This re-release of their classic first album also contains all the Disharmonic Orchestra tracks from their split LP with Pungent Stench. Well over an hour of classic Death/Grind with the innovative touches for which Disharmonic are famous. Mandatory.

This LP is unbelievable. It’s the best Destruction album ever. The songs are fast and heavy, and also very memorable. Everyone works together very well, the guitars are impressive as are the drums and bass. The vocals are powerful without being especially raw. It’s almost a new style. I think this is what Steve Souza (Exodus) wants his vocals to sound like (don’t bitch, Zetro is a good singer when he wants to be). Cracked Brain contains eight new songs and one cover, “My Sharona.” Don’t say anything about their choice of songs to cover until you hear it. It’s cool. The rest of the songs are out of this world, with my personal favorite being “Time Must End.” This is one of the best albums of the year, and I’m glad Destruction did it. The lyrics are interesting and make you think - they’re not the real gory kind of stuff. I highly recommend Cracked Brain, it’s what you always hoped Destruction would someday be.

{I’ve taken a fuck of a lot of crap about this review. Everyone who reads it tells me that they like the earlier albums better. And after all this time, I’d agree with that. It’s certainly not the first time I’ve changed my mind, or been proven wrong by the passage of time, but I must wonder if the legions of Destruction’s fans who love to give me a hard time about saying that Cracked Brain is Destruction’s best album, ever even heard Sentence of Death back in late 1990, when I wrote this review… And while this LP maybe has not stood the test of time as well as some, I still think it’s hard to beat.}

[Notes in {curly brackets} are from the Metal Curse 1 - 4 Collected Edition (1999)]

Okay, here we have a thanks list, lyrics and an interesting black and white cover. Musically and vocally I am reminded of Wehrmacht. Sometimes the singer, Steve Lazinski, growls in a Death Metal-like manner. Interesting. However, none of the songs really stand out. And none are very memorable. Don’t get me wrong: while the tape is playing and you are listening to the tunes, they are at the very least decent, it’s just that when at is all over, the songs don’t really stick in your mind.
[This band changed its name to Cancerous Factor. -Editor]

This album is musically very impressive. The production is excellent and the songs are all powerful, technical, heavy and memorable. The only problem I could even foresee, is the vocalist, Andreas Henschel, is a bit smooth for this heavy Thrash. He reminds me of Russ Anderson (Forbidden). I guess Despair is roughly comparable to Forbidden in more than just vocals. This LP is really good and I don’t have a problem with the vox, but I think some people probably will.

This is yet another Morrisound production. ‘Nuff said on that. Demolition Hammer is not exactly a Death Metal band, The vox of Steve Reynolds see to that. I don’t mean anything bad by that, Steve’s vox are cool raw Thrashcore. All eight songs are what Thrash should be: Fast, well performed, rough yet understandable vox, well produced, heavy guitar sound, thunderous drums, and cool bass. It’s all there. Tortured Existence is, so far, one of the finest releases of ‘91 [actually released toward the end of 1990 -Editor]. This LP is highly recommended.

This is the debut from Deicide, and it’s sure to cause some trouble from the PMRC. The lyrics are as Satanic as any I’ve ever heard. Try not to let that bother you, though. Musically this is a fast band, very fast, yet still Death Metal heavy. That’s a good combination. The vocals are something like Carnivore: deep screams. The only real problem this album suffers from is the back-up vocals. Sometimes they cause the vocals to become “muddy” or just plain fucked up. I think that Glen can handle things vocally and that he doesn’t need any help. I understand that the band wanted the music to sound frightening, and thought the weird back-up vocals would do the trick. Sometimes they do, but not usually. If you can disregard the lyrics and the back-up growls, this album is great. The words detract from the songs, because the concept of singing about Satan has been done to fucking death. I wonder if they actually believe all this “I killed Jesus” stuff they sing about. If they don’t, they sure put on a convincing act.

{Eventually becoming one of the world’s biggest Death Metal bands, Deicide have never wavered in their intensity, and are even more deadly now than ever.}

[Notes in {curly brackets} are from the Metal Curse 1 - 4 Collected Edition (1999)]

This starts out with a sappy, sampled plea to listen to this tape. It gets way better after that. Sounding like the bastard child of S.O.D. and Sick of It All, Decrepit Uth are really fierce. All 13 songs are intense Hardcore. The production is good, as is the recording. If you like Hardcore, then this is for you.

This is Death’s third LP. It is different from their earlier work in only two ways: a new member (James Murphy, on guitar. Who has since left to join Obituary), and more importantly Chuck’s singing is more understandable! He has not lost the Death-rattle style, he has not done a Tom Araya (Slayer) and tried to actually sing. You can just understand him a bit better now, that’s all!
It’s not the fastest album in the world, but Death has always been known for power not speed, and Spiritual Healing is the most powerful, tightest, heaviest album to come from Death yet. Everything is as close to perfect is it can be, and none of the rawness of the classic Death sound has been lost. The guitar work is intricate, and effective. This is the best album of the year (so far). This is the one you have been waiting for! If you don’t own Spiritual Healing yet, fucking buy it!
This is it, this is Death!

{Through many line-up changes, Chuck has managed to keep Death alive, and at the time of this writing, they have recently released a new album, The Sound of Perseverance. Too bad they’re still “cry-baby momma’s boys,” but I have enjoyed the majority of their music. Looking back, it is pretty hard to believe that I claimed that this album was their heaviest…}

[Notes in {curly brackets} are from the Metal Curse 1 - 4 Collected Edition (1999)]

[Please note that the reviews in Metal Curse #1 and #2 did not have numerical ratings.]

Deadly Blessing are: Tony Sgro (guitar), Tony Umba (guitar), Larry Betson (vocals), Dan Pettolina (drums) and Mark Vincent (bass). This band is very intricate, yet tight. They seem very polished as well. This may be due to the fact that they have been together since 1985 without a lineup change. Larry is extremely talented, being able to hold a note (not a scream) for an extended period of time. This is not a Death Metal band and the vocals reflect that. However they are generally speedy and at times instrumentally raw. To describe them, you could say… mix Queensryche and Flotsam and Jetsam, but that isn’t exactly right. You have to hear them for yourself.