NECROPHAGIA — Season of the Dead (review)

NECROPHAGIA — Season of the Dead album cover Album · 1987 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"Season of the Dead" is the debut full-length studio album by US death metal act Necrophagia. The album was released through New Renaissance Records in February 1987, making it one of the earliest examples of a death metal album released through a label. Hell, it was even released a couple of months before "Scream Bloody Gore" by Death. Necrophagia had however been active in the US extreme metal underground and tape trading scene since they were founded in 1983, and had released several demos before releasing this debut album. A band history which should probably earn them the title as one of the originators of the death metal style along side acts like Death/Mantas, Massacre, Executioner (later Obituary), Morbid Angel, Death Strike, Possessed, and Deceased (just to mention a few of the heavily influential bands from the early years of death metal).

As the case is with many of the earliest death metal releases, the line between being a particularly raw sounding thrash metal release, and being a more brutal death metal ditto, is a bit blurry regarding "Season of the Dead". Personally I think I lean more towards calling it the former. The vocals are raw, but not really growling. They are actually quite odd sounding, as it sounds like Killjoy is talking/whispering the vocals while snarling. He sounds a bit out of breath, and the vocals ultimately aren´t that powerful. The riffs are basically raw and primitive sounding thrash metal riffs, and the same can be said about the drumming style. The whole thing is pretty lo-fi produced, murky, and dark sounding, which probably adds to the general view that "Season of the Dead" is a death metal album.

If the cover artwork featuring feasting zombies didn´t give it away, song titles like "Insane for Blood", "Bleeding Torment", and "Mental Decay" probably do. Yes... the lyrical content and the general image of the band is gore/horror themed.

If you like your thrash/death metal as raw and straight forward as possible you´ll probably greatly enjoy "Season of the Dead" and viewed upon a bit more objectively, it is in fact a decent early thrash oriented death metal release, but it´s neither the most originals sounding, nor the most interesting release from those days, and other than being incredibly influential regarding the development of the death metal genre, there are quite a few albums with a similar history, that I´d recommend before this one. The skill of the performers, the murky sound production, and the very standard quality songwriting aren´t enough to warrant more than a 3 star (60%) rating.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
Vim Fuego wrote:
more than 2 years ago
RIP Killjoy. Great gory fun!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

A Sonication Technical Death Metal
OBSCURA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed