minutes
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