UMUR
"Leprosy of Death" is the first demo by Greek grindcore (later black/gothic metal) act Rotting Christ. The demo was independently released on cassette tape in November 1988. Rotting Christ formed as far back as 1984 under the Black Church monicker but changed their name to the current one in 1987.
While Rotting Christ would soon turn towards a black metal oriented sound they play a raw, noisy, and fast-paced grindcore style on "Leprosy of Death". The demo features 9 tracks and a total playing time of 8:51 minutes. All material was recorded live during a rehearsal on the 11th of November 1988. The instruments don´t always sound like they are in tune, and there are feedback noise too, but it all just adds to the authenticity of the compositions. The music style is strongly influenced by early Napalm Death and other extreme grindcore/crust punk/hardcore artists of that era like Extreme Noise Terror, and S.O.B.
"Leprosy of Death" is a pretty extreme recording in every way possible. It´s recorded live in a rehearsal space and therefore the sound production is lo-fi and noisy (but actually still pretty well sounding), the performances aren´t exactly tight, and the songwriting is one-dimensional, but it´s as authentic as they get in terms of experiencing youthful anger and frustration through music. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.