THIS MONTH IN 1992: HOLY MOSES RELEASE "REBORN DOGS"

 

On October 1st 1992, German thrash metal masters HOLY MOSES delivered their fifth album "Reborn Dogs". The successor to 1991´s "Terminal Terror" showed a change in the line-up, featuring this time Sven Herwig (ex Ryker and Superior) on drums, but showing the almighty Sabina Classen on extreme vocals and also the guitarist featured on all the first five albums, Andy Classen. On bass we find Benny Schnell who also played in "Terminal Terror". On this album we find as always powerful riffs and really extreme thrash tracks like Decapitated Mind, Clash My Soul and the title track. The band reissued this album in 2006 and 2008, so maybe you can find this classic thrash album. Below you have a sample, the title track of this German thrash metal jewel. 

THIS DAY IN 1991: SLAYER RELEASE "DECADE OF AGGRESSION"

 

On October 22nd 1991, thrash masters SLAYER released their crushing live album "Decade of Aggression". Finding the band at the peak of their creativity with the "Seasons in the Abyss" album, SLAYER decided to record tracks from 3 shows (two in the US and one in London). The album features live versions of tracks from SLAYER´s first five albums (that is, their classic era). Opening with "Hell Awaits" the band shows why they were a pure thrash storm on the stage. Tracks like "Die By the Sword", "South of Heaven" and "Angel of Death" sound here more violent than in their studio versions. This is a testament of the lineup with Dave Lombardo on drums, since he left the band after the tour, just to be replaced by Paul Bostaph for the next album, "Divine Intervention".

 

THIS DAY BUT IN 1988: MOTÖRHEAD RELEASE "NO SLEEP AT ALL"

 

On October 15th 1988 rock masters MOTÖRHEAD released their amazing live album "No Sleep At All". The band was really well known for their live sound that, as happened with the classic "No Sleep Til Hammersmith", is shown with all its viscerality on this album. "No Sleep At All" features the line-up with Lemmy on bass and vocals, Phil Campbell and Würzel on guitars and Philthy Animal Taylor on drums. the band was at the time promoting their "Rock´n´Roll" album, so the recording feature tracks that are not so common like "Eat the Rich", "Dogs" or "Traitor", besides the classics "Overkill", "Killed by Death" and "Ace of Spades".   

 

THIS DAY BUT IN 1990: TESTAMENT RELEASE "SOULS OF BLACK"

 

After three amazing albums, "The Legacy", "The New Order" and "Practice What You Preach", thrash metal masters TESTAMENT released on October 9th, 1990, their classic "Souls of Black". While adding a more polished production to the sound the band managed to create an album that is somehow a bridge between the previous released and their next one, the more melodic "The Ritual". Alex Skolnick guitar achieves some of his best solos at the time with the title track and with the ballad "The Legacy" while Eric Peterson rhythm guitar and the rhythm section create the distinctive wall of sound that has become TESTAMENT´s trademark. Chuck Billy´s vocals achieve one more step forward in his amazing range with tracks like "Face in the Sky" or "Absence of Light". An album that 30 years later is still a masterpiece.

 

TODAY, BUT IN 1991: SUFFOCATION RELEASE "EFFIGY OF THE FORGOTTEN"

 

On October 8th, 1991, death metal masters SUFFOCATION released their classic album "Effigy of the Forgotten". The album, released at that time through R/C Records, was SUFFOCATION´s debut album, and the successor to their classic brutal EP "Human Waste". The sound in the album is brutal and more compact than on the EP and is a good preview of what SUFFOCATION would become on the following albums. The line-up that recorded "Effigy..." was: Frank Mullen on Vocals; Terrance Hobbs on Guitars; Doug Cerrito on Guitars; Josh Barohn on Bass and Mike Smith on Drums. The album was recorded and mixed at the famous Morrisound Recording studios in Tampa and is dedicated to the memory of late ATHEIST bassist Roger Patterson.

 

THIS DAY BUT IN 1988: BATHORY RELEASED "BLOOD FIRE DEATH"

 

On October 8th, 1988, the almighty BATHORY, a band that pioneered viking and pagan metal, released their classic album "Blood Fire Death". After three albums closer to black metal as were "Bathory", "The Return" and "Under the Sign of the Black Mark", mainman Quorthon started to explore the viking element adding new atmospheres to BATHORY´s music. The lyrics have also changed here, going from the satanist elements from the first three albums to a more epic, heroic feeling. Tracks like "A Fine Day to Die" of "The Golden Walls of Heaven" are pure classics and masterpieces of epic darkness. An album, released through Under One Flag Records, that is considered the milestone of viking metal.

OCT 7th, 1986: SLAYER RELEASE "REIGN IN BLOOD"

 

34 years ago, on this day, thrash metal masters SLAYER released the album that changed it all, "Reign in Blood". Opening with the ultimate violent thrash metal masterpiece "Angel of Death", the album delivers almost 29 minutes of pure speed and aggression. With the line-up that consisted in Tom Araya on bass and vocals, Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman on guitars and Dave Lombardo on drums, the band shows a more polished yet more intense sound than in their previous "Hell Awaits". Tracks like "Necrophobic", "Postmortem" and "Reign in Blood" are total classics of the style and are a huge influence for many bands in the thrash /black or death metal realm. The album was released Def Jam Recordings, the label that released many of Slayer´s classic full lengths.

THESE DAY, BUT IN 1988: SACRED REICH RELEASE "SURF NICARAGUA"

 

On October 4th, 1988, thrash metal masters SACRED REICH released their classic EP "Surf Nicaragua". This EP, really made some killer noise at the time. The band had only released at the time their debut album, "Ignorance", from 1987, and the EP showed good avances in sound and prepared the path to their classic album "The American Way" that would be released in 1990.  The EP featured four tracks, including the title one and a cover of Black Sabbath´s "War Pigs", plus two live tunes, "Ignorance" and "Death Squad". The EP was released through Metal Blade Records. Below are a couple of the tunes in this classic EP:

 

 

34 YEARS AGO: IRON MAIDEN RELEASE "SOMEWHERE IN TIME"

 

On September 29th, 1986, metal masters IRON MAIDEN released their classic album "Somewhere in Time". The album was Maiden´s sixth studio album and the successor to their masterpiece "Powerslave" from 1984 and the esential live album "Live After Death" from 1985. "Somewhere in Time" contains essential Iron Maiden tracks like "Wasted Years", "Heaven Can Wait" or "Caught Somewhere in Time". Every tune here has the mid eighties sound that the band had developed at the time, including guitar synth, with the fast "Deja- Vu" and the long "Alexander The Great". The cover art features one of the most complex and detailed cover arts in IRON MAIDEN´s career, courtesy of the amazing Derek Riggs.

 

THIS DAY, IN 1992: MANOWAR RELEASE "THE TRIUMPH OF STEEL"

 

On September 29th 1992, heavy metal masters MANOWAR released their album "The Triumph of Steel". Four years after "Kings of Metal", this album is the first and only studio album to feature David Shankle on guitars who replaced Ross the Boss. Shankle was replaced on the next studio album, "Louder than Hell" from 1996, by Karl Logan. This album features the over 28 minutes epic composition "Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts" which is a re-telling of Homer's Iliad, with the focus on Achilles. The composition has 8 parts: Prelude; I. Hector Storms the Wall; II. The Death of Patroclus; III. Funeral March; IV. Armor of the Gods; V. Hector's Final Hour; VI. Death Hector's Reward; VII. The Desecration of Hector's Body (Parts 1 & 2); VIII. The Glory of Achilles. The album was recorded at Haus Wanfried, NY, mixed at C.R.C., Chicago, IL and mastered at Masterdisk, New York, NY.

THIS DAY, IN 1987: KREATOR RELEASES "TERRIBLE CERTAINTY"

 

After two really intense albums, "Endless Pain" and "Pleasure to Kill" (one of the most influential thrash metal records of all time), german thrash metal masters KREATOR released their third album "Terrible Certainty". With a new line-up that included Jörg "Tritze" Trzebiatowski on guitars, the band shows a more polished approach to thrash with a more compaxt sound. The album includes classics like "Toxic Trace", "Behind the Mirror" and "As the World Burns". "Terrible Certainty" was recorded and mixed at Horus Studio, Hannover and was mastered at studio Nord, Bremen. The tracklist is as follows:

1.Blind Faith

2.Storming with Menace

3.Terrible Certainty

4.As the World Burns

5.Toxic Trace

6.No Escape

7.One of Us

8.Behind the Mirror

THIS DAY IN 1988: ANVIL RELEASE "POUND FOR POUND"

 

After their huge popularity with the classic album, 1982´s  "Metal on Metal" (their second album), canadian metal masters ANVIL released "Forged in Fire" and "Strength of Steel", before recording "Pound for Pound", their fifth studio album. The album shows a darker side of the band that is evident on the sound and features great tracks like "Blood on the Ice", "Fire in the Night" and "Brain Burn". The line-up that recorded "Pound for Pound" is the same that was featured in their previous four studio albums, that is: Steve "Lips" Kudlow – vocals, lead guitar; Dave Allison – rhythm guitar; Ian Dickson – bass; Robb Reiner – drums

Track listing:

"Blood on the Ice" 

"Corporate Preacher"

"Toe Jam"

"Safe Sex"

"Where Does All the Money Go?"

"Brain Burn"

"Senile King"

"Machine Gun" 

"Fire in the Night" 

"Cramps"

THIS DAY BUT 50 YEARS AGO: BLACK SABBATH RELEASES "PARANOID"

 

Today September 18th marks the 50th anniversary of the release of a total CLASSIC. On September 18th, 1970 the almighty BLACK SABBATH released their second album, "Paranoid". Full of the classics that created the foundations for metal music: "Paranoid", "War Pigs", "Iron Man", "Electric Funeral", "Hand of Doom", among others. Many great albums followed but "Paranoid" is the one that set the band apart from the rest of the band`s of that era.

 

 

THIS DAY BUT IN 1988: NAPALM DEATH RELEASE "FROM ENSLAVEMENT TO OBLITERATION"

 

32 years ago, on September 16th 1988, grind masters NAPALM DEATH released their second full length album. After their debut with the sheer aggression in "Scum" from 1987, and the live EP "The Peel Sessions", the band showed a more polished sound on this new album that gave even more power to their music. "From Enslavemen... " featured the addition of the almighty Shane Embury on bass and also Lee Dorrian vocals on all tracks (in "Scum" some tracks featured Dorrian and some Nik Napalm). The same with Bill Steer´s guitar that appears in all tracks (he replaced Justin Broadrick that went to form HEAD OF DAVID and later GODFLESH and who was featured in some of the "Scum" tracks). Below you can check the music video for the title track:

30 YEARS ANNIVERSARY: BENEDICTION "SUBCONSCIOUS TERROR"

 

On September 2nd 1990, death metal masters BENEDICTION released their debut album. After releaseing the "The Dreams You Dread" demo in 1989 and a split with PUNGENT STENCH in early 1990, it was time for a full length album. The band at the time featured  Mark "Barney" Greenway on Vocals; Peter Rew on Guitars (lead); Darren Brookes on Guitars (rhythm); Paul Adams on Bass and Ian Treacy on Drums. "Barney" wold soon depart in order to join NAPALM DEATH to record "Harmony Corruption". "Subconscious Terror" was released on a young label that would soon become one of the most important in the metal world: Nuclear Blast.

"Subconscious Terror" tracklist:

1.Intro - Portal to Your Phobias

2.Subconscious Terror

3.Artefacted Irreligion

4.Grizzled Finale

5.Eternal Eclipse

6.Experimental Stage

7.Suspended Animation

8.Divine Ultimatum

9.Spit Forth the Dead

THIS DAY IN 1988: DANZIG RELEASE "DANZIG" DEBUT ALBUM

 

After leaving classic horror punk band the Misfits, Glenn Danzig formed SAMHAIN, a band that lasted from 1983 to 1987 before creating the band that has his own name, DANZIG. With the help of then SAMHAIN`s guitarist John Christ and bassist Eerie Von and with drummer Chuck Biscuits he recorded this classic album, that features one of Danzig´s most popular tunes, "Mother" (the popularity of the song skyrocketed after MTV played a "live" video of the tune in 1993). "Danzig" was recorded at Atlantic Recording Studios and Chung King Metal, N.Y.C. and was mixed at Smoke Tree and Village, L.A. The album also features classics like "Twist of Cain", "Am I Demon" and "She Rides". You can check below some videos:

 

 

THIS MONTH IN 1989: SARCOFAGO RELEASE "ROTTING"

 

In August 1989, brazilian black thrash death masters SARCOFAGO, released one of their classic recordings: the "Rotting" EP. Released through Cogumelo Records, a label that at the time featured bands like SEPULTURA, HOLOCAUSTO and RATOS DE PORAO, among others. The EP features a more technical approach than their album "I.N.R.I" from 1987 and features drummer M. Joker that replaced D.D. Crazy. The album was licensed in Europe by Music for Nations and was censored because of the cover art. The compositions here are along, with four of the compositions being over six minutes long. The line-up that recorded the EP was: Wagner Antichrist on guitars and vocals; Gerald Incubus on bass and guitars; M. Joker on drums. The tracklist is: 1. The Lust; 2. Alcoholic Coma; 3. Tracy; 4. Rotting; 5. Sex, Drinks & Metal; 6. Nightmare.

THIS DAY 30 YEARS AGO: CANNIBAL CORPSE RELEASE "EATEN BACK TO LIFE"

 

On August 16th, 1990, death metal masters CANNIBAL CORPSE released their debut album "Eaten Back to Life". The band had already released their self titled demo in 1989 with classic tunes like "A Skull Full of Maggots", "Put Them to Death" and "Bloody Chunks" and then entered the classic Morrisound Studios in Tampa, Florida to record their debut death metal jewel. The album was released through Metal Blade Records that at the time was starting to explore the most extreme genres in metal. Finally, eleven bestial tracks saw the light of day: 1.Shredded Humans; 2.Edible Autopsy; 3.Put Them to Death; 4.Mangled; 5.Scattered Remains, Splattered Brains; 6.Born in a Casket; 7.Rotting Head; 8.The Undead Will Feast; 9.Bloody Chunks; 10.A Skull Full of Maggots; 11.Buried in the Backyard.

THIS DAY IN 1984: METALLICA RELEASES "RIDE THE LIGHTNING"

On July 27th, 1984, METALLICA released their second album "Ride the Lightning" through Megaforce Records. After the almighty debut "Kill Em All" the band refined their sound without loosing any of their violence. And they achieved new levels with "Ride the Lightning". Opening with the powerful "Fight Fire with Fire" and then the title track, here we have an album that is flawless. Masterpieces like "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "Face to Black", coexist with "Creeping Death" and "Trapped Under Ice". The line-up that included the great late bassist Cliff Burton was finding the way that will find its climax on the next album "Master of Puppets". 36 years of this absolute masterpiece.

THIS DAY BUT IN 1991: IMMOLATION RELEASE "DAWN OF POSSESSION"

On July 16th 1991, death metal masters IMMOLATION released their debut album "Dawn of Possession". The album was recorded and mixed at  the famous Musiclab Studios, Berlin, Germany and was released through R/C Records, a label that at the time featured many underground death metal bands and interesting musicians. The album features IMMOLATION classics such as "Into Everlasting Fire", "Burial Ground" or the title track. The line-up that recorded the album was:  Ross Dolan on Vocals and Bass; Robert Vigna  on Guitars; Tom Wilkinson on Guitars and Craig Smilowski on Drums. Vigna and Dolan are still smashing skulls with IMMOLATION on 2020. "Dawn of Possession" tracklist: 1. Into Everlasting Fire;  2. Despondent Souls; 3. Dawn of Possession; 4. Those Left Behind; 5. Internal Decadence; 6. No Forgiveness (Without Bloodshed); 7. Burial Ground; 8. After My Prayers; 9. Fall in Disease; 10. Immolation.