siLLy puPPy Formed in 1983 in the Dallas TEXAS area, RIGOR MORTIS began when school chums Harden Harrison (drums), Casey Orr (bass) and Mike Scaccia (guitar) hit it off with mutual interests in two passions. Horror flicks and heavy metal music. After several years of gracing the greater Dallas-Ft Worth area venues, the band busted free from their rusty cage and unleashed their speed metal thrash madness unto the world with their eponymous debut release in 1988. This music reminds me a lot of the debut album of Possessed in that it’s just burgeoning with passionate angst fueled metal energy and the band are so on fire that they can hardly contain themselves. It also has that crossover feel of early thrash slowly evolving into the death metal of the 90s.

Right from the intro instrumental “Welcome To Your Funeral” the listener gets slapped in the face with a no compromise middle finger to the world attitude as the thrash guitar chords burst into a ridiculously fast and riff that evolve into ripping solos. Mike Scaccia has the speed of the fiercest neoclassical shredder but the music here stays rooted in punkish thrash metal music without all those fancy shmancy guitar scales, therefore it keeps the music ominous sounding with the i-am-a-metal-god vocal style of Bruce Corbitt who tears it up. The music on this one is dirty and raw with heavy distortion, ripping leads and enough energy to power Houston.

All the tracks take a shock and awe approach with tongue-in-cheek references to gore and horror flicks of yesteryear. This album is pretty unique for its approach in not trying to be a Metallica clone. While most bands were emulating the technical styles of the puppet masters, RIGOR MORTIS stayed in more of trad Motorhead style while ratcheting up the speed, riffage and most of all electrified soloing to new heights. While most of the album is non-compromising thrash metal at full speed, there are slowed down clean guitar intros as well as movie clip sampling but mostly it’s all about banging your head and banging it hard and heavy. Not the most mature album ever made but for a raw underground type of album for the 80s this one holds up pretty good over the decades.

The bonus track “Spivey” on later releases is pretty friggin’ hilarious as well :P

UMUR "Rigor Mortis" is the debut full-length studio album by US, Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas based thrash metal act Rigor Mortis. The album was released through Capitol Records in October 1988. Rigor Mortis was formed in 1983 and released a demo in 1986, which got them signed to Capitol Records.

The music on the album is old school thrash metal. It´s generally pretty raw, but the lead guitar playing by Mike Scaccia (Ministry, Revolting Cocks), is not your typical screaming thrash metal guitar solo style playing. Sure that´s part of his style too, but his playing definitely is different and quite a bit more sophisticated than the norm. The fact that there are seldom a rythm guitar playing during guitar solos, also bring more focus to his playing. The vocals by Bruce Corbitt are also a bit different from the norm. He has a rather distinct sounding deep/hoarse voice that sometimes reminds me of Oderus Urungus from Gwar. Other than that the music on the album is relatively standard old school US thrash metal pretty far removed from the Bay Area scene anno 1988 (which had generally turned in a more technically focused direction at that point). The lyrics and general imagery of the band are horror and gore themed.

While "Rigor Mortis" slightly old fashioned for 1988, there´s something indredibly charming about the album and fans of early- to mid-eighties US thrash metal should find lots to enjoy here. In my book a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

Warthur The self-titled debut by Rigor Mortis is an energetic collection of gloriously gory and gleefully filthy thrash metal compositions with a dirty, raw sound that shows the influence of early extreme metal acts - like early Venom with better production, death metal chops, and a horrible attitude. When you're faced with a track list that includes picks inspired by Herschell Gordon Lewis movies (Wizard of Gore) and Brian Yunza gore-fests (Re-Animator), you know you're in for a crude and debased experience, and that's exactly what the band deliver, with vocalist Bruce Corbitt positively enjoying the transgressiveness of what he's spitting forth. Mature? Refined? Hardly. But sometimes you're in the mood for juvenile crudity and Rigor Mortis offer it with plenty of muscle.