Seven Churches | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 16, 1985 | |||
Recorded | March 30 – April 5, 1985 | |||
Studio | Prairie Sun Studios (Cotati, California) [1] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 39:21 | |||
Label | Combat | |||
Producer | Randy Burns | |||
Possessed chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
About.com | (favorable) [2] |
AllMusic | [3] |
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 5/10 [4] |
Spin | (favorable) [5] |
Seven Churches is the debut studio album by American death metal band Possessed. The album title refers to the Seven Churches of Asia mentioned in the Book of Revelation. "The Exorcist" begins with producer Randy Burns' version of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells , performed as it was in the 1973 horror film of the same name. Seven Churches is widely regarded as the first death metal album to exist, and About.com named it one of the ten essential albums of the genre. [2] Jeff Becerra and Larry Lalonde were only 16 when the album was recorded. [6]
According to David Konow's Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal, the album was recorded during the Spring Break of 1985 when Pinole Valley High School juniors Jeff Becerra and Larry LaLonde had ample time for studio production. [7] Up until the release of the album, the band had practiced at manager Debbie Abono's house in Pinole, [7] but had formed in the El Sobrante/San Pablo area, which was the location of Mike Torrao's and Mike Sus' garage band.
In November of the same year, the band flew to Montreal, Quebec, Canada for the WWIII Weekend Festival in support of the Seven Churches release, playing alongside Celtic Frost, Destruction, Voivod and Nasty Savage; the concert was Possessed's first and largest arena appearance, with nearly 7,000 in attendance. [8]
While Florida's Death had released more albums and is also cited as an enduring death metal progenitor, Seven Churches predates the latter band's debut album Scream Bloody Gore by two years. The book Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore credited bassist/vocalist Jeff Becerra as initially creating the term in 1983. [9]
Seven Churches has been interchangeably described as "connecting the dots between thrash metal and death metal", [3] being "monumental" in developing the death metal style, [10] and as being the "first death metal album", [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] the latter attributed to interviews with (or literature by) musicians including Kam Lee (ex-Mantas/Death, ex-Massacre), the late Ronnie James Dio (ex-Dio, ex-Black Sabbath) and Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield). Former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris said his introduction to metal was Possessed's Seven Churches album, a personal recommendation to him by then-guitarist Justin Broadrick. [16]
Incantation guitarist John McEntee expressed the impact and influence Seven Churches had on him, saying "when I heard that, that really like did something to me where I was just like “Fuck.” I remember picking it up the first time and not even knowing what the fuck to think [...] I felt like I had to listen to it more to understand." [17]
In its July 1986 review of Seven Churches, SPIN described the album as belonging to the "sub-mutated genre of death-metal" and being a "full-on Japanese-commuter-train-without-brakes of what this genre should sound like...bassist/vocalist Jeff Becerra regurgitates what have to be the most Stygian vocal utterances to date." [5]
British extreme metal record label Earache Records stated that "....the likes of Trey Azagthoth and Morbid Angel based what they were doing in their formative years on the Possessed blueprint laid down on the legendary Seven Churches recording. Possessed arguably did more to further the cause of 'Death Metal' than any of the early acts on the scene back in the mid-late 80's." [18]
"The Exorcist" is covered on Cannibal Corpse's 1993 EP Hammer Smashed Face , on Cavalera Conspiracy's 2008 album Inflikted , and on Death's 2011 reissue of their 1993 album Individual Thought Patterns (though Gene Hoglan plays the drums and guitar on it).
In August 2014, Revolver placed Seven Churches on its "14 Thrash Albums You Need to Own" list. [19]
All lyrics are written by Jeff Becerra, except where noted; all music is composed by Mike Torrao, except where noted
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "The Exorcist" | Torrao | Torrao, Mike Oldfield | 4:51 |
2. | "Pentagram" | 3:34 | ||
3. | "Burning in Hell" | 3:10 | ||
4. | "Evil Warriors" | 3:44 | ||
5. | "Seven Churches" | Torrao, Larry LaLonde | 3:14 |
No. | Title | Lyrics | Length |
---|---|---|---|
6. | "Satan's Curse" | Torrao | 4:15 |
7. | "Holy Hell" | 4:11 | |
8. | "Twisted Minds" | 5:10 | |
9. | "Fallen Angel" | 3:58 | |
10. | "Death Metal" | 3:14 | |
Total length: | 39:21 |
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 include slasher film-style violence, political conflict, religion, nature, philosophy, true crime and science fiction.
Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial. Grindcore is considered a more noise-filled style of hardcore punk while using hardcore's trademark characteristics such as heavily distorted, down-tuned guitars, grinding overdriven bass, high-speed tempo, blast beats, and vocals which consist of growls, shouts and high-pitched shrieks. Early groups such as England's Napalm Death are credited with laying the groundwork for the style. It is most prevalent today in North America and Europe, with popular contributors such as Brutal Truth and Nasum. Lyrical themes range from a primary focus on social and political concerns, to gory subject matter and black humor.
Swedish death metal is a death metal music scene developed in Sweden. Many Swedish death metal bands are associated with the melodic death metal movement, thus giving Swedish death metal a different sound from other variations of death metal. Unlike American death metal groups, the first Swedish bands were rooted in hardcore punk. Gothenburg has a large melodic death metal scene while Stockholm is known for its more raw death metal scene.
Scum is the debut studio album by English grindcore band Napalm Death, released on 1 July 1987 by Earache Records. The two sides of Scum were recorded by two different lineups in sessions separated by about a year; the only musician in both incarnations was drummer Mick Harris.
Possessed is an American death metal band, originally formed in 1982 in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Terrorizer is an American grindcore band from Los Angeles, California. It was originally formed in 1985 as Unknown Death by vocalist Oscar Garcia and guitarist Jesse Pintado. They would rename themselves Terrorizer after recruiting drummer Pete Sandoval, who remains the band's sole constant member throughout their discography, in 1986. The band's current lineup consists of Sandoval, bassist David Vincent, vocalist Brian Werner and guitarist Richie Brown. They are currently signed to Earache Records.
Bay Area thrash metal referred to a steady following of heavy metal bands in the 1980s who formed and gained international status in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Along with Central Florida, the scene was widely regarded as a starting point of American thrash metal, crossover thrash and death metal.
Repulsion is an American grindcore band from Flint, Michigan, founded in 1984.
Blackened death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal that fuses elements of black metal and death metal.
Fudge Tunnel were an English band formed in Nottingham by Alex Newport, David Ryley and Adrian Parkin. They were known for straddling noise rock and sludge metal, with their sound being compared to bands such as Melvins and Nirvana.
Beyond the Gates is the second album by death metal band Possessed. Taking a different direction from their debut, Seven Churches, Beyond the Gates has a more technical feeling and, due to poor production, a muddy sound.
World Demise is the fourth album by American death metal band Obituary. It was released on September 6, 1994. A music video was made for the track "Don't Care".
The Eyes of Horror is an EP by American death metal band Possessed. It was released on May 31, 1987. It was produced by guitarist Joe Satriani.
Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore is a book by Albert Mudrian, the founding editor-in-chief of Decibel, a monthly magazine devoted to heavy metal music. The book was first published in 2004 by Feral House and details the evolution of the death metal and grindcore musical genres, from its beginnings as a small subculture exchanging compact cassettes to a genre where some artists reach million-dollar sales. A limited updated and expanded edition was published in hardcover in 2015 by Decibel Books. A further expanded and revised "death-luxe" edition was published in 2016 by Bazillion Points.
"Crush My Soul" is a song by English industrial metal band Godflesh, taken from the album Selfless (1994). It was released in 1995 by Earache Records on 12" vinyl and CD. The single's two remixes were also included on the Selfless/Merciless compilation released on Earache Records in 1996.
Crossover thrash is a fusion genre of thrash metal and hardcore punk. The genre emerged in the mid–1980s, when hardcore punk bands, such as Suicidal Tendencies, Cryptic Slaughter, Corrosion of Conformity and Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, began to incorporate the influence of thrash metal. At this time, the genre was particularly prominent in the New York hardcore scene, where groups including Agnostic Front, Leeway, Cro-Mags and Stormtroopers of Death were widely influential.
Mutilation is a demo album by American death metal band Death, released in 1986. The following year, the band would release their full-length debut album, Scream Bloody Gore on Combat Records. American heavy metal magazine Metal Maniacs noted that the demo was "the most polished of the early Death recordings" and that "the underground and Combat Records were in agreement about Mutilation".
Debbie Abono was an American manager of death metal and thrash metal bands during the 1980s and early 2000s.
Bazillion Points is a book publishing company owned and operated by author and SiriusXM radio host Ian Christe. It was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in New York. The outfit has successfully produced numerous books by authors recognized as key figures in the creation and development of heavy metal, hardcore punk, thrash metal, death metal, black metal, grunge, progressive heavy metal, and other originally DIY / underground musical movements. These books are known for their authenticity and striking graphic design, and many have found critical acclaim in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, TheGuardian, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, and elsewhere.
Creep Diets is the second studio album by British rock band Fudge Tunnel, released on 26 April 1993 by Earache Records. It was distributed by Columbia Records in the United States as part of Earache's deal with Columbia, where it sold less than 15,000 copies.
Jeff Bacerra offered some amusing details about the recording of Seven Churches, conducted at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, California