Sarcófago - I.N.R.I. (1987)

Oh nostalgia. When I listen to bands like Beherit, Mayhem and Brazil's own death thrashers, Sarcófago, I'm instantly taken back to those late teen years when I was discovering this previously unknown form of sonic extremity most commonly known as black metal. Emerging out of Belo Horizonte, Sarcófago took metal brutality to unforeseen new levels with 'I.N.R.I.,' combining from their small list of influences, which most likely included the likes of Hellhammer, Venom, Celtic Frost, Sodom and Death, these Brazilian's came up with something immense here.

In just twenty eight minutes the listener is completely lambasted by the bands sick, cruel, raw and just plain ugly sounding tunes. Wagner Antichrist's vocals are demonic raspy barks and utterly low growls and with even a few high pitched falsettos, though by no means sounding wimpy or corny at all! Butcher's guitars set the standard for black metal at this point, both in playing style and tone as they are a total assault of tremolo picked riffs with a raw grinding pulse that would be more popularized by Norwegians five years down the road. There's also a few quick Slayer-ish solos that just make the music more intense. D.D. Crazy's drum work is likewise just a whirlwind of relentless pummeling drum skin unlike anyone before him, though somewhat unfortunately Incubus' bass guitar is almost completely absent, in less of course you really open your ears for it.

I've always found the entire album to be of first rate material, though the opening song 'Satanic Lust' really sets things into place from the get go, while 'Nightmare' or 'Deathrash' are honestly catchy in that total old school way and of course the title track is amongst one of the most brutal songs in the 80's and with one of the most memorable and awesome lyrically conclusions ever, "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you Jesuschrist!" Generally though I find zero failure in the bands efforts, though of course if you require things to be neat and clean and technical sounding than maybe you wont get it, but for those that love that 80's proto black/death/thrsh sound than this basically the cream of the crop.

Over the years I have, for whatever reason, never really explored the band past this album, largely because I always heard things changed a lot, dropping the Satanic image and going for lesser extreme sound, instead of building upon the might they created and as such I never wanted to ruin my thoughts of their unrivaled greatness. Perhaps another reason being that their albums were never really readily available, but labels like Greyhaze Records has changed that recently so it may be time to explore onwards.

Years later 'I.N.R.I.' remains a pillar of excellence within the black/death/thrash scene, inspiring tons for over two decades now, and as such its easily one of the best out there and absolutely required of you to listen to it.

Holy Terror - Terror and Submission (1987)

Formed in Los Angeles, California in 1986 by Kurt Kilifelt after his departure from Agent Steel, Holy Terror's debut, 'Terror and Submission' is a greatly overlooked aggressive thrash/speed metal gem from '87, released through Combat Records.

Holy Terror was a bit different in style compared to say, Metallica, Slayer or Exodus, as they had a fair balance between fast, hostile and crushing thrash metal and a more melodic mid-paced guitar driven sound that at least to my ears sounded different by 1987 thrash standards. 'Black Plague' opens calmly enough, but after a demonic voice and light ambiance Kurt Kilfelt and Mike Alvord's pounding riffs hit hard rendering the listener nearly unconscious with killer, though somewhat strange leads, while Keith Deen's vocals are delivered in a harsh wailing sort of tone. 'Evil's Rising' is somewhat slower in overall speed, but makes up for it with a very catchy chorus as well as some breathtaking solos and grand melodicism throughout, whereas, 'Blood of the Saints' opens mid-paced, but unleashes all the fury around the minute mark with a cascade of brilliant riffs and once again boasts a memorable chorus and sharp solo.

Holy Terror: Cool and calm thrashers

'Mortal Fear' curiously kicks off with a stolen Iron Maiden riff, but charges onwards at a fast pace, while, 'Guardians of the Netherworld' is much more mid-paced with an old school heavy metal vibe to it. My favorite song however is, 'Distant Calling,' as it starts out destructive, but within a few seconds the listener is hit with a beautiful and mighty fetching melodic lead and some of Deen's best and more focused singing as well yet again this one is not really a thrash song, but nevertheless is incredibly catchy throughout its duration. The following three songs are all great too, especially the title track and the albums closer, 'Alpha Omega - The Bringer of Balance.' A total thrashers paradise!

'Terror and Submission' is definitely a classic, that's generally fast and hard hitting without sacrificing great song writing or talent, though its one that seems to have been somewhat forgotten in history, perhaps since the band was finished by 1989 when they relocated to Seattle and decided to play punk rock under the Shark Chum monicker instead. Nevertheless both their debut and sophomore album, 'Mind Wars' have seen re-released through three different labels, which means it should be easy enough to track them down. Do it!

Slaughter - Strappado (1987/2012)

"Make way for the Incinerator!"

Back in the 80's warriors like Razor, Sacrifice and Slaughter reigned supreme and were at the front of the Canadian metal scene releasing some the most bad ass thrash metal imaginable. Slaughter in particular stands out more so for me since the band straddled the borders between extreme thrash and the early pioneering death metal sound. In fact, in 1986 Death's own Chuck "Evil" Schuldiner had a rehearsal with Slaughter, which proves that Florida wasn't the only place where death metal was being created.

The bands one and only record, 1987's, 'Strappado' is a record of legendary status, which has been re-released many times as well various compilations of demos, rehearsals and old live shows have also appeared in the past ten years. This particular version of the album I'm reviewing is the 25th anniversary edition, which is a 2CD set that includes both the LP and CD versions of Strappado (different running order plus additional songs on CD ver.) and live material from a show in '86 on disc one and on the second disc the, 'Meatcleaver', 'Bloody Karnage' and 'Surrender or Die' demo tapes, which makes a total of 55 songs and nearly three hours of music.

Recorded in February of '86, although not released until sometime in '87, 'Strappado' is a masterpiece of ripping thrashy early pioneering death metal played with a Celtic Frost and almost punk-ish sort of vibe, which although similar at times to South American bands like Sepultura, Sarcofago and Pentagram this one was conceived before all of those bands demos/albums and is generally faster and more barbarous too. The music itself is sort of simple, generally a single riff repeated several times over loud pounding drums and gruff shouted vocals and somewhat corny but fun lyrics with a totally underground production. What makes it really stand out is the music is quite fast, crazy and absolutely extreme for its time. There's barely any technical wizardry on display here, there's no face melting solos and all of the songs are fairly short too, but its just simply early youthful, maniacal, energetic extreme noise at its finest and as always I love stuff like this. There's just something about these crunchy raw riffs, insane vocals and the vicious hammering of the drums that I can't seem to get enough of!

The live songs, which close out the first disc of this set are as expected quite raw and full of emotion and from the sounds of things a totally crazy crowd too. Apparently Slaughter only played something like 15 shows during their lifespan and it seems the lack of shows just brought out more maniacs when they did perform. Nevertheless bootlegged live material is usually hit or miss with most people, but hearing these live cuts is always a fun way to experience these great songs.

The second disc kicks off with the, 'Meatcleaver' demo from August 31st, 1984. To me it sounds almost more like a rehearsal tape rather than an official demo due to the lo-fi and raw sound. Here the music is even more simple, not as fast and with a more obvious punk sound showing through, especially in the vocals. For the most part this demo is pretty goddamn funny to listen to, especially the title track, which has completely hilarious rhyming lyrics and in a funny sort of way it reminds me of these recordings my brother and I did when we were in our early teens. Basically we sang over rock/metal songs and added ridiculous parody lyrics and such, but that was probably just a result of listening to Weird Al too much from years earlier.

The 'Bloody Karnage' demo from December 31st 1984 follows and the months apart from these two demos shows some serious progression. The music is still quite raw and rehearsal with a thin drum and guitar sound, but the music is a lot faster and the seeds of what would become are starting to grow on this demo. Finally the, 'Surrender or Die' demo from April 1985 shows a Slaughter that's most comparable to what would soon be found on the full-length. The production is probably a little more crude here, but the compositions are spot on and this demo also offers a few songs that wouldn't be re-recorded, such as, 'Shadow of Death,' 'Eve of Darkness,' 'Cult of the Dead' and a cover of Hellhammer's, 'Massacra.'

Slaughter themselves would eventually break up in the late 80's, citing annoyance with the music business as the reason, although the band briefly reformed in the early 90's under the name Strappado and again in '94, another brief reunion as Slaughter the band recorded a Celtic Frost cover for the, 'In Memory of...' tribute CD. Bobby and Dave would also go on to play in a band named Inner Thought that had a few albums in the early to mid 90's and other than Dave's guest vocals on a recent Sacrifice record everyone else from the band has been done with music for many years now.

Many great bands came and went in the 80's, some just a few demos or some like Slaughter, which recorded a landmark early pioneering record of metal extremeness. 'Strappado' is surely an album that should be in every old school metal fanatics collection and with this ultimate edition now available you have no reason not too.

"1, 2, Fuck You!"

Testament - The Legacy (1987)

I've admitted it before and I can say it again - Testament was one of those bands I missed in my early youthful metal days. A shame too, especially since I knew the name and saw their CDs all the time, I just, ya know never bought any of their albums until I was in my early twenties. The bands debut, 'The Legacy' happened to be the first and its still my favorite from the band too.

Testament like a lot of bay area thrashers (and thrashers in general) have a mostly solid, but still varied musical career, which was massive in the late 80's but started to wane in the early 90's when thrash metal died. Most of the songs are fast, aggressive and full of technical flair, which was typical of the genre, but Testament steps it up on this one. Lead guitarist Alex Skolnick was just twenty at the time and his shredding is absolute class, with a charge of impressive catchy riffs and pummeling solos few could top this guy at the time. His axe slashing partner, Eric Peterson turns in an equally powerful performance, bassist Greg Christian does his part as well, though his lines are mostly lost in the very quiet production and you really only hear them if you have the album playing at exceedingly high volumes, while Louie Clemente pounds the drums flawlessly with bursts of double bass, interesting fills and some small solos too. Vocalist Chuck Billy attacks with a hostile angry voice, maniacal screams and some decent clearly sung parts too. Oh, and lets not forget them awesome gang shouts too!

As I mentioned earlier most of the album is fast paced and the band really shines on songs like, 'Over the Wall,' 'C.O.T.L.O.D.' & 'First Strike Is Deadly,' especially that solo, goddamn! This is one of those total riot albums, head banging, fist pumping and thrashin' like mad! 'The Haunting' is a bit slower, 'Apocalyptic City' has a slow but awesome intro which eventually breaks full force and 'Alone In The Dark' is sort of commercial and catchy sounding, but still a great song. Notably this album was also released on Atlantic Records, which means along with Metallica they were one of the first thrash bands to sign to a major label.

Its debatable for some whether or not this is Testament's gem, especially since they'd get more diverse and eventually cross over to playing death metal in the late 90's, but for me this straight forward release called, 'The Legacy' is Testament's finest statement.

Napalm Death - Scum (1987)

As it stands I pretty much fucking loathe, grindcore, because much like death metal it eventually became just a contest to see who could play the fastest and growl the lowest. Unfortunately in the case of grindcore it also became a game to see who could write the shortest song, which thankfully as far as I know Napalm Death still holds that honor. Likewise it became the main musical vehicle for loser musicians with no talent whatsoever who would start solo grind projects with as far as I can tell the only intention being to gross somebody out. Lame.

Starting out as a hardcore punk band in 1982 and after a series of demos and members passing through their ranks, the band finally recorded the first half of, 'Scum' in August of '86, while the remainder of the record, side two, was finished in May of '87 with a slightly different line-up. As it stands this is considered the first grindcore album and although I've just professed my hatred for the genre, I can honestly say I like early grindcore pioneers, such as, Carcass, Repulsion and these dudes from, Birmingham, England, UK.

Going back to this early recording its clear to see that grindcore hasn't evolved much in the past 20+ years, but what makes these early records actually standout is that there is a sense of character to it, or if you wish, there's actually music underneath all the raging blastbeats, distorted guitars and grumbly shouted vocals. Of course as this is grindcore, most of the songs are under two minutes, in fact several are even under a single minute, while, 'You Suffer' has the prestigious honor of being the shortest song ever recorded, clocking in at 1.316 seconds. Nicholas "Nik Napalm" Bullen shouts, screams, growls and screeches throughout the first twelve songs while future Cathedral front man, Lee Dorian does similarly on the remaining songs, though his grunts of torture are rather amusing if I do say so myself. That's a good thing. To me it sort of sounds like a fat humorous Saturday morning cartoon character that's trapped in a big sack with a mouth full of honey while he fights his way out. Lyrically its quite different too with words on politics, social issues and just good 'ol fashioned hate. Also technically I'm not sure if this album or grindcore can even be consider a sub-genre of metal since this baby just sounds like an overly caffeined hardcore punk band on smack.

The whole experience is really an audio nightmare too since both sides were recorded in an 8-track studio. The guitars have an awful early 80's hardcore punk tone to them, although the drums are raw and absolutely intense throughout, but they tend to overshadow the vocals most of the time. The overall volume and clearness is total balls too, and it just gets worse when you flip the record over.

So, why do I like this album? Fuck if I know, man, I just do. Its simple and intense and it has that youthful rebellious spirit behind it like so many other greats from the 80's had. I mean who the hell would have thought music like this existed as far back as '86. Craziness, I tell you. Strangely when the bands not blasting away there's amazingly a few catchy riffs within this record, which may or may not make you bang your head, but for what its worth I choose to do so to the title track as well as a few others.

By some stroke of odd luck I remember I heard Napalm Death when I was quite young, seriously when I was about 10 or 11, and it happened just because my older brother had one their records. 'Utopia Banished' I believe to be the one in question. I fucking hated it.

As it stands this is the only Napalm Death record I own and probably the only one really worth listening too, even though the whole thing is completely hit or miss depending on your appreciation for early extreme music makers.

Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction (1987)

Gosh, damn, if there was any album out there that truly changed my life then, Guns N' Roses massive debut, 'Appetite for Destruction' was the one one that did it. This was the one that got me on the right path. This is the one that got me into, 'my own music.' It was the one that allowed me to push away the music that my parents had raised me on (oldies and such) and to most importantly get me into good 'ol hard rock n' roll!

I can still vaguely remember how I acquired this album too. My parents had bought me a Beatles album (or best of, maybe) for Christmas in 1991, but wanting to break away from my parents musical influences (and to be rebellious, perhaps) I had asked them to exchange the cassette for this band named, Guns N' Roses. They probably didn't know what the fuck they'd just done, but this as I already said was the one that got me on the right path, the heavier path, which eventually lead to an interest in heavy metal just a few years down the road. I was about nine years old at the time.

There's so many memories in my mind and within my heart when I think about this album. I remember listening closely to the lyrics, and singing along with them, trying to make sense of it all, but often missing something due to my youthfulness. I remember thinking that Slash, Izzy, Steven, Duff and Axl were the coolest dudes in the world. I recall telling my mom around that time that I wanted to be Axl and it was a year or so later that I grew my hair out for the first time (though it didn't go so well since I have quite the curly hair in comparison to Axl's straight hairs).

Oh, and the guitar solos, fuck, man! I remember jumping on my bed playing air guitar to Slash’s solo in, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine' (admit it, you did it too), and I played this album so much that I wore out the original tape and had to re-purchase it a few years later. And that strange artwork in the booklet, you know the original artwork of the robot rapist? Oh yes, I remember looking at that exposed boob of the ravaged girl laying against the fence and getting some funny feeling in my pants. I didn't know what the fuck that meant, but I knew I liked it (Hahah!). And those cuss words, naughty, and a bad influence on me for sure, but, ya know, "I see you standing there, You think you're so cool... Why don't you just, FUCK OFF!!"

'Appetite for Destruction' was all that and some more for a simple nine year old from, Wisconsin. And, ya know, its hard to believe its been over twenty years since I first heard it and its been almost twenty five years since its original release (July 21st!).

Easily the bands best, most pissed off and hard rockin' album, ‘Appetite for Destruction’ had songs about society and the Hollywood streets (Welcome to the Jungle), drugs & alcohol (Nightrain & Mr. Brownstone), girls/prostitutes (It’s so easy), youthful mischief (Out ta get me) and even a more sensitive side with songs like, ‘Think About you' & ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine.’ All of this was characterized by the colossal guitar riffs & solos of Slash and Izzy and the loud powerful vocal screechings of bad boy, Axl Rose. At a time when mainstream music had little to no feeling and really no messages what so ever Guns N’ Roses appeared and became the heroes for millions of young Americans. There really isn’t a bad moment on this entire album. Songs like ‘Welcome to the Jungle, ‘Paradise City,’ and ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ are classics that still kick my ass every time I hear them. Damn, and that acoustic guitar running through the chorus of, 'I Think about you' is just beautiful, what a powerful song, and who isn't touched, at least a little bit, by the tender sorrow in Axl's voice and the final lines of, 'Rocket Queen?' "Don't ever leave me, Say you'll always be there, All I ever wanted, Was for you to know that I care..."

A song like, 'My Michele' seemed odd to me when I was young, but that one has totally grown on me since and I nowadays appreciate the simplicity and understand the words of songs like, 'You're Crazy' or 'Anything Goes.' The other members contributions mustn't be overlooked either. Steven's drumming is nothing overly special, but its good solid hard rock drumming, but maybe the cowbell makes one too many appearances? Also you've gotta love Izzy's bass work, especially on, 'Mr. Brownstone,' freakin' groovy as hell, yaowza!

As many know, GnR had no less than five singles lifted from this record and within a short time they became the biggest band in the world. Unfortunately I'm not a huge fan of what they did after this. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Use your Illusions combo when I was a kid, but those albums just didn't age well. Still, some superb songs, but this early pure hard rockin' stuff will always be the best.

As I said earlier this album turns 25 in July of 2012, which is hard to believe, makes me feel old, but it just lets me know that I've been a rocker for a long fucking time. Personally its been a little over 20 years for this guy writing this, but I'm quite sure if I play my cards right I'll be listening for another 20 to come.

I don't know what else to say. Its one of my all-time favorite albums and its truly one I'll take to my grave. I could probably go on forever, I really could, man. You've no doubt heard it and maybe it means as much to you as it does to me. Or maybe it means nothing to you. Everyone is different, regardless I'll always love this record.

Sepultura - Schizophrenia (1987)

I was suppose to see Sepultura live tonight, but due to poor pre-sales the promoter pulled the plug on the gig and the whole thing was cancelled. On the plus side, through a friend who is doing merchandise for one of the touring bands I was able to go out and hang with her as well as a few members of Sepultura (Paulo, Andreas and Jean), which isn't too bad at all. Therefore, you get a Sepultura review today. Something newer would probably be more appropriate, but, 'Arise' is the 'newest' album of theirs I own. So, will just go, way, way back then.

Anyway, 'Schizophrenia' was Sepultura's sophomore effort, which saw release in late October of 1987 when the members were between the ages of 17-18 years only, which is quite amazing considering the talent on display during this beast. This album also saw the band leaving their earlier death metal style music and shifting towards thrash metal, which they created three albums in before moving towards groove metal.

Although the production of this album is hardly dynamic it is worlds above in sound quality when compared to the abysmal debut offering, 'Morbid Visions,' which I do love, but what's most impressive about this recording is the bands performance as musicians and the overall song writing. Schizophrenia welcomed in new lead guitarist Andreas Kisser who absolutely crushes alongside Max Cavalera and between the two of them the listener is hit with a whirlwind of merciless riffs and killer solos. Likewise Igor's drumming sounds completely amazing, to say the least, as he blasts away at mad but quite technical and impressive furies, while Paulo's bass is there, but unfortunately suffers a bit through the production.

Basically from start to finish this album is one destructive onslaught of thrashing supremacy, which honestly no one came close to touching in 1987. After a short intro things kick into full gear with, 'From the Past Comes the Storms,' which is surely one of the best thrash songs ever and no doubt one that made all the Bay Area thrashers sweat a bit when they heard these youngsters from Brazil. However things just keep on going strongly with the catchy grooving, 'To the Wall' or the breathtaking fast paced instrumental, 'Inquisition Symphony,' which destroys all other thrash instrumentals, especially Metallica ones. You'll definitely be headbanging like a maniac to, 'Septic Schizo' and the brilliant closer, 'R.I.P. (Rest In Pain)' is utterly devastating. There's also a neat little acoustic instrumental called, 'The Abyss' as well the re-make of, 'Troops of Doom' fits in nicely as a bonus track (on the reissue).

For me its almost impossible to pick a favorite from the early Sepultura catalog, as those first four albums mean quite a bit to me and I've always hoped for a reunion of this classic line-up, but it will unfortunately probably never happen.

At least I got to bug Paulo about my love for early Sepultura today during lunch (Much to his annoyance, perhaps too, haha!).

Death - Scream Bloody Gore (1987)

Back in 1983 when the bulk of us were toddlers, infants or semen in our dad's nut sacs, a high school kid by the name of Chuck "Evil" Schuldiner formed a band named Mantas with his friends Rick Rozz and Kam Lee. A year later we would re-name his band, Death. Death was only a simple and to the point name to reflect the horror film-based lyrical content of the music he intended to create. Little did he know that this name and album would become a catalyst for an entirely new genre of metal in itself... Death Metal.

'Scream Bloody Gore,' the bands debut album was released in the summer of 1987 through Combat Records and featured the line-up of Chuck on vocals, bass and guitar as well as Chris Reifert on drums (John Hand was credited in the booklet for rhythm guitar, although he did not actually play on the album).

Comprised of heavily distorted downtuned creepy, bludgeoning, heavy as fuck riffs, frantic technical solos, hard pounding drums and throat lacerating growls and screams of insane measure; Scream Bloody Gore (as well as the bands 2nd and 3rd outputs) has always been my most favored era of Death, despite the fact that music theory fuck-o's might tell you differently. The lyrics are lifted directly from classic gore/slasher films and sickened even further. Some big shots might bitch and say these lyrics are of complete immaturity and ridiculous value, but then they are completely overlooking the fact that they were wrote by a twenty year old musician who was passionate about horror movies.

"Decapitated head licking your cunt, Sucking all the blood from your stump, Intestinal guts taking their hold, Leaving you dead, stiff and cold..."

The production is ugly and underground and it fits the music perfectly as it shows the true spirit of the 80's (and early 90's) before recording equipment made everything sound crystal clear and perfect. Forget the fact that you can barely hear the bass or that the drums are overshadowed by the guitars, this recording is brutal beyond reason, even if its not the fastest played or most guttural vocal performance ever. I absolutely love this album!

The album in my opinion features some of most classic death metal songs ever with the ultra catchy 'Zombie Ritual' or the hard hitting 'Mutilation' & 'Sacrificial' as well the title track, which is quite simply the most brutal thing conceived in music at the time. Although as a whole I find very little fault with this recording and at just thirty seven minutes its a quick and engaging lesson in what true death metal is all about.

Chuck Schuldiner was often considered the 'Godfather of Death Metal,' although he modestly told people, "I don’t think I should take the credits for this death metal stuff. I’m just a guy from a band, and I think Death is a metal band."

In case you didn't know, nine years ago today Chuck passed away as he lost his battle with cancer after a two and half year struggle. Today is the day to play your Death records LOUD, hold the horns high, drink a beer and salute one of the most important humans to ever pick up an instrument and get his frustrations out playing fast, heavy, deafening angry music, which we all know and love. Thank you, Chuck, hope you're resting well.