What can you say about Death’s album Leprosy. I’m showing My age here I first got into the band when this was the current album. Released in 1988 (Only a year after their debut)<\/i> literally blew my mind. Realistically I would have bought it in 1990\/1991 right before death metal was going to hit big time and it changed my life.<\/p>\n\n
The album opens up with the nastiest (but still very well controlled)<\/i> guitar tone i’d heard up until that point. Dear lord, this was the shit. The actual song “Leprosy” opens the album. I’d been to India and seen actual lepers so something about this hit real hard. And Chuck Schuldiner’s voice was just unearthly. <\/p>\n\n
The guitar riffage, I don’t know who wrote what, so I’d have to assume Chuck wrote the lions share of it, but in partnership with Rick Rozz this was the most accessible and straight down the line metal I’ve ever head the band sound. It’s hard to talk about “Hits” when you talk death metal but these are stand out songs that even if you are new to death metal stick in your brain and are virtually impossible to forget. <\/p>\n\n
This album had a groove unlike anything else at the time. Sure Morbid Angel and Deicide were the biggest bands but this had something that those bands didn’t. A street level accessibility. “Born Dead” and “Forgotten Past” follow on from the title track and the barrage of classic metal riffage and nostalgia is almost bringing me to tears. This is god teir death metal that only masters of the craft can do. I’m counting myself rather lucky to have experienced this as a 15 year old. <\/p>\n\n\n
Next up is “Pull the Plug” one of my fave Death songs ever. Scratch that, one of my Fave death metal tracks ever. This song radiates pure metal. It’s rather ably backed up by “Open Casket”. It’s now I realise exactly how lucky I was to be a teenager at the time and have my mind blown wide open by stuff of this high a calibre. <\/p>\n\n
The second side of this album kicks just as hard as the first, this is a non stop barrage of unholy riffage and Chuck’s creature vocals. I can’t say enough good things about this release. All I can really do is EMPLORE you to listen to this one, it is a land mark release for Death Metal as a genre and more importantly a great and very important release for metal in general.<\/p>\n\n\n