Death - Leprosy review
| Band: | Death |
| Album: | Leprosy |
| Style: | Death metal |
| Release date: | 1988 |
Disc I
01. Leprosy
02. Born Dead
03. Forgotten Past
04. Left To Die
05. Pull The Plug
06. Open Casket
07. Primitive Ways
08. Choke On It
Disc II [Remastered version] [2014 reissue bonus]
01. Open Casket [September 23rd, 1987 rehearsal]
02. Choke On It [September 23rd, 1987 rehearsal]
03. Left To Die [September 23rd, 1987 rehearsal]
04. Left To Die (Take 2) [September 23rd, 1987 rehearsal]
05. Left To Die [December 5th, 1987 rehearsal]
06. Open Casket [December 5th, 1987 rehearsal]
07. Pull The Plug [December 5th, 1987 rehearsal]
08. Choke On It [December 5th, 1987 rehearsal]
09. Born Dead [December 5th, 1987 rehearsal]
10. Forgotten Past [December 5th, 1987 rehearsal]
Disc III [Remastered version] [Deluxe version 2014 reissue bonus]
01. Leprosy [Live At Backstreets, Rochester, N.Y. - December 13th, 1988]
02. Open Casket [Live At Backstreets, Rochester, N.Y. - December 13th, 1988]
03. Zombie Ritual [Live At Backstreets, Rochester, N.Y. - December 13th, 1988]
04. Pull The Plug [Live At Backstreets, Rochester, N.Y. - December 13th, 1988]
05. Left To Die [Live At Backstreets, Rochester, N.Y. - December 13th, 1988]
06. Mutilation [Live At Backstreets, Rochester, N.Y. - December 13th, 1988]
07. Forgotten Past [Live At Backstreets, Rochester, N.Y. - December 13th, 1988]
08. Born Dead [Live At Backstreets, Rochester, N.Y. - December 13th, 1988]
09. Denial Of Life [Live At Backstreets, Rochester, N.Y. - December 13th, 1988]
10. Primitive Ways [Live At Backstreets, Rochester, N.Y. - December 13th, 1988]
11. Infernal Death [Live At Backstreets, Rochester, N.Y. - December 13th, 1988]
12. Leprosy [Live At The Dirt Club, Bloomfield, N.J. - December 11th, 1988]
13. Pull The Plug [Live At The Dirt Club, Bloomfield, N.J. - December 11th, 1988]
14. Forgotten Past [Live At The Dirt Club, Bloomfield, N.J. - December 11th, 1988]
15. Primitive Ways [Live At The Dirt Club, Bloomfield, N.J. - December 11th, 1988]
One of the most influential bands in Death Metal released this Masterpiece called simply "Leprosy", an intense and raw album wrapped in brutal powerful riffs, insane (with a little Thrash style) drums, good bass-lines, awesome cover, and the most powerful vocal style in music.
The album opener "Leprosy" starts with a great progression of riffs and drum beats, then a chilling scream settles the atmosphere for the song, a brutal intelligent song with incredible fast and complex fillings (those in the minute 1:50 are the best ones), crazy ascending solo's clean bass-lines, catchy drum beats, etc?The tempo goes from slow to catchy then to Brutal and so on, this is one of the all time favorites for all the Death Metal fans all over the world.
Then we get "Born Dead" one of the most impressive drum intros ever, first it starts with an incredible guitar riff, then the drum enters pounding with anger the double-bass, and then after some verses "Born Dead to this world?" this song is implausible, with maybe the most complex music in the album (check out the solos for the love of gore), every song from now on is amazing, but then "Pull The Plug" starts, slowly but with a lot of precision, and the chorus man?that chorus is the best chorus in metal history(starting in the 50 second of the song), the instruments making a catchy sound and chuck screaming "Why don't you?(catchy music)?Pull the plug", this song is the best song in this album for sure, a crushing track that will blow everyone's mind.
Every song in "Leprosy" is impressive, every single riff, every single drum-beat, every single lead, every single Bass-line (rumors say that Chuck Schuldiner himself played this instrument, and then he let Terry Butler take credit for this) every single scream, everything is remarkable, there's a lot of things to say about an album of this lineage, but I won't say more, only that I recommend you to buy it (even though I am sure you already have it in your collection) and then make a conclusion.
Rating:
8.0
8.0
|
Rating: 8.0 |
There continues the saga of Death. The deadly topic of the lyrics is still there, but the main and most important ingredient of death metal is gone - the vocals. Chuck Schuldiner, being a true thrash vocalist, doesn't betray his nature and after torturing his throat on "Scream Bloody Gore", he sounds still very brutal, but not so convincing. From modern point of view, this wouldn't be an impressive performance, although brutality in the face of Cannibal Corpse still exists. For its time this would be one of the rawest vocal performances. However, the album is fast, technical and the vocals are not quite death, so I label it thrash. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 19
Visited by: 256 users
| Warman Erotic Stains Posts: 7695 From: Sweden  |
Great review with an almost perfect rating! This album is probably on my "Top 3 Death Metal Albums"-list. My first Death album, my first contact with one of the best bands ever! 
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| Stalker Lone wanderer Posts: 2705 From: Serbia  |
Well, you sure like this album....  I dont consider it that good, because if Leprosy gets 9.7, then Symbolic and The Sound Of Perseverance should get 12.7 at least.  But very enjoyable album, all in all. Drums are the weakest point IMO.
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| Deadmeat Necrobutcher Posts: 2437 From: Greece  |
Written by Stalker on 18.10.2007 at 22:25 how can you compare this album with those 2? they have a very different style...
---- Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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| Stalker Lone wanderer Posts: 2705 From: Serbia |
Written by Deadmeat on 24.03.2010 at 08:56 But you can compare work of 17 yr old boys and that of a mature experienced musician such as Schuldiner was on Deaths later albums.
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| Deadmeat Necrobutcher Posts: 2437 From: Greece |
Written by Stalker on 24.03.2010 at 09:41 schuldiner was sulery more experienced i agree. but then how a 17 year old boy can -almost on his own- create music that -almost- no one has ever played before? chuck was an inventor and imo he should be judged equally in both ages. the meaning is in judging the music, not the musicians ability during the ages..
---- Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 40071 From: The Netherlands  |
Written by Stalker on 18.10.2007 at 22:25 All a matter of opinion and taste. Because to me Leprosy and also Scream Bloody Gore are vastly superior to Symbolic and, especially, The Sound Of Perseverance (which imo is Death's most overrated album)
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 40071 From: The Netherlands |
@Stalker, why do you say 17 year old boy when Chuck was 21 when he wrote Leprosy? And another thing, it is impossible to compare Leprosy to Symbolic and Sound Of Perseverance because Leprosy is pure death metal whereas Symbolic only has some lsights biots of DM left in it and SoP totally none whatsoever. And your analogy about mature musicians doesn't cut it cause Metallica as musiocians are also way more mature nowadays than when they recorded their first three albums and everyone agrees those first three are way way better than anything they have done after AJFA (which imo is already a lot worse)
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Stalker Lone wanderer Posts: 2705 From: Serbia |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 03.04.2010 at 21:19 Ok first - you are totally right about it being a matter of personal preference. Second - yeah they are pretty much incomparable concerning the music style but, what I wanted to say by "17 (or 19 as you say) at the time of Scream Bloody Gore" - their age doesnt really matter there, but sheer musical and technical experience. No one expects form a band that their 1st albums is the best, unless they spoil in time like the aforementioned Metallica, which is definitely not the case with Death. Changed style - yes; became worse - hell no. So on the first 2 albums you have simple riffs, very primitive solos, garbage lyrics about gore, all in all - exactly what death metal was about. (and I DO enjoy Leprosy, I didnt mean anything bad by stating its obvious simplicity) On the other hand you have technically more complex structures, refined songs, some great musicians like Gene Hoglan and later Steve DiGiorgio, philosophical, social and other lyrics, some of which in consider to be among the best in metal. Those are the things you can compare and be less subjective.
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 40071 From: The Netherlands |
Written by Stalker on 04.04.2010 at 01:48 Those albums are more technical, true. Better lyrics, depends on what you want from your lyrics, that is if you want anything at all from them. Songs refined? I would call it more boring, less daring. The only aspect you can be objective about is the technicality level. And by concentrating on the technicality I would dare say Death did become worse and eventually also less original.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Stalker Lone wanderer Posts: 2705 From: Serbia |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.04.2010 at 02:08 Well, then we must simply disagree and leave it like that Personal preference wins, no matter what.
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 40071 From: The Netherlands |
Written by Stalker on 04.04.2010 at 02:54 Yep 
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Haiwaan Das Posts: 84 From: India  |
This album along with some of the early work of Voivod are responsible for whole Extreme Technical Thrash genre. A must have and must listen album. 
---- Gr Gr Gr Gr Gr
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675 From: UK  |
Written by Haiwaan Das on 13.01.2012 at 10:43 "Leprosy" isn't very technical at all, especially not when compared to the likes of "Human", and all the albums that came after that. And it's a death metal album, not a thrash album. 
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| Haiwaan Das Posts: 84 From: India |
Written by Angelic Storm on 14.01.2012 at 07:17 Thanks, your post was quite informative. Well a majority of fan out there still feel Death's work as Thrash Metal. Anyways, Chuck himself once said he doesn't like to tag his music to subgenre and wanted to remember them as Good Metal Music which is indeed true. ..we grew up listening to Death as pioneer Technical Thrash Metal both musically and lyrically and we just can't get it out of our mind. Chuck's work is and will be inspirational to both Death Metal genre and Thrash Metal genre.
---- Gr Gr Gr Gr Gr
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Posts: 18274 From: Sweden  |
Written by Haiwaan Das on 14.01.2012 at 13:23  Welp, it's still wrong, I get your point though but it doesn't make it any less valid regardless of how inspirational it might have been for thrash metal, it's not thrash under any light.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Haiwaan Das Posts: 84 From: India |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 14.01.2012 at 13:31 Yea, I got it now, back in 1998-2000, we had no computers no internet, all we had "Repacked copies" American/European Audio tape which used to come without any information about band genre and stuff like that. Its the lyrics which plays important role back then, if its Raping already dead Corpse it is Death Metal because back then we had a very few bands mostly famous coming in our area, if its killing dragon or traveling in some Imaginationland its power metal...and if its social, personal, things around you, etc it is thrash metal that is how we used to differentiate band and albums. Some of the band still confuses like Deicide, they sing always fighting against JESU CHRISTO but they are death metal, very funny but it is how it is.
---- Gr Gr Gr Gr Gr
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Posts: 18274 From: Sweden |
Written by Haiwaan Das on 14.01.2012 at 16:44 You are indeed correct, information that usually goes mouth to mouth tends to change a lot how the real content is viewed. Back in the older days lyrics were usually used to label a band which now is of course considered wrong 
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| RavenKing Posts: 1941 From: Canada  |
Written by Haiwaan Das on 14.01.2012 at 16:44 There's not anything new in this. Satanic and anti-christian lyrics are legion in Death Metal. This kind of lyric is by far not limited to Black Metal.
---- They shake your hand and they smile and they buy you a drink They say we'll be your friends we'll stick with you till the end But everybody's only looking out for themselves And you say who can you trust I'll tell you nobody
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| Haiwaan Das Posts: 84 From: India |
Quote: Yes, true but when we started listening to Deicide we thot them to be antichrist black metal biker gang and never ever thot them to be Death Metal because of anti Christ slogans later with Globalization i understood that "Anti-Christian Lyrics are legion in Death metal."
---- Gr Gr Gr Gr Gr
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