SCREAM BLOODY GORE

Death's debut album. This was the start of death metal, an influential album no doubt. While I shutter at the thought of giving any Death album a 2 star rating, I must given the context of this site. This is a must for fans, but not for prog listeners. This is not a progressive album. It is, without doubt a solid death metal album. Lots of death grunts, with straight up gore lyrics. The guitar work is fast, the drumming is intense (although the continual blast beats tend to get boring after a while). There is the bass, which is loud and "stringy" and I really like the way it sounds.

Zombie Ritual is my favorite song on this album. It has a cool egyptianesque beginning when soon your thrown into tremolo picking, relentless blast beats, and Chucks's growling vocals. Then there is a slower section, with double bass drums and very loud bass. It picks up to death metal, with non stop intensity and a crazy guitar solo.

Again, this is an important album for death metal. Like with all genres, a few bands contributed to its sound and it is tough to pinpoint where it began, but for all intents and purposes Death was the creator of the genre. Again, a must for thrash/death metal fans but a defenite stay away for proggers.