UMUR "Holocausto de la Morte" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US death metal act Necrophagia. The album was released through Red Stream, Inc. in 1998. Necrophagia are quite the cult act and are often mentioned among the seminal US death metal acts from the 80s. They were formed in 1983 and released several demo tapes before recording the "Ready For Death" album, which ended up shelved (released in 1990). Necrophagia instead released "Season of the Dead (1987)" as their debut album. They disbanded shortly after the release of the album though and were inactive until 1998, when Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo contacted lead vocalist Killjoy, with some ideas for songs. Killjoy decided to start Necrophagia again with himself on vocals, Dustin Havnen on bass, Wayne Fabra on drums, and Phil Anselmo on guitar (here working under the Anton Crowley pseudonym). The latter has written the material featured on the album.

The music on the album is a horror/gore themed old school sounding death metal style with doom, thrash, and grindcore leanings. The latter in small doses, but there are a few times during the album´s playing time, when the band blast away in noisy cacophony. The tempo is predominantly mid- to slow paced though. The material on the 8 track, 39:45 minutes long album are generally very simple and this is predominantly rather primitive old school US death metal. The instrumental part of the music is often almost too simple which means my attention wanders, but the horror movie samples and Killjoy´s relatively varied growling/screaming vocals do save some of the day.

So "Holocausto de la Morte" is not a particularly well written nor a very original sounding release. The raw sounding production, and the decent delivery of the music are on the plus side of things though, and upon conclusion it´s a decent release while it plays, but just as soon forgotten when it´s over. A 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.

UMUR "Season of the Dead" is the debut full-length studio album by US death metal act Necrophagia. The album was released through New Renaissance Records in February 1987, making it one of the earliest examples of a death metal album released through a label. Hell, it was even released a couple of months before "Scream Bloody Gore" by Death. Necrophagia had however been active in the US extreme metal underground and tape trading scene since they were founded in 1983, and had released several demos before releasing this debut album. A band history which should probably earn them the title as one of the originators of the death metal style along side acts like Death/Mantas, Massacre, Executioner (later Obituary), Morbid Angel, Death Strike, Possessed, and Deceased (just to mention a few of the heavily influential bands from the early years of death metal).

As the case is with many of the earliest death metal releases, the line between being a particularly raw sounding thrash metal release, and being a more brutal death metal ditto, is a bit blurry regarding "Season of the Dead". Personally I think I lean more towards calling it the former. The vocals are raw, but not really growling. They are actually quite odd sounding, as it sounds like Killjoy is talking/whispering the vocals while snarling. He sounds a bit out of breath, and the vocals ultimately aren´t that powerful. The riffs are basically raw and primitive sounding thrash metal riffs, and the same can be said about the drumming style. The whole thing is pretty lo-fi produced, murky, and dark sounding, which probably adds to the general view that "Season of the Dead" is a death metal album.

If the cover artwork featuring feasting zombies didn´t give it away, song titles like "Insane for Blood", "Bleeding Torment", and "Mental Decay" probably do. Yes... the lyrical content and the general image of the band is gore/horror themed.

If you like your thrash/death metal as raw and straight forward as possible you´ll probably greatly enjoy "Season of the Dead" and viewed upon a bit more objectively, it is in fact a decent early thrash oriented death metal release, but it´s neither the most originals sounding, nor the most interesting release from those days, and other than being incredibly influential regarding the development of the death metal genre, there are quite a few albums with a similar history, that I´d recommend before this one. The skill of the performers, the murky sound production, and the very standard quality songwriting aren´t enough to warrant more than a 3 star (60%) rating.

siLLy puPPy When the conversation leads to the actual birth pangs of death metal, there seems to be a consensus that much of what would be infused into the fully-fledged subgenre had its origins in the early blackened thrash hybrids of Venom, Slayer, Celtic Frost and Kreator. Take it a step further and it’s also fairly well known that bands like Possessed, Death and Obituary were pioneers in taking the fledgling sub into its adolescent stage of development however there is one band that often gets left out of the saga of the origins of death metal and they would be the other early extreme metal pioneer NECROPHAGIA. While other early pioneers originated from the American east and west coasts, this band was from the heartland hailing from Wellsville, Ohio of all places but in fact formed all the way back in 1983, released a whopping six demos from 84-86 and finally released their first full-length SEASON OF THE DEAD in 1987, the same year that Chuck Schuldner is credited for unleashing the adult version of death metal onto the world. NECROPHAGIA focused on gore and horror movies and employed a shock value and could possibly be considered a bridge between the shock rock of 70s Alice Cooper and 90s Marilyn Manson and White Zombie.

There were actually three phases of NECROPHAGIA. The first phase only lasted through the demo years up to this debut and then the band dissolved until band founder and leader Frank Pucci better known as Killjoy befriended Phil Anselmo and they began to write songs together eventually resurrecting the band in 1997 with Anselmo taking over vocal duties under the pseudonym Anton Crowley as Pantera was entering its final stages as a band. The third phase began in 2002 with yet another cast of band members however it’s the first incarnation of NECROPHAGIA that released this one relic SEASON OF THE DEAD that remains a vital part of metal history and a top notch album that sounds like no other to boot. Since Killjoy has been the only constant member throughout the entire run of NECROPHAGIA, this is the only album that features Larry Madison on guitar, Bill James on bass and Joe Blazer on drums.

Like many extreme albums of the mid-80s, SEASON OF THE DEAD is a mishmash of all the different styles floating around before the subgenres would sufficiently separate a few short years down the road and similar to Celtic Frost and Venom incorporate many aspects of thrash and traditional metal along with Sabbath inspired doom riffs and healthy doses of what has since been tagged as speed metal. This is a rather unique sounding album and begins with a head scratching long intro with clean guitar arpeggios slowly ratcheting up the tension much like those acoustic intros on Metallica’s “Ride The Lightning” with darkened minor chord arpeggios setting the mood for the zombie attack with a demented piano bass run with spooky choral vocals haunting the stage before the metal attack begins.

Once the metal final does kick in it rarely lets up as Larry Madison cranks out heavy riffs that range from thrash to traditional with melodic solos thrown in from time to time. The song structures have good forms and have many different features within them keeping things unpredictable. Thrash here, traditional there, throw in some doom etc. Joe Blazer has a rather unique drumming style and rarely employs fast tempo blastbeats or the percussive drive that death metal would become known for. Mostly he employs a standard 80s thrash metal delivery but sometimes he robotically follows the guitar like a shadow which reminds me more of the percussive drive heard on industrial metal in the 90s with Marilyn Manson particularly coming to mind. One of the most unique aspects of the entire album is Killjoy’s deranged vocals since his style is somewhat of a raspy black metal shriek mixed with a guttural growl as he delivers half-sung / half-spoken lyrics as if he were narrating tales of death and doom.

One of the aspects that sticks out the most for me is the fact that many of the riffs on here sound familiar and once it hit me why it started to make a lot of sense. There is a definitive influence on SEASON OF THE DEAD that clearly left a lasting impression on Pantera and some of the riffs on tracks like “Forbidden Pleasure” as well as other sound very similar to the heavy riffs on tracks like “Cemetery Gates” on Pantera’s groundbreaking “Cowboys From Hell.” I would almost bet money on the fact that when Anselmo joined Pantera and steered them to less glammy pastures that he had this album on his favorite list. There are also many references to “Kill Em All” era Metallica especially on the final closer “Beyond And Back” which ends the album with the same weirdo dark ambient as it began.

Personally i find this one woefully underrated, exceedingly too far off the radar and awfully under appreciated for being one of the major plays in the early years of death metal and although influential albums don’t necessarily equate to excellent listening experiences, i find that SEASON OF THE DEAD is a phenomenally brilliant album as nothing else sounds like it. While some albums sound dated as they are outdone by newer generations consistently refining and redefining, NECROPHAGIA made an album that sounds absolutely perfect as it was recorded and transcends time. They managed to create an almost punk type of feel with metal techniques utilized to beget one of the true early spawns of extreme metal and still retains the sense of shock and awe that it was designed to create back in the day when they were one of the hottest tickets in the underground cassette trading days.

J-Man Necrophagia, an American group formed in 1983, are often hailed as one of the first death metal bands. After releasing a handful of demos in the first half of the eighties, the quartet released their seminal debut album, Season of the Dead, in February of 1987 - a few months before Death's legendary Scream Bloody Gore. A "cult classic" is probably a good way to describe this unfortunately overlooked album, despite the amount of praise it receives in the underground extreme metal community. Once their 10-year hiatus came to an end in 1998, Necrophagia began regularly pumping-out albums to satisfy their dedicated following, and Deathtrip 69, the band's sixth full-length studio album, was released in May, 2011 by Season of Mist. Although the band's rather primitive death metal style isn't nearly as revolutionary as it was nearly thirty years ago, Deathtrip 69 is still an extremely fun and highly recommendable listen. Fans of the band, as well as old school death metal in general, should find plenty of enjoyment from this high-quality effort.

The music on Deathtrip 69 is very primitive old school death metal, often sounding much more like an extreme thrash release. This lacks many characteristics of a modern death metal release (most noticeably blast beats), but the crushing riffs and brutal vocals make it harsher than your average thrash release. Deathtrip 69 isn't a complete run-of-the-mill old school release, however. Eclecticism is embraced here, and the occasional use of acoustic guitar and keyboards help add some nice variation into the mix. The odd trailer-trash blues song "Death Valley 69", although not exactly my cup of tea, is also fairly unique. Deathtrip 69 isn't the most musically complex release out there, but there are a few difficult riffs and drum patterns that prove Necrophagia's worth as musicians. The production is a bit thin, but still certainly competent.

Deathtrip 69 is a high-quality release from Necrophagia that should satisfy the band's cult fanbase and beyond. I've had a really fun time experiencing this album over the last week, and although it may not be a revolutionary masterpiece, Deathtrip 69 is a damn good effort that comes highly recommended from me. If blood, guts, and zombies are topics of interest for you, it's certainly worth checking out! 3.5 stars are well-deserved for this highly-impressive, blood-soaked death trip.

Time Signature Suffering comes in sixsixsixes...

Genre: death thrash

Necrophagia are one of the earliest death metal bands, having been active, on and off, since the 80s, and even featured Phil Anselmo (under the apt pseudonym of Anton Crowley). Not surprisingly, their style on "Deathtrip 69" is just about as old school as it gets. In fact, it is old school that it is bordering on being more thrash metal than death metal - that is, Necrophagia seek back to death metal's earliest form when it was still very much anchored in thrash metal, form which it was largely derived originally.

This means an absence of blastbeats and hyper technical playing as well as loads of tremolo picking, which otherwise characterizes the genre today. Instead there are crushingly heavy riffs combined with faster thrashy riffs, all of which are kept relatively simple (although there are some odd harmonies and some hard-to-play guitar riffs every now and then)., and many of the guitar solos are more rock-ish and, sometimes, even melodic, than what fans of modern hi-tech death metal might be used to. Certain tracks are almost more crossover-like and contain elements from hardcore punk, such as "Kyra" and the title track. I actually think that thrash metal fans will enjoy this album immensely. Apart from the filler-like "A Funeral for Solange" and the odd road-trip song "Death Valley 69", this is all out thrash metal, although a track like the aptly titled "Tomb with a View" contains some slow and doom-ladden parts. Imagine if Carcass had made an album between "Heartwork" and "Swansong"... this is pretty much what that would have sounded like.

With songs about horror, murder, violence, splatter, gore and regurgitated guts, there's not much new in the lyrics department, and, while gore lyrics never really appealed to me, I suppose you can't really imagine Necrophagia singing about any other topic matters. And, of course, the harsh growled and snarled vocals suit the lyrical content quite well.

To this is primarily a thrash metal album, but, given the history of death metal, I can see why it would be considered a death metal release (I don't get why the label Season of Mist classify it as black metal though), and simply kicks ass (wearing shoes with metal spikes, rusty nails and razorblades on them).