Years of Decay: 1991

It became evident in their previous album ‘Spiritual Healing’ that Death started a shift in direction, which at times felt awkward to listen to; struggled to find a sense of cohesion while they took tentative steps in leaving behind a more straightforward and bludgeoning death metal attack, aiming for a more melodic and at times avant garde styling. In addition, the lyrical content steered away from the typical horror film type themes to a more cerebral base. However, upon the recording sessions for ‘Human’ and the learning curve from the previous album, it became apparent that the 1991 incarnation had finally honed its art to become an essential template for what other technical death metal bands aim to achieve and draw inspiration from.

The album aims for a complex blend of thrash and death metal, which can be rightfully argued as being something of a musical hybrid. As a result, this album can spark deep debate over whether it should be categorised as thrash metal, or death – because if one was to draw a venn diagram of this album it would err more towards the thrash metal side of the spectrum. Nevertheless, ‘Human’ is pretty much a near perfect example that’s in the higher echelons of extreme metal, that thoroughly deserves praise. The combination of DiGiorgio, Reinert, and Masvidal makes for a jaw dropping listen which blends together a bewitching and addictive brew of break neck riffing, thunderous drums and the feral roar of Schuldiner’s vocals underpinned by the dextrous bass playing of DiGiorgio making for the perfect musical backbone. The instrumental ‘Cosmic Sea’ is a  showcase that demonstrating insane levels of talent, fusing together progressive stylings and ferocity, while tracks such as ‘Vacant Planets’ show complex guitar riffing and elaborate guitar solos that never treads into the realms of self indulgence.

‘Human’ builds further upon the cerebral lyrical shift, tracks such as ‘Flattening of Emotions’ taking an existential narrative on society; while ‘Suicide Machine’ touches upon the topic of euthanasia with the lyrics “When it comes to living / no one seems to care / but when it comes to wanting out / those with power will be there”. In many ways, ‘Human’ comes across as a “Thinking man’s death metal album” which adds further depth and interest in what is already an incredible piece of musical art. In conclusion, ‘Human’ is an album that has become timeless, echoing through the ages and thoroughly imprinted into the very fabric of modern extreme metal, which is clearly evident when one listens to the likes of Obscura and Skeletonwitch that are essentially homages.

As a side note, ‘Human’ was reissued by Relapse Records and remixed under Morrisound studios that also includes bonus tracks. Legend has it that Sony had lost the original mixes of the album tapes, and it was deemed that a remix was necessary as a remaster of the original issue was deemed by Schuldiner’s estate to be a “rip off”. The remixed version features crisper drums and detail to the bass, while the original pressing would have certain camps deeming the mix to be somewhat dull and divide opinion while others would describe as a product of its time that should remain unaltered.  Whichever version is chosen is a subjective matter, that is best left to the decision of the listener’s choice.

Goth Mark

Pioneers, no doubt – their influence can be heard in any current day Tech Death band. In ’91 this was a massive outlier in the scene – both compositionally and lyrically. The ‘Jazz’ word was brought up in review conversations, wacky time signatures and a progressiveness unheard of in the genre. Everything about ‘UP’ is simply astounding – the musicianship flawless, especially the drumming of Steven Flynn who along with Choy is responsible for the off-kilter syncopation and jazz like flurries that the band explores in intricate detail. It all sounds incredibly complex, hard to play and keep together. Then there is the uniqueness of Kelly Shaefer’s vocal approach – sticking firmly to the bands mantra of ‘nothing cliché’ Kelly’s work defies description in parts. Lyrically UP was also a departure for a Death Metal band – not that Atheist were ever a Cannibal Corpse themed outfit – but subjects about the human soul, psychology and alien visitation captured the albums overall deep thinking/cerebral feel. Add to this, incredible solo forays that add colour and depth, all wrapped up in a masterful Scott Burns production. Was super stoked to pick up one of 200 vinyl reissues last year – sounds as fresh, vibrant and masterful as ever. Absolutely ahead of their time! Mind blowing!

Released date: 30^th August ,1991

Favorite tracks: Unquestionable Presence, Enthralled in Essence, Mother Man, An Incantations Dream, The Psychic Saw.

Band:
Kelly Shaefer – vocals, guitar
Rand Burkey – guitar
Tony Choy – bass
Steve Flynn – drums
Roger Patterson – bass (on tracks 9–15 on 2005 re-release)

Scott Burns – producer
Atheist – producers
Justice Mitchell – cover artwork

KMaN

Many a Death Metal bands roots forming from the hardcore scene, while the modern versions of the genre also highly influenced by Slayer’s song structure; and the architecture of what we’ve had for sometime now. New band members in Master showcasing their relentlessness with intense repetition driven by Aaron Nickeas’s arrival on drums, and the brutal guitar sound with quite melodic soloing from Paul Masvidal(Cynic/Death). Ironically Death’s “Human” released this same year and was the only Death album that featured Masdival. Establishing that his early influence on technical Death Metal was gargantuan, not to mention the progressive styles on “Focus” as well. Add that to Paul Speckmann’s now guttural and quite distinctive voice and Master certainly created an instant classic, reminiscent to a cross of early Napalm Death meets Discharge? John Tardy lending some backup growls to Latitudinarian and Submerged In Sin to boot! Simply stated “On the Seventh Day God Created…Master” took a major leap forward from its self-titled debut only a year earlier. More complex song structures and extraordinary musicianship to go along with the shift in Speckmann’s vocal delivery significantly increased the sheer intensity and brutality to the overall performance of the recording and band!

Had this album been released a year later or earlier it would be discussed as being an essential album! But 1991 was a landmark year for the Death Metal scene and “On the Seventh Day God Created…Master” is sometimes lost in the 30 or so groundbreaking releases from this incredible year.

A band and album that require your attention and respect for their contributions to the genre as a whole. Revisiting has left my brain swollen from the dense and unrelenting pounding it just took! Highly recommended!

What Kind of God is Senseless and Weak…

Format Reviewed: Vinyl NB 054

Mö

Tapes from bands like Old Funeral, Embryonic and of course Mayhem`s Pure Fucking Armageddon where circulating at the time. The Cromlech demo (their 4^th demo) was my first introduction to Darkthrone, and hearing that they had been signed to Peaceville where mind-blowing. At the time of release (13. January 1991) bands like Emperor, Satyricon and Enslaved still hadn’t released their first demos.

Going to my local record shop and picking up Soulside Journey on CD, was a gamechanger and a sign of what to come. The band themselves where not happy with the production, but to me it was the most intense album to date. The influences are all Death Metal legends and favorites like: Morbid Angel, Autopsy, Death & Nocturnus. This happening in boring Norway. The later shift to Black Metal, in itself worthy a longer article, has not taken away anything from this classic album. I think it probably is the most played album of my life.

Harald

Between 1999 and 2013 Mike Tramp attempted to revive the band: releasing some new and rerecorded material, and touring. However, without the classic lineup’s band members participation. All the classic lineup members of the band continue orbiting in music, with the exception of Vito Bratta, whom, for personal reasons, permanently retired from the music scene in 1992, at the peak of his guitar playing and song writing career. A great loss for the rock and metal world …

All twelve songs on “Mane Attraction” were written by Mike Tramp and Vito Bratta during the last two years prior to album’s release. Stylistically, the over sixty-three minutes of music on the album is a strong mix of guitar hooks oriented melodic hard rock (glam metal), with a few tastefully crafted ballads well placed within the album‘s flow. Thematically, the compositions were a continuation of the previous albums: political and social issues, anti-war, relationships, love and breakup. The album also contained White Lion’s only instrumental song, “Blue Monday”, a beautiful blues tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan, who had died while the band was writing for the album. Four singles were released in 1991 from the album: “Love Don’t Come Easy”, “Broken Heart (‘91)”, “Light and Thunder” and “Out with the Boys” (rare promo single). Despite reaching #61 in the US Billboard 200 (the previous two albums both reaching top 20), and #31 in the UK charts, the album received little to no airplay, due to the arrival of Grunge. I’d have to say that the album was well received by the fans at the time of release, but unfortunately remained vastly overlooked by the masses of music fans. “Mane Attraction” was produced by the industry’s veteran, Ritchie Zito, credited with productions for: Joe Cocker, Cheap Trick, Bad English, Heart, Tyketto, Cher, The Cult, Poison, Ratt, Mr. Big, among many others. This great production remains relevant to this day, while offering smart and sensible lyrics and outstanding musical compositions, where Vito’s masterful playing fluidity and guitar tone, shines thru.

The genre enthusiast should also seek the 2004 released, limited edition, 500 copies – 6CD, boxset entitled “The Bootleg Series”, containing an entire CD of demos and preproduction tracks, under the title “Mane Attraction Start To Finish”.

Trivia: the album’s ballad tracks “You’re All I Need” and “Till Death Do Us Part” gained a huge amount of airplay in the Philippines. Not coincidently, these two love ballads remained on the global wedding playlists ever since.

Emil/UHF

Used by permission. © 2018 by Emil Chiru / UHF

It was my first touch with the band. I still remember the times when I bought and listened the record for the first time. It was the late autumn of 1991, and I was crazy about getting new stuff constantly by walking around the pirate music studios in Sofia.

Few important facts. With the immigrants Staffi Agoropoulos (from Greece; guitar and vocals) and Hacki Onuk (Turkey; lead guitar) as core members of the band, and the times band was playing, it is obvious why the main topics of Rumble Militia have always been anti-nazism, anti-fascism and anti-commercialism. Even their coverarts showed a trend by that time with certain way of presenting the political ideas behind (think of Risk, Evildead, Sacred Reich).

Musically Rumble Militia always carried that punk and even -wave feeling in some of their tracks. This absolute variety can be heard in all tracks of “SVaM”. The album opens with the “Tubular bells”-sounding Intro which rapidly jumps into benchmarking aggressive thrash/cross over track”Boys In Blue” (- F*ck you!). The line is continued by “Reflection of Your Videoprogramme” (lyrically so ahead of it’s time back then), combined frantic and middle parts, with pissed vocals. Suddenly the album is changed by wave-risque and punky “You Sure”, the track which actually lit me up for this album in November 1991. The raging “Stop This Shit” is a track against the violence and experiments to animals; another ultra catchy and played superbly. Same goes about the “Save Yourself” (On mother earth which we’ll clearly destroy!/You have to kill, you have to die for those at the top/ Columbia, El Savador, Iraq, Isreal, Russia, Vietnam, South Africa/Everywhere it’s the same game, it’s burning/Why are we the victims of power?). “Way of Violence” and “Kindergarten’82” are also thrash tracks with punky patterns, absolutely against the violence and hate. “Waiting for Death” is super aggressive track in the total thrash traditions with slowly heavy, double bass parts and exploding middle. “Stop Violence and Madness” closes the album in the best possible way, completing the direction the band showed so far.

Many will say that there are certain influences in RM music by some of the biggest bands (Slayer, Sacred Reich, D.R.I, Gothic Slam, Voivod, Cro-Mags, Metallica, even Bad Religion), however I might argue with that. In times when the music was under development, all the new influences coming from Seattle, and when the bands were playing with big fire in their eyes, Rumble Militia delivered own ultra solid product, which unfortunately was missed by many. Reasons could be various. To wrap it up – it is an excellent combination of melodies, aggression, tempo and musicianship. Put on top all the memories. You got it.

For those of us who met this album on their path, it is full 10/10.

You’re looking for reason
You think its hate
You Fuck someone else up
You fuck yourself up everyday
Stop violence and madness
change your life to human life

Count Vlad

Hearing out this classic death metal master piece on tape for the first time with its chunky riffing, monstrous & reverbed vocals with melodic solos and dark atmospheres, I knew at that point I had something unique here. At this time, this was not something that I was overly used to or familiar with but it truly took me by surprise. I was hooked and I knew from that point on this would be an influence for me and would also end up being one of the great old school death metal releases of its time. Even though Therion would start to change their style soon after in their career and begin to experiment, to eventually go on to the opera avant-garde metal style band they are now, “Of Darkness….” would always hold its place for me. It was and still is one of my favourite releases for 1991.

Eldritch of Death

The album’s followup, The Return, would showcase some of the first proper black metal in terms of sound – the exceptionally raw production and thin tones cranked to the max, as well as the atmosphere that permeates the record all help provide the roadwork Quorthon needed to go through to pave the way to 1987’s Under The Sign Of The Black Mark. In the same year in Norway, Mayhem released their Deathcrush EP. Meanwhile, in Brazil, Sarcófago releases their debut album, I.N.R.I., which pushed the already haphazardly aggressive Brazilian style of thrash into a pro to black/death sound. In Canada, Blasphemy’s Fallen Angel Of Doom demo started making the rounds through tape-trading networks in 1989, followed by their first proper full-length the following year in 1990.

Enter Beherit, the brainchild of Finnish teenager Marko Laiho, known also as Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance. An active participant in the underground tape-trading network, Laiho began recording demos at the age of eighteen with him on guitar and vocals and supported by Sadomatic Slaughter on drums and Demon Fornication handling bass duties. Two demos, Seventh Blasphemy and Demonomancy, as well as two rehearsal demos came in 1990 and the band was offered a record deal with Turbo Music, who released Beherit’s Dawn of Satan’s Millennium EP in 1991, and gave about 50€ to the band for the recording of their debut full-length, The Oath Of Black Blood.

Even with the benefits of cheaper recording of our current time, it would be near-impossible to record a proper full-length with 50€, much less back when the bare minimum cost would be in the hundreds. Knowing this, Beherit wisely invested their money from Turbo Music in beer. Turbo responded by compiling the Dawn Of Satan’s Millennium EP and the Demonomancy demo and secretly releasing it as The Oath Of Black Blood without the band’s knowledge.

While technically a compilation, The Oath Of Black Blood is widely considered to be Beherit’s debut album, marking the beginning of a long and sporadic history of odd releases of an unorthodox discography, to say the least. Poorly recorded, sloppily played (it sounds like Laiho is learning to play guitar as the band is recording), and fully reliant on passion and aggression to deliver the music, Black Blood is an essential slice of the more primal bestial black metal style. The drums are not so much played as pummeled, beating the listener into submission as the deliciously guttural vocals vomit auditory black bile into the ears. The structure of the songs are haphazard and are more in line with that of grindcore than what is typically expected from listeners more accustomed to the more refined Norwegian Black metal style, or even that of the more whispered incantations on Beherit’s follow-up, the doomier and more atmospheric Drawing Down The Moon. In fact, no two Beherit releases are stylistically alike, aside from Laiho’s solo ambient works that followed DDTM.

While maybe not the most easily accessible work, The Oath Of Black Blood retains a special spot in the history of black metal. From being one of the most primitive and raw releases ever to be put to wax to the cover art design by Chris Moyen (aka Thorncross), who’s work would become synonymous with the style, designing cover art for similar bands such as fellow Finns in Archgoat or that of US bestial black metal tyrants Morbosidad. The Oath Of Black Blood stands as a testimony to all that is dark, evil, and above all, bestial.

d00mfr0gg