Seven Churches

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.

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.

I have looked for this for DECADES,it's the Album I discovered Amazon didn't just sell kids books but really cool stuff and this is HEAVINESS AT ITS MOST BRUTAL BANDS CANT GET THIS SOUND TODAY!,The Guitars Are chainsaws through Hells Amps!,GET THIS!!!!MUST HAVE 10 Devils Horns🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

I like thrash 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.

In my opinion one of the best 1980s metal debuts ever. This album ranks up there with “Show No Mercy”, “Peace sells” and “Bonded by Blood” in debuts. The music has withstood the test of time and to think they were in High school when they made it!The new thicker vinyl delivers a rich sound that is not identical to the original press records but still better than any digital format.

I love this old school metal. Good songs all thru album.

These guys were just a notch below the mighty Slayer in the mid eighties. Ultra evil thrash here, played at break neck speed with great solos and time changes.I have this on vinyl also, if you have a good system and turn table, I also recommend you get it in that format also!