[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICJ8az7da58[/youtube]
Metal Insider contributor Anthony Maisano is listening to a different metal album that was released on that day every day this year.
This is the album that many people say started the death metal genre, mostly because of the track “Death Metal” that’s on this album. I, personally, think Death started it, back in their Mantas days, but that’s a different debate for a different time. The album is great, intense metal. Whether you call it death metal or heavy thrash, the influence it had on future metal is obvious. It starts with some eerie keyboard work, before exploding with some off the page metal. The band sounds like they’re so close to going out of control on a lot of these tracks. There are tons of odd intricacies all across the album, and the riffs and little guitar parts here and there are really awesome. Another note is that their vocalist, Jeff Becerra, was shot and paralyzed, but still sings with the modern Possessed even up until recent times.
My least favorite part of the album is actually Becerra’s delivery. Again, this is another case where the delivery might have been the point, and I might just not personally enjoy the point, but I didn’t care for how he really just spits out lyrics. He really isn’t even fully on with the rest of the band a lot of times, let alone having melody and a smooth feeling. He’s not spitting lyrics out in a Slayer way; it’s more in a random way, to me.
Favorite Tracks: “Pentagram,” “Seven Churches,” “Holy Hell,” “Fallen Angel.”
This was another album that was delightful to listen to. There are great riffs, parts with some odd tempos, and a bunch of intricate little touches here and there, too. Some tracks were a bit more boring than others, and I personally didn’t care for the delivery of the vocals, but in general the album was extremely enjoyable. This isn’t even factoring in the influence it had, too, if you care about that sort of thing. Whether you call this death metal, or just really heavy thrash, it still spells “awesome.” Go pick this one up if you’ve never checked it out yet.
