DEATH — Reign of Terror (review)

DEATH — Reign of Terror album cover Demo · 1984 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"Reign of Terror" is the second demo release by US, Florida based death metal act Death. The demo was independently released in October 1984. It was recorded only a month after the "Death By Metal" demo. The latter was originally released under the Mantas monicker, but the band changed their name to Death before the recording of "Reign of Terror". The trio lineup who recorded the first demo is intact on this demo.

Stylistically the material is a continuation of the brutal and aggressive thrash infused death metal style of the "Death By Metal" demo, which is of course only natural since the two demos were recorded only a month apart. Kam Lee handles all vocals on the demo in addition to playing drums. At this point a feud between Lee and Schuldiner had started, as Schuldiner wanted to take over the vocalist role. Lee however had other ideas and wanted to stop playing the drums and fully concentrate on performing vocals. This would eventually lead to Schuldiner continuing Death without Lee and Rozz.

On this release harmony still existed though, and Death churn out one powerful, brutal, and aggressive track after another. Five tracks and a total playing time of 13:39 minutes and your ears will be rinsed by the razor sharp riffs, energetic and well playing drums, and the angry semi-growling vocals. "Corpse Grinder" opens the demo and it´s the only track which has survived from the demo stage, but not as a Death song. Instead Lee took it with him to his new band Massacre, and it´s since become a classic Massacre composition.

"Reign of Terror" features a decent sounding production considering the time and the loudness of the music style, and upon conclusion this is another seminal death metal demo from Death. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Human Rosin Melodic Metalcore
HATE BREEDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Through The Hell Hardcore Punk
ENEMY 906
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lightmatter: Rebirth Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Eye Of Horus (Lightmatter EP Pt. 2) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Galaxy888 (Lightmatter EP Pt. 1) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 3 days ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 4 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed