Vim Fuego
Extreme metal today owes a great debt to Possessed, a debt which is often ignored.
In their day, Possessed took Venom’s energetic noise to a new level of speed, complexity and viciousness. While the style of Cronos and crew wasn’t particularly serious, Jeff Becerra and crew are fully convincing, with ‘The Eyes Of Horror’ still sounding dangerous today.
Produced by none other than guitar maestro Joe Satriani, there is no doubting the might of Possessed. On earlier releases, the band struggled with production standards, which hampered the overall quality of the music. On this release, the rhythm guitar suffers a little in the clarity department, but the riffs are leaden weighted, and the leads are still razor sharp. Becerra’s brutal vocal delivery shines, as he rasps his way through Satanic diatribes and psychopathological tales.
One of the talking points of the band even back in the 80s was Mike Sus’ drumming ability, or lack thereof. OK, so he sounds like Marky Ramone trying to do Dave Lombardo, but fuck it, he hits hard and he hits fast, so what does it matter if he occasionally misses the beat. He is only human after all. Despite his technical faults, Sus had his own distinctive sound, which added to the personality of Possessed’s overall sound.
The crazed twin guitar riffing displayed by Possessed paved the way for many a death metal band. Larry LaLonde (who ended up in Primus, of all bands) and Mike Torrao seemed to have a good understanding of each other’s technique, bouncing different passages between one another and duelling with solos without being overindulgent. The best example is the introduction to “Storm In My Mind”, one of those metal moments everyone should hear. It shows the technical ecstasy this guitar team could pull off with an effects laden solo over a booming riff, which then bursts into a breakneck sub-blast beat passage. The song has several breakdowns and bridges with screaming solos. It also marks Mike Sus’ best ever drum performance, where he keeps the whole show on time and in one piece. Becerra sings like a haunted soul tormented by his own mind.
A question often asked today is was Possessed the first death metal band? The short answer is no. Some of the guitar work sounds reminiscent of some early 90s death metal bands, and Becerra’s voice almost reaches the depths of a death grunt, but this is pure thrash. However, it is highly influential thrash, as a lot of young musicians looking to create their own music took ideas from this band and pushed them to the next obvious level in the fledgling death metal scene. Possessed’s career was short and sharp, consisting of only two albums and this mini album and a hand full of demos, but the band’s legacy lives on, and long may it do so.