DEATH — Rigor Mortis (review)

DEATH — Rigor Mortis album cover Demo · 1985 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2/5 ·
UMUR
"Rigor Mortis" is a rehearsal demo release by US, Florida based death metal act Death. The demo was independently released in April 1985 shortly before Chuck Schuldiner would oust Kam Lee (Rick Rozz was already gone), and move to California to built a new lineup. "Rigor Mortis" was recorded by the duo of Schuldiner and Lee.

It´s a short demo featuring the title track on both sides of the cassette tape. The version on side B is a rough mix. "Rigor Mortis" is a very raw and pretty lo-fi recording but it´s still reasonably audible what´s going on. The most interesting thing on the demo is the relatively extreme vocals, which ranges from deep growling to high pitched screaming. If I have to guess I think it´s Lee performed in the growls and Schuldiner performing the high pitched screams. It´s not a track which screams to me that it´s a Death composition. It´s one of their slightly different sounding tracks from those days.

Upon conclusion "Rigor Mortis" isn´t the most interesting Death demo, but it´s still an interesting historical document, which shows a band who rehearsed a lot, composed a lot, and tried out many different ideas, before they found their unique sound. A 2 star (40%) rating is warranted.
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