SCREAM BLOODY GORE

Ah, the classic. Scream Bloody Gore is commonly referred to as the first proper death metal album, that and Seven Churches by Possessed. Both were crucial in the blossoming of this new genre. Like thrash metal's more rebellious and edgy younger sibling. Scream is one of those albums that every metal-head should hear, and even study, to an extent, because it was key in the development of metal music as a whole. It really does belong on the same unholy altar that also includes Black Sabbath's eponymous 1970 debut album, Venom's Black Metal, Metallica's Kill Em' All, Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast, etc.

Scream itself is lacking in the progressive rock department. Death didn't embrace their newfound love for experimenting until at least Human. There is nothing complicated or technical about this record, it is pure death metal, and some of the best at that. The vocals are ugly, guttural, Cookie-Monster vocals, no clean singing. The songs are rowdy, rapid blasts of death metal vigor, with the thrash metal influence still lingering around. This really isn't the best album for the normal progressive music fan where the heaviest music they will listen to is 21st Century Schizoid Man.

If this wasn't a progressive music website, I would give this album five stars in a heartbeat, but since that's a different context, I will give Scream a good three stars. Three stars as a progressive album, but definitely five stars plus as a metal album. Scream is truly a metal classic.