Death - Leprosy review
| Band: | Death |
| Album: | Leprosy |
| Style: | Death metal |
| Release date: | 1988 |
| Guest review by: | Yanko |
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]
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.
Not that good a thrash album, but worth hearing. It is a bit too monotonous and wouldn't manage to nail the modern death listener.
We still have the aggressive drumming, the bass beating in our ears and the superb, precise and genial solos, but the guys can't quite get the momentum and tend to linger helplessly in good, but not titanic guitar motives.
Still, this is one of the heaviest thrash metal albums for its time and becomes a milestone for every band, not sure what to play - thrash or death metal.
This one, without being a bad album, could though easily go as being Death's second weakest album, in light of all of the follow-up albums. It makes it a good item to have in your collection, however.
Written by Yanko | 15.09.2003
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Rating:
9.7
9.7
|
Rating: 9.7 |
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. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 10
Visited by: 118 users
| Warman Erotic Stains Posts: 7695  |
Maybe he hasn't 100 % Death Metal growls... but I still consider the album to be Death Metal, no doubt.
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| rageing atheist Account deleted |
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| CrimsonSoaked Account deleted |
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| Stalker Lone wanderer Posts: 2705  |
Death didnt play thrash metal, and Leprosy isnt thrash either, definitely. Concerning the album, nothing impressive, yet very listenable, and although I like more their latter albums, I consider it better than Spiritual Healing.... For some reason Ive never got into that album...
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| trapedINaCORNER Account deleted |
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| Sunioj Posts: 3894  |
Written by Stalker on 18.10.2007 at 22:20 To be fair, alot of the bands that came out around this period of time were influenced by thrash even in their music you can hear some of that too. But I know what you mean though, I just wouldn't say this album is 100% Death Metal.
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| Stalker Lone wanderer Posts: 2705 |
Written by Sunioj on 13.01.2008 at 14:53 Yeah man, I know but this Yanko dude who wrote all those Death reviews constantly claims Death is thrash metal, and if Death was death metal, then its certainly on first 2 albums, you dig what i say... 
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| Sunioj Posts: 3894 |
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| Paradox0 Unasuming Madnes Posts: 592 |
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| Growing Posts: 90  |
This vocals are way more brutal than the typical hur-hur found on a song like Hammer Shmashed Face. If anything the main difference between Leprosy and Scream Bloody Gore is that both the production and vocals sound more powerful. The vocals on SBG were inhumane sounding but they also sounded like they came from a distance almost, here is the same type of vocals but more up front. To me Leprosy is their most death-metal sounding record. You can claim the vocals on their later album are not death, but this definitely a death metal performance. Agressive thrash vocals are way more clear, less distorted sounding than th is.
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