Leprosy (album)

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Leprosy
Leprosy Album.jpg
Studio album by
Death
ReleasedNovember 16, 1988
RecordedApril 1988
Studio Morrisound Recording, Tampa, Florida
Genre Death metal
Length38:37
Label Combat
Producer Dan Johnson
Death chronology
Scream Bloody Gore
(1987)		Leprosy
(1988)		 Spiritual Healing
(1990)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal 4/10 [2]

Leprosy is the second studio album by Florida death metal band Death, released on November 16, 1988, by Combat Records.

Contents

The album is notable in its different tone and quality from the band's 1987 debut, and it is the first example of producer and engineer Scott Burns' work heard on many of the death metal and grindcore albums of that era. [3] Shaun Lindsley of Metal Hammer said "with Scream Bloody Gore having set a new standard in extremity, [...] Leprosy would end up being the final nail in Death’s thrash-tinged coffin." [4] It is considered to be a groundbreaking achievement in the genre.

It is the first Death album to feature drummer Bill Andrews, and is the band's only studio album to feature guitarist Rick Rozz.

Composition and lyrics

Leprosy has been described as sounding "raw", "raucous" and "just absolutely pissed off". [3] Invisible Oranges described the album as sounding "softer" than Scream Bloody Gore and "not as technical" as Spiritual Healing, the album that followed." [5] Scott Burns' production on the album has been described as "unfussy" and "organic", and musically, it has been said to retain the "morbid inertia" of its predecessor. [6] It is considered the band's final "straightforward" death metal release, as they would take a more technical and progressive approach on later releases. [7] The lead guitar stylings of Rick Rozz on the album utilize whammy bar divebombs, drawing comparisons to Kerry King of Slayer. By contrast, Chuck Schuldiner’s guitar solos on the album have been described as "more technical". [5] Some of the album's guitar riffs have been described as melodic, with some publications noting influence from the New wave of British heavy metal. [6] The songwriting on the album has been called "structurally audacious." Jonathan Horsley of MusicRadar assessed, "Even this early in his [career], Schuldiner was a provocateur, upending the songwriting rule book, eschewing repetition, operating like the editor of an action movie in cutting together contrasting riffs and ideas with brutal efficiency." [6] The lyrical content on Leprosy has been said to be more mature, darker and more "bleak" than its predecessor, Scream Bloody Gore. [1] While the latter contained lyrics pertaining to fictional subject matter such as zombies, Leprosy saw Schuldiner beginning to explore nonfictional topics in his lyrics as well. [5] Topics explored by Schuldiner on the album have been described as "more psychologically unnerving", [7] and include social stigma, war, and existential dread. [3] "Pull the Plug" is written from the perspective of a person who is being taken off of life support, [8] and has been called "a death metal contemporary of Metallica’s One". [6]

Reception and legacy

Released in 1988, Leprosy is considered to be ahead of its time musically, and a groundbreaking achievement in the genre. [3] The staff of Loudwire wrote, "In regards to the ‘80s, not much was more extreme than the brutal savagery of Leprosy." [9] According to Eduardo Rivadavia of Loudwire, the album made it apparent that the death metal genre was "already advancing by leaps and bounds." [10] Jonathan Horsley of Guitar World wrote, "There is an argument to be said that, of all the great death metal bands, Death were the least heavy. [But,] if Leprosy is not the heaviest death metal guitar album, it’s possibly the gnarliest, worthy of Ed Repka’s career-best cover art, and essential listening." [11]

In a poll by the German Rock Hard magazine, Leprosy was voted the number one of the 25 most important death metal albums of all time.[ citation needed ] On April 29, 2014, a three-disc remastered edition containing bonus tracks was released via Relapse Records. [12]

The title track was covered by the blackened death metal band Akercocke on their 2007 album Antichrist . Dutch melodic death metal band Callenish Circle covered "Pull the Plug" as a bonus on their Flesh Power Dominion album, released in 2002; shortly thereafter, Norwegian band Zyklon also recorded "Pull the Plug" to be used as a bonus track. Finnish thrash metal band Mokoma covered the track "Open Casket", with lyrics in Finnish and titled "Avoin Hauta", on their EP Viides Vuodenaika. "Pull the Plug" was also covered by American band Revocation.[ citation needed ]

The album cover is featured in Metal: A Headbanger's Journey .[ citation needed ]

Track listing

All music written by Chuck Schuldiner and Rick Rozz, unless stated. All lyrics written by Chuck Schuldiner. All songs published by Mutilation Music. [13] [14]

No.TitleMusicLength
1."Leprosy"Schuldiner6:19
2."Born Dead" 3:25
3."Forgotten Past" 4:33
4."Left to Die" 4:35
5."Pull the Plug"Schuldiner4:25
6."Open Casket" 4:53
7."Primitive Ways"Rozz4:33
8."Choke on It" 5:54
2008 Century Media remastered digipak version [15]
No.TitleLength
9."Open Casket" (live)4:49
10."Choke on It" (live)5:50
11."Left to Die" (live)4:35
12."Pull the Plug" (live)4:26
13."Forgotten Past" (live)4:33
2014 reissued Relapse Records version (bonus disc 1)
No.TitleLength
1."Open Casket" (Rehearsals September 23, 1987)4:55
2."Choke on It" (Rehearsals September 23, 1987)6:15
3."Left to Die" (Rehearsals September 23, 1987)4:41
4."Left to Die - Take 2" (Rehearsals September 23, 1987)4:34
5."Left to Die" (Rehearsals May 12, 1987)4:27
6."Open Casket" (Rehearsals May 12, 1987)4:42
7."Pull the Plug" (Rehearsals May 12, 1987)4:17
8."Choke on It" (Rehearsals May 12, 1987)5:37
9."Born Dead" (Rehearsals May 12, 1987)3:19
10."Forgotten Past" (Rehearsals May 12, 1987)4:26
2014 reissued Relapse Records version (bonus disc 2)
No.TitleLength
1."Leprosy" (Live at Backstreets, Rochester, NY - December 13, 1988)6:24
2."Open Casket" (Live at Backstreets, Rochester, NY - December 13, 1988)4:59
3."Zombie Ritual" (Live at Backstreets, Rochester, NY - December 13, 1988)4:40
4."Pull the Plug" (Live at Backstreets, Rochester, NY - December 13, 1988)4:20
5."Left to Die" (Live at Backstreets, Rochester, NY - December 13, 1988)4:41
6."Mutilation" (Live at Backstreets, Rochester, NY - December 13, 1988)3:40
7."Forgotten Past" (Live at Backstreets, Rochester, NY - December 13, 1988)4:35
8."Born Dead" (Live at Backstreets, Rochester, NY - December 13, 1988)3:23
9."Denial of Life" (Live at Backstreets, Rochester, NY - December 13, 1988)3:24
10."Primitive Ways" (Live at Backstreets, Rochester, NY - December 13, 1988)4:22
11."Infernal Death" (Live at Backstreets, Rochester, NY - December 13, 1988)4:21
12."Leprosy" (Live at The Dirt Club, Bloomfield, NJ - December 11, 1988)7:29
13."Pull the Plug" (Live at The Dirt Club, Bloomfield, NJ - December 11, 1988)4:43
14."Forgotten Past" (Live at The Dirt Club, Bloomfield, NJ - December 11, 1988)4:51
15."Primitive Ways" (Live at The Dirt Club, Bloomfield, NJ - December 11, 1988)4:45
16."Open Casket" (Live at The Dirt Club, Bloomfield, NJ - December 11, 1988)5:09
17."Mutilation" (Live at The Dirt Club, Bloomfield, NJ - December 11, 1988)4:29
18."Infernal Death" (Live at The Dirt Club, Bloomfield, NJ - December 11, 1988)3:31

Personnel

Death

Production

References

  1. 1 2 Huey, Steve. "Leprosy - Death". AllMusic . Retrieved January 18, 2025.
  2. ↑ Popoff, Martin (November 1, 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 88. ISBN   978-1-894959-31-5.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Roundtable: Death's 'Leprosy' (35 Years Later)". lambgoat.com. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  4. ↑ Lindsley, Shaun (April 3, 2020). "Every Death album ranked from worst to best". louder. Retrieved December 25, 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 Staff, Invisible Oranges. "Death - Leprosy". Invisible Oranges - The Metal Blog. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Horsley, Jonathan (June 18, 2021). "5 songs guitar players need to hear by… Death". MusicRadar. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
  7. 1 2 Mills, Matt (July 14, 2018). "Death: Ranking All 7 Studio Albums". WhatCulture.com. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
  8. ↑ DiVita, Joe (July 18, 2013). "10 Best Songs by the Band Death". Loudwire. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  9. ↑ Staff, Loudwire (November 22, 2022). "Top 80 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1980s". Loudwire. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
  10. ↑ Rivadavia, Eduardo (November 1, 2018). "11 Florida Death Metal Albums You Need". Loudwire. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
  11. ↑ Horsley, Jonathan (March 21, 2022). "The 30 heaviest guitar albums of all time". Guitar World . Retrieved February 18, 2025.
  12. ↑ Huey, Steve (March 20, 2014). "DEATH's 'Leprosy' Album To Be Reissued With Bonus Material". Blabbermouth. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
  13. ↑ Primitive Ways as registered at BMI.com Archived November 6, 2015, at the Wayback Machine , the percentage filed is 75% Schuldiner, 25% DeLillo (Rozz)
  14. ↑ Death (Official), Facebook page administered by Relapse Records and Eric Greif (the lawyer for Chuck Schuldiner's Estate), (retrieved November 18, 2011)
  15. ↑ "Death (2) - Leprosy (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. June 2, 2008. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
  16. ↑ Frank Albrecht (December 1991). "Counterattack". Rock Hard. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  17. ↑ Death by Metal. 2016. Event occurs at 20 minutes 34 seconds.
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