Once Dead (album)

Last updated
Once Dead
Vengeance Rising - Once Dead.jpg
Studio album by Vengeance Rising
Released 1990
Recorded 1990 California
Genre Christian metal, thrash metal, speed metal
Length54:35
Label Intense Records
Vengeance Rising chronology
Human Sacrifice
(1988)		Once Dead
(1990)		 Destruction Comes
(1991)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Cross RhythmsStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Metal Storm 7.2/10 [2]

Once Dead is the second studio album by Christian death and thrash metal band Vengeance Rising, released in 1990 on Intense Records and re-released in November 2010 on Intense Millennium Records.

Christian metal, also known as white metal, Jesus metal or heavenly metal, is a form of heavy metal music usually defined by its message using song lyrics as well as the dedication of the band members to Christianity. Christian metal is typically performed by professed Christians principally for Christians who listen to heavy metal music and often produced and distributed through various Christian networks.

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, aggressive, powerful drumming featuring double kick and blast beat techniques, minor keys or atonality, abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes, and chromatic chord progressions. The lyrical themes of death metal may invoke slasher film-stylized violence, religion, occultism, Lovecraftian horror, nature, mysticism, mythology, philosophy, science fiction, and politics, and they may describe extreme acts, including mutilation, dissection, torture, rape, cannibalism, and necrophilia.

Thrash metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo. The songs usually use fast percussive beats and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work. The lyrics often deal with social issues and criticism of The Establishment, using direct and denunciatory language, an approach borrowed from hardcore punk.

Contents

According to Allmusic, both the debut and Once Dead "were huge successes in the world of Christian music, making Vengeance Rising one of the few bands in the genre to cross over into the secular music scene". [3] In 2010 HM Magazine ranked Once Dead #45 on Top 100 Christian metal albums of all-time list. [4]

Musically, the album showed an influence of speed metal, with thrash arrangements on some songs, like the cover of Deep Purples' Space Truckin', [5] and "Out Of The Will", which reminded one reviewer of One Bad Pig. [6] In a Cross Rhythms review, the lyrics were called "very Bible based," containing quotes and references accompanied within the lyrics "giving enough material for weeks of Bible studies". [6] The reviewer went to state that the album "leaves most other Christian metal albums well behind in terms of imagination and sheer execution." [6] Doc Godin of Metal Storm said that while most Christian metal is rather safe and predictable, "here's something that actually kinda kicks ass, all ideologies aside." [2] They described the album's style as mostly straightforward thrash similar to that of Slayer and Sodom and compared Roger Martinez's vocals to those of Martin van Drunen. [2]

Speed metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) roots. It is described by AllMusic as "extremely fast, abrasive, and technically demanding" music.

Deep Purple English rock band

Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. The band is considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical approach changed over the years. Originally formed as a progressive rock band, the band shifted to a heavier sound in 1970. Deep Purple, together with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, have been referred to as the "unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal in the early to mid-seventies". They were listed in the 1975 Guinness Book of World Records as "the globe's loudest band" for a 1972 concert at London's Rainbow Theatre, and have sold over 100 million copies of their albums worldwide.

Space Truckin song

"Space Truckin'" is a song by British hard rock band Deep Purple. It is the seventh and final track on the Machine Head album and its lyrics talk of space travel.

Track listing

  1. Warfare - 4:50
  2. Can't Get Out - 3:50
  3. Cut Into Pieces - 3:15
  4. Frontal Lobotomy - 4:05
  5. Herod's Violent Death - 3:07
  6. The Whipping Post - 8:40
  7. Arise - 4:50
  8. Space Truckin' (Deep Purple cover) - 5:00
  9. Out Of The Will - 2:04
  10. The Wrath To Come - 2:43
  11. Into The Abyss - 8:18
  12. Among The Dead - 3:03
  13. Interruption - 0:50

Personnel

Vengeance

Larry Farkas is an American musician who primarily performs thrash metal. Farkas was a member of Christian bands Vengeance Rising, Deliverance, Holy Soldier, and Once Dead, many of which he started.

Roger Dale Martin, or more commonly known as Roger Dale, is a heavy metal musician who has performed with several acts including Vengeance Rising and Once Dead.

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References

  1. ↑ Cross Rhythms review
  2. 1 2 3 Doc Godin (November 22, 2011). "Vengeance Rising - Once Dead". Metal Storm . Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  3. ↑ Torreano, Bradley (2005-04-30). "Vengeance Rising". Allmusic. Allmusic . Retrieved 2007-09-09.
  4. ↑ Van Pelt, Doug (2010). "Top 100 Christian metal albums of all time". HM Magazine. August.
  5. ↑ Van Pelt, Doug (April 1990). "Review / Once Dead". CCM Magazine . 12 (10): 50, 52. ISSN   1524-7848.
  6. 1 2 3 Caughey, Dave (September 1990). "Vengeance Rising - Once Dead". Cross Rhythms (03).
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