Seven Churches

33 years after it's 1985 release, what more needs to be said about Seven Churches? This album is inarguably one of the most important albums not just in the history of death metal - but metal as a whole, and bears an extremely brutal death metal sound which is still being copied to this day. While it's not exactly the end all, be all of death metal there's no doubt it set a high benchmark for the genre which gods such as Death, Morbid Angel, Autopsy, Entombed, and Vader would later perfect and build upon, setting the scene for the style we all know and love today. If you don't own it already, purchase it immediately - don't even think about it for a second.

Even to this day, some metal maniacs get touchy about when death metal began and who made the first album of the genre. Generally, Possessed, Death and Morbid Angel are the three bands that are tossed into the debate.The times that these bands were formed seem to generate some controversy. However, one thing cannot be debated. That is that the copyright year of this album--1985--is earlier than anything that either of the other two bands produced. Heck, the last song on the album is actually titled, "Death Metal." And it is a rip-ride to say the least. So, for a historical perspective, metal enthusiasts may want to consider owning this album because it really is the first death metal album ever released.There are 10 songs on this album, and they are all as brutal as you probably imagine. Yes, they band was surely trying to employ shock rock to sell this album--hence the inverted cross and the devil's tail on the cover. To this day, this sort of thing has a corny, nostalgic feel.Back to the music--the title track, "The Exorcist," "Holy Hell" and "Death Metal" all warrant a 5 star rating. The raw fury of this music aptly qualifies this band to call themselves, "Possessed." It requires little imagination to see that this is perfectly foundational music for a growing genre at the time.

Excellent!!

Great old school death metal

This is really a death-thrash album, but it's death metal enough to be considered the first DM album ever. However, I can't really say how influential this album was. 'Scream Bloody Gore' is much better known, of course, and thus is more directly influential, but I don't really know how much influence this album had on Death's debut, as Death had been around for as long as Possessed had been, and at least some of the material from that album had been written prior to this one's release.(Evil Dead, for example. Probably others) Whatever the case may be, serious metal fans will likely wanna pick this up for due to historical significance alone.This album is unbelievably ahead of it's time, as it's death metal from even before thrash metal had truly matured. It's also incredibly heavy for the time, and would not be topped for another 2 years. (Well, 'Darkness Descends' might be heavier. It's a tough call) Stylistically, this album is basically 'Fight Fire With Fire' with a deeper guitar tone and death vox played ten times in a row. The vox aren't quite as gruff as your average DM band, but they're DM vox, no question. The guys in this band were a bunch of high school kids, so it isn't as sophistacated as lots of other albums, but it's not really amateurish or simplistic either. The exception to this is the drumming, which is kinda weak, and rather holds the album back. An overproduced sound, weak fills etc. Still, the vicious guitars and twisted vox carry the day. There are some decent solos as well. Nothing too complex, of course, but actually reasonably clean and melodic. Most of the songs have a reasonably catchy chorus, but it has no real variety. The opener, 'The Exorcist' and 'Seven Churches' are probably the two best tracks, with the title track being the better of the two.(Beccera's howling 'YOU WILL DIE!!!!' jumps out at you everytime you listen to this album. It's definitely the best, and the defining moment of the album) It's all solid enough, of course, but not much really stands out. Still, sounds good while you're listening to it, which is good enough.Yeah, that's it. Good, not great, but worth checking out.

though most people touched on this cds relevence and its influence, most dont realize that these guys were like 16 and 17 when it was recorded! In fact, some couldnt tour because they had SCHOOL! funny when i think about it.The cd itself is just great. Dark, rifs are monstrous and production "in your face". The remaster sounds better than the original..Lyrically, its a little simplistic, but remember, at the time not many bands were doing this sort of thing, and they were in high school for gods sake!'Great cd for a great time in metal music history! Buy if you like thrash/death metal 80's style. Too bad they didnt record more dark music, as the cds after this were more streamlined. Enjoy!

Loved the cd. In great condition

First off, I want to say that I love heavy metal and all of its various sub genres. I like death metal as well but ‘Seven Churches’ is almost too much. I like melody and yes there is melody in death metal – Death, In Flames, and Opeth are very melodic in their brutality. For me there has to be a distinction between one track and the next but the debut of Possessed has little or no variety in sound. Now you may try and say that Slayer’s early records were also redundant in their unrelenting assault but I beg to differ as I find ‘Show No Mercy’ to be very distinctive. Don’t get me wrong, there is much about ‘Seven Churches’ to like and in all fairness, this was one of the first true death metal documents, but again – just one speed bludgeoning after another. Lead cut “The Exorcist” and maybe the title cut and “Burning in Hell” would be probably the most noteworthy cuts or it could be “Satan’s Curse”, “Pentagram” or “Fallen Angel” because there is not a heck of a lot of difference here. If you want to see where death metal found one of its building blocks then Possessed’s ‘Seven Churches’ as a fairly representative document but Death and Morbid Angel really upped the ante and made death metal the creative art form it is today.

CRUNCH , SPEED METAL TO DIE FOR .

Just had a blast and great possessed album of all time

Death metal classic!!!

The godfather of death metal.

Este album marca la pauta dentro de lo que vendria despues dentro de la musica extrema donde púedes escuchar de donde viene la influencia de las bandas Deathmetaleras, incluso me atrevo a suponer que tambien salpico a las bandas Europeas del llamado Sonido Sueco y Escandinavo.Muchos solos de guitarra,baterias a toda velocidad, una base ritmica fuerte y unas vocales guturales que influenciarian a un sin fin de vocalistas del genero (Aunque veladamente puedes percibir influencias de Metallica,Slayer,Anvil,Mercyful Fate,etc.) La edicion que me llego es la Estadounidense e incluye las letras de las canciones y algunos creditos, lamentablemente difiere mucho de la edicion Alemana donde se incluyen las fotos que venian en el L.P. original lanzado en 1985. Sin embargo quede contento con este material ya que es un disco dificil de conseguir a un precio razonable.RECOMENDADO TOTALMENTE