Mantas
Death By Metal ()
Wydane przez Relapse Records/ClawhammerRok wydania Kraj USANapisał Wouter7
Chuck Schuldiner and Death are probably the most revered act in the formative years of the death metal genre. That is, of course, with good reason as Death helped form and later revolutionize the way the genre could combine technical chops with high quality songwriting. With today’s scene being more about high speed and technical noodling Relapse Records has heard the call from old school fans, who long for much more simpler times. "Death By Metal" is the long overdue historical compilation of all recorded demo material by pre-Death formation Mantas. Featuring Kam Lee (Massacre, Bone Gnawer), Rick Rozz (Death, Massacre) and Chuck Schuldiner (Death, Control Denied) Mantas was a far more raw, powerchord driven and furious affair compared even to the earliest Death. Listening to these cuts one can clearly see how a far violent strain of Slayer-inspired thrash metal (with a good helping of Possessed, Venom, Nunslaughter and Hellhammer along with way) eventually gave way to a completely new and original style: death metal. Of these six tracks only ‘Evil Dead’ would be re-recorded for Death’s official debut "Scream Bloody Gore", which is no surprise as it is the stand out cut from these sessions. It is interesting to note how these cuts formed the template for what would be written for "Scream Bloody Gore" - while they are stylistically more thrashy, they are an early incarnation of the same playing style. Mantas transformation into Death saw the band making significant strides, yet in comparison to Death’s later evolution, the progression seems mild in comparison. Seeing how these were dusted off demo recordings and crude rehearsals culled from tapes nearly thirty years (the early 1980’s) old, it is surprising how good much of this still sounds. As a document of the earliest days of US death metal scene, "Death By Metal" is a vital and much needed compilation. It remains to be seen how today’s kids will react to these crude and vile sounding recordings of one of the most important voices of the formative US death metal scene.
www.relapse.com
