HOWEVER, music so far this year really is doing everything is can to keep a smile on my face. Aside from the genuinely fantastic albums I’ve already reviewed from this year, it seems like every day I’ve checked in to see what my colleagues at Teeth of the Divine have been listening to, and been greeted with banger after banger to add to my rotation. And it’s not just that the albums have been of high quality, they’ve also been, dare I say, FUN – albums you can appreciate not just for their artistic merit, but for bringing a genuine sense of joy and energy that has been severely needed in my life. To that end, and despite the bleak outlook of this album’s title – Born, Suffering, Death from Chile’s Hellman is practically Gorilla gluing a big, dumb grin on my face. This album is a goddamn blast.

I say all this knowing that, to a fairly wide audience, Hellman‘s brand of punky, shameless Wolverine Blues-worshipping Death ‘n Roll ain’t gonna hit with everybody, and that’s fine… but I just don’t care. For those of you out there like me who think back fondly on that sort of swaggering, endlessly upbeat sound of Sweden in the mid 90s, get the hell on board and lets rage. Led by renowned producer, engineer and international booking agent Filipe Ferrada on bass and vocals, he’s serving up a seriously authentic performance along with Pedro (drums) and Sabastian Puente (guitar), Hellman is to Wolverine Blues Entombed what Gruesome is to Death, or Warmarshal to Bolt Thrower – essentially tribute acts that happen to write their own material (this album even features a cover of the Entombed classic, ” Out of Hand”). So if that’s not your bag, I guess go ahead and just stop reading now cuz that pretty much sums up what you’re getting out of this.

Like Wolverine Blues, “The 4th Power” gets Born, Suffering, Death off to a super fast start, opting for a more straight-up thrashy death attack right up until the bridge kicks in closer to the 3 minute mark when the album’s true colors really start to seep through. Still, it all seems straightforward enough until “Desktop Activist” kicks the “n’ roll” party off proper, with a super simple, upbeat riff that certainly has the potency to kickstart a good circle pit in short order, riding the link between punk simplicity and death metal aggression beautifully. It’s a no-frills barn burner that does its damage through pure, unbridled tenacity – a palpable energy that mainlines its way from your ears to your bloodstream until you’re hopelessly hooked.

Speaking of circle pits, the appropriately named “The Cycle” is practically purpose-built for putting any crowd into a human maelstrom, diving headlong into neck-snapping paces before scaling back to a super fun 2-stepping bridge that should play well in any live setting. Similar quick-hitters like “Unnecessary Consuming” and “Sacrifice Zone” display a confident self-awareness, putting no-nonsense punk aesthetics at the forefront to get in, pack a punch, and get out before anyone has time to grow bored with it (not that they necessary would, given this level of energy).

In fact, the band seem at their best when at their most urgent – with longer tracks like “Silent Genocide” and “Where Was God” seeming to linger longer than truly necessary, particularly on the former when the band breaks into an extended doom break that just feels a bit out-of-place and brings the frenetic energy of the album down to a crawl. That said, the D-Beat drumming and speedier riffing on the tail of the track saves it from being a complete throwaway – I just wish they’d gotten to the point sooner.

This isn’t to say the band only hits when it’s at maximum speed – “A Waste of Human Being” plays like a mutant hybrid of groovy, Chaos A.D. era Sepultura (Ferrada’s vocals could certainly be mistaken for Max Cavalera’s distinct bark on several occasions) and early 90’s Unleashed, creating the sort of international concoction you’d expect to find at a fusion joint slinging Bahn Mi tacos. Sounds just as weird on paper but in practice, it actually works really well. The mid-paced “Bringer of Death” may be down on tempo, but certainly does not lack vibrance, led by more of  Sabastian Puede’s apparent knack for a good, simple punk/death n’ roll riff. I know to some metal fans it’s a bit of a foreign concept, but it’s just dang fun! It should also be noted that the band pulls off a great cover with “Out of Hand,” staying true and capturing the rumbling, raucous vibes of the original, albeit with a cleaner, non-chainsaw-drenched guitar tone (I know some purists will probably say there needs to be more buzz, but Hellman seems to be doing just fine doing it their own way).

Born, Suffering, Death ain’t pushing the needle or setting the world on fire, but if you’re a fan of this particular sound, you won’t find a much better modern example than what Hellman has thrown down here – and that’s more than enough to get a big ol’ thumbs up from me. Quick, to-the-point, and thoroughly satisfying, and absolutely worth the brief commitment asked to check it out in full.

“Totenzug – Funereal Hillscapes” a 6+ minute opener of a song begins with some atmospheric build-up that has me thinking of digging graves and a funeral procession.  It’s a very bleak intro until about 90 seconds in.  With a scorching eerie guitar riff, which has some black metal influence, and the deep vocals come in as the plodding heaviness erupts.  Drums are slow and this opening will have you thinking of doom/death metal, with its plodding and down-tuned heaviness.  Some nice guitar melodies before the song picks up the pace and the vocals are so damn deep, yet understandable and the guitars are ferociously heavy.  The guitars have an Asphyx influence to them and even some classic Bolt Thrower.  Some of the higher register raspy vocals work quite well and the speed of the song is classic 90’s death metal, but never getting into the blast beat territory.  After the song speeds up it gets back into a rumbling mid-paced heaviness.  Think Bolt Thrower gone doom/death – that is how damn heavy this song is.

“Sepulkrator” is up next and is 8 minutes with a massive opening guitar riff and the thunderous drums are seizure inducing.  The song plods and gets moving with some monolithically heavy riffing-this is some dense and heavy shit.  The monstrous vocals going perfectly to the dark theme of the album. The rhythm section at the 2.30 part is excellent so you can really feel that heaviness with a bottom end creating an undercurrent of heaviness most death metal bands wish they knew how to do.  The pained and anguished raspy vocals working quite excellently and around a minute later a little start n stop heavy riffing, before an old school faster beat comes in and then back into the plodding heaviness.  The 4.30 isolated guitar riff is killer as the higher growl comes in and then into a faster beat, as the song gets into a monster fast part the singer lets out a vintage Tom Warrior Celtic Frost like grunt circa 1984, as the speed continues.  This section is amazing and evil.

“Eremitorium” at 9 minutes ends the album with some blazing screeching guitars, some faster parts and then right back into the slower plodding heaviness.  Faster sections come in and then the Ulcerate-like swirling dissonant riffing rears its head and is complete madness.  The 3-minute atmospheric guitar parts, gets into a bit of epic heavy metal with the guitar soloing and brings a huge smile to my face.  Yes, we have seen some killer death metal German acts over the years incorporate some classic metal moments which are awesome – bands like Chapel of Disease really know how to incorporate that classic metal into their sound and so do Nekrovault.

The other songs are excellent, although “Serpentrance” is a 2-minute ambient style track, but it does fit with the overall flow of this album.  The production is very well done and captures the heaviness and the guitar density quite well so it does not come across as a wall of noise.  The album cover of Totenzug: Festering Peregrination is pure creepiness as the purple cover combined with the souls walking towards some temple conjures up an evilness that works incredibly well with Nekrovault’s pounding doom/death heaviness.  The band mixes in enough tempo changes to really keep the listener engaged.  This album came out of nowhere, knocked me on my ass and was one of the very best for 2020.  Like their FB page and support this great new act.

This review is for the deluxe 3cd digipak reissue. The source material is presented in the original recording format and combat cd release of 12 songs, with “Beyond the Unholy Grave” and “Land of No Return” rounding out the full version of the album, not the 10 tracks released on vinyl in 1987.

The material has been carefully remastered from the source tapes by Alan Douches once again.  Rhythms are heavier sounding and the album is louder. Everything sounds better, but the original charm has not been messed with, it’s just better sounding. The opening of “Infernal Death” now will collapse your streets and cause 20 mile sinkholes. Chuck’s opening vocals when he growls die several times will come through your speakers in a way like it’s never before been heard. Scream Bloody Gore was slapped together under some rushed circumstances due to Chuck really not having a lineup. The actual recording lineup is Chuck on vocals, guitar and bass.  Chris Reifert played drums in this and while he was asked to be a permanent death member felt like his heart was with Autopsy, a band he was forming at the time and who are still putting out great records today.

Scream Bloody Gore was recorded in LA and had such a great guitar sound. This album is pure death metal 110% and to this day is the blueprint of what makes a great death metal album. Not one filler track, catchy songs with a memorable factor that  death would continue on their other records, but most importantly reminds the listener Death is the best death metal band that has ever existed, without a doubt.  Ferocious, angry, heavy but also retaining melody. Chuck throwing in above average guitar solos and growling as if he means to pull your soul from your body. He was a musical genius due to his songwriting skills. Just listen to “Zombie Ritual” or the title track for proof of his mastery of how the riffs gel with the instruments and vocals. Extraordinary.  And as stated the remaster makes this all sound crushing.

With Relapse having all source material and live archives at their disposal I am once again perplexed as to the handling of discs 2 and 3. Once again it’s demos from before the Scream Bloody Gore sessions.  Do you really want to hear unfinished or unpolished versions of Scream Bloody Gore songs over and over?  Ok, spread it on 1 bonus disc, but not 2, again. Really I’ve heard discs 2 and 3 once and have no desire to listen to them again.  They’ve been remastered, but who gives a crap, they were early versions of the songs. Relapse could have made one of the bonus discs a live cd from that era or how about throwing in a live DVD from that time period. The material is out there. They dropped the ball, again.

The layout across the digipak and booklet is great. Lyrics, liners, pictures. All exceptionally done, I just wish it was not another drop the ball reissue with just throwing in all the demo stuff, it blows.

Founding member, Chuck Schuldiner, had put together a new line-up and while I was still reeling from their debut Scream Bloody Gore, the year before, for me Leprosy is the best Death album of all time, in their outstanding catalog.  Let’s get to the drumming, boy o boy, Bill Andrews will never win any awards for being an outstanding drummer.  But the double bass was well done and although simplistic in nature the style fit this album.  Terry Butler had just joined the band, so his picture is in there, but Chuck layed down the bass guitar, following the drum patterns precisely, but the thumping bass sound created an extra bit of heaviness.  The dual guitars of Rick Rozz and and Chuck are incredible, creating one of the heaviest guitar tones of that time period.  Chuck had moved on from some of his past gore lyrics and talked about real life, like in the title track, ‘Left to Die’ (War) and ‘Pull the Plug’ (euthanization).  His vocals were more venomous and also very clearly pronounced as he growled each word, perfectly.  Every song is as catchy as the next one, and we all know the lyrics, hell I know this album backwards and forwards and never tire of it. I saw them 2x on the Leprosy tour.  The first time was opening for Dark Angel.  Both bands lit it up, but Death were the better band that night.  Than later that year, Death came through again as headliners blowing the place a part.  I spoke to Chuck and he was a super cool dude.  The show was insane, people slamming, stagediving and once Death opened with ‘Leprosy’ the place turned into a whirlwind circle slam pit.  Bouncers later on got rough with a stagediver and Chuck stopped the set and began to curse out the bouncer for roughing up the fan and threatened to pull the plug (I couldn’t resist), on their set if he did not allow the fans to have fun.  For the rest of the evening the bouncers layed back and let us all do our thing and had a blast!

So Relapse Records partnered with the Death foundation years ago to reissue all the Death material and some other goodies.  They will never get the rights to Symbolic though, as they have tried many times, but Roadrunner is not budging.  However Roadrunner did remaster Symbolic some years ago and it’s outstanding.  Anyway so Relapse has been reissuing the albums in 2 disc, 3 disc, vinyl, color vinyl you name it they are getting that Death name plastered on everything possible.  Also have your pick of the enormous package deals too, I always get the long sleeves and it would be nice if Relapse can at least throw a design on the back of the shirt, once in a while.  I always get the lmd 3cd edition, which is numbered out of 2000.  For this reissue all our orders were delayed.  Relapse received the 3 discs from the plant and they turned out to be data cds with the music missing from them and the merchandise was all messed up too.  So the plant went back to work to rectify the situation, which delayed everyone’s anticipation for this great reissue.

For Leprosy the source material is on disc 1, remastered by Alan Douches, who also remastered disc 2 & 3.  The sound is immense.  I performed a side by side comparison of the original cd and this one is thicker, heavier, but retains all the nuances of the original sound.  It’s louder and cranking this sucker up is fun for me all over again.  Disc 2 are Leprosy rehearsals, a mixed bag of sorts.  Some songs have vocals, others do not, it’s garage band quality.  Disc 3 is all live from the Leprosy tour and the setlist is like I remembered.  Highlights of course, most of Leprosy, ‘Zombie Ritual’ and ‘Mutilation’.  The sound quality is pretty good, but it’s not gonna win any live achievement awards any time soon and this is starting to get to be a little on the boring side regarding the Relapse reissues.  I am hoping for the Scream Bloody Gore reissue, last one to get the deluxe treatment, that Relapse throws in a vintage DVD as one of the 3 discs.  Let’s face it after 1 listen on the rehearsal crap, I never listen to them again and neither do you.

Now onto the deluxe packaging.  Coming in a thick digipak to house the 3 cds are spread across an 8 panel digi and the original album cover has been lightened up a bit and is embossed.  It’s beautiful to look at the classic Repka artwork.  The extra thick booklet contains photos, lyrics, and credits.  I love the way the reissues always have liner notes by members of Death, recalling either touring cycles, the recording and the experience back then.  They have all been outstanding up until this point.  No knock on Jeremy Wagner, from Broken Hope, who when I was in Internal Bleeding in the 90’s, we played shows with them and hanging out with him and Shaun Glass was always a hysterical time, however Jeremy was never in Death.  He recalls his experience with the classic album and Death, in general from the 80’s.  It’s a cool read, but why on earth did Relapse not get members from the Leprosy line-up or even Terry Butler who toured with Death, before he layed down his bass tracks on Spiritual Healing?  I think this would have been a much better recollection to add in the booklet, or at least keep Jeremy’s part, since he is a huge Death fan, but supplement it with the Leprosy line-up coming together to talk about the album in the booklet.

This is the album that put Death on the map as a force to be reckoned with and I think Relapse phoned this part in, I’m kinda pissed at this.  Anyway as reissues go pick this up.  Alan did a phenomenal job with the Leprosy source material and the packaging is elite as always.  Chuck (RIP) was a pioneer and a musical genius and Leprosy is a work of art, still to this day.  One of my top 5 death metal albums of all time and an album that is timeless.

It’s kinda pointless reviewing the actual material on Human. There’s nothing that hasn’t already been said over the 20 years since its release. It’s a classic; ’nuff said. Considering the drastic lineup change, the material is a natural and expected,  technical progression from Spiritual Healing. Yet, it manages to retain some sense of Death‘s early bludgeoning sound while adding  intellectual, masterful and complex strokes.  Human served as a bridge between the band’s past and future with tracks like “Flattening of Emotions”, “Together as One”, “Lack of Comprehension” and basically every track on the album are blueprints for virtually every technical death metal album since.

But lets focus on on whether this reissue is worth picking up. If you don’t already own Human (shame on you), this is your chance to finally own a classic, there’s no question. However, if you own the original or some version of Human, Relapse has done an excellent job of making this reissue of Human a must have. Though the artwork is unchanged, this 2 disc affair is chock full of goodies. The  CDs come on 2 gorgeous black and gold embossed discs and a mammoth insert booklet. The said booklet is stuffed with candid pictures and lengthy notes from Reinart, Masdival and Jim Morris, who remastered this effort. Touching on subjects like the recording and writing process, working with Chuck, Eastern Mysticism, and seeing a dying motorcycle accident victim, the booklet is truly an interesting read. It has even more impact since Chuck Schuldiner’s passing.

Of interest are the notes from Jim Morris. First off, his remix/remaster is superb, and actually sounds a lot different than the original, unlike a lot of reissues. This is blatantly obvious from the opening percussive salvo of “Flattening of Emotions” where you can hear that the drums have been given a whole new level of oomph. But Morris’ notes actually talk about the technical process,  being around original producer Scott Burns in the legendary Morrisound  studio for the original recording and the humbling experience of trying to remix a classic. It’s an insightful read.

As well as a much fuller version of Human, you get a second CD that’s bound to make collectors salivate. Containing 20 tracks, disc 2 gives you all the basic instrumental studio tracks from the original recording sessions as well as actual Human demo tracks. I’m not one for instrumental music but to hear these songs in such a raw , pure form is enthralling and makes an already must have reissue even more of a must have, and one of the rare reissues that’s a perfect addition/complement to the original.