"Scream Bloody Gore" is the album the purists always worship at the altar of, but why not this one as well? While it is nowhere near as musically advanced as the direction Chuck went into a couple of albums later, beginning with "Human", it still is worthy of notice. Make that very worthy of notice--this album, flaws aside, still kills most everything in its path with its primitive intensity and vigorous attack. [1]
The album holds two classic songs, three goods tracks, two adequate ones and one obsolete filler. Furthermore the album holds one briliant musician, one fairly good musician and 2 very mediocre ones. [2]
You may read: Death - Scream Bloody Gore (1987)
Dan Johnson's production is excellent, and showcases a good mix where all players are heard well and clearly with plenty of depth and warmth as well. The guitars sound fantastic, both lead and rhythm tones, and you can even hear the bass pretty well, not that it does anything spectacular, but it serves its purpose by making the guitars sound even heavier. I will take this over the Scott Burns "mush tone drone" that became the trademark of death metal for several years, it makes the band sound that much more professional and powerful, for my ears. [1]
Speaking of professional, the band is nice and tight on this release, with the occasional screwup on Bill Andrews' part only slightly detracting from the overall performance. Well, OK, I did mention there were flaws here; Andrews is far from a terribly skilled drummer, and Rick Rozz is the most hilariously incompetent excuse for a lead guitarist I've ever heard, bar none. His horsey noises and squeals get tiresome after a couple songs' worth. But Chuck really started showing signs of becoming a far better writer and player even at this early juncture, with fluid and passionate leads that hinted at the level of melodic virtuosity he'd soon achieve. I'm glad he ditched this sorry lot of morons in favor of the more advanced players he'd soon feature on future albums. [1]
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Okay, let’s elaborate. ‘Leprosy’ and ‘Pull the Plug’ are the best two songs here. Lots of fluent changes in pace, good dynamics, interesting structures an catchiness. The threesome ‘Born Dead’, ‘Forgotten Past’ and ‘Left To Die’ all follow the exact same path (being verse, chorus, middle section including bridge and solo, verse and chorus again) Therefor becoming somewhat compositionally generic. Though the majority of riffs, the chorus of ‘Forgotten Past’ and the solo of ‘Born Dead’ are really great. ‘Open Casket’ and ’Choke on It’ are the two adequate songs here that aren’t great nor bad. Worst part of the album by far is ‘Primitive Ways’ which is a dull and uninspired composition. [2]
Retaining the distinctive flavour that made "Scream Bloody Gore" a notorious release at the time, but having a newly polished and sharpened edge, comes "Leprosy". Leprosy comes across as a more concentrated and controlled effort than before. Pretty much everything has improved: songwriting, musicmanship and even lyrical content. The lyrics show more maturity, but still lack much of the sentiment and philanthropy that would later dominate Chuck's writing. A six minute long title track displays this new found control and accuracy, giving increasing emphasis on the kind of melodic passages that would become synonymous with the band (only hinted at briefly on "Scream Bloody Gore"). The only real annoyance in the music comes in the form of guitarist Rick Rozz's unispired, all to similar lead work. But fortunately, Chuck's solos manage to breathe much needed life into each song, helping to wash away the bitter taste of Rozz. Chuck also has this knack of spicing up the music with imaginative bridges and lead breaks just at the point when the repeating riffs begin to get a little monotonous. Though this is great, and Chuck is developing a style all of his own, it isn't as interesting, together or progressing as much as would hit with full force on their next release "Spiritual Healing". The best examples of promise in the band's ever improving technique come in the title track, "Forgotten Past", the brutal and crushing "Pull The Plug" and "Choke On It". If you enjoyed "Scream Bloody Gore" then this is definitely recommended as it's better in all aspects. [3]
Song wise, virtually every tune on this album features crushing riffs, devastating vocals ("vokills" is a very appropriate term on this album), and a nefarious atmosphere that is menacing and evil at any tempo. The title track, "Pull The Plug", and "Forgotten Past" really stand out the most to these lugholes, though, as they even have memorable choruses! The leads following the first chorus on "Leprosy" are particularly excellent, too. "Born Dead" is pretty standard issue, but still kills anything fool enough to stumble into its path. [1]
The briliant musician here is Schuldiner himself, having written the bulk of the album including the classics and delivering his parts and vocals with filthiness as well as tightness. Rick Rozz is the fairly good one, doing a great job at rhythm guitar but is far from a suitable Death lead guitarist considering his Slayer impressions presented here. Not much can be said about Terry Butler except that he didn’t play a single note on the album. Also Bill Andrews isn’t someone to be happy about. He’s decent in the midtempo section but uptempo he resorts to the same old polka beat over and over without any nuances or bassdrum accents. The production of his snaredrum didn’t do his style any good either. [2]
Really, this is an important album both for Death and for Chuck Schuldiner, as well as for death metal as it grew into the evil monster it eventually became. It was a watershed in that it showed Chuck at a crossroads where he was faced with the option of becoming a better player and writer or staying the same, and the fact that on this album he'd already made massive strides in both those realms is evidence as to what path he chose. It's a good thing he did, too, as metal in general benefited from this happening. Definitely get this one, for sure, so you can see the roots of where death metal really started kicking it up a few factors, if you're young and need to be educated properly as to what's good and what's not. This is Good. [1]
TRACKS
- Leprosy
- Born Dead
- Forgotten Past
- Left to Die
- Pull the Plug
- Open Casket
- Primitive Ways
- Choke on It
If you like it, please buy their original CD or Digital Album on official website/store.
These reviews are written by Corviderrant, Morbert and Wez on Metallum.
- [1] Corviderrant, Total Old School Devastation, www.metal-archives.com
- [2] Morbert, Tighter, less filthy, structured, www.metal-archives.com
- [3] Wez, Chuck improves steadily... and with good results!, www.metal-archives.com
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