Scream Bloody Gore

Scream Bloody Gore
Studio album by Death
Released May 25, 1987
Genre Death metal
Length 41:59
Label Combat Records
Producer Randy Burns, Chuck Schuldiner
Death chronology
Mutilation
(1986)		 Scream Bloody Gore
(1987)		 Leprosy
(1988)

Scream Bloody Gore is the debut album by American band Death, released in 1987 and considered “the first true death metal record”.[1] Chuck Schuldiner plays bass, wrote all the songs on the album and provides vocals in addition to guitar for the album. John Hand is noted on the cover as playing rhythm guitar, though this was incorrect and Hand was only in the band for a short period and was not on the recording.[2] This is also the only Death album to feature drummer Chris Reifert, who had joined for the Mutilation demo.[3]

Contents

Overview

Scream Bloody Gore was actually recorded twice, with the second, Los Angeles-based session being released as the album by label Combat Records (later Relativity). It was first recorded in Florida, although only the rhythm guitar and drum tracks were recorded. The track-listing consisted of Torn to Pieces, Legion of Doom, Scream Bloody Gore, Sacrificial Cunt (later shortened to Sacrificial because the label asked the band to do so, possibly because “they didn’t want to get P.M.R.C. on their case”[4]), Mutilation, Land of No Return, and Baptized in Blood. The label were unsatisfied after hearing the initial mix, so Schuldiner and Reifert re-recorded the album in California with Randy Burns as producer. Once returning to Florida, the first session was released as a promotional tape, and was eventually bootlegged. Legion of Doom was a longtime staple of Death’s rehearsals and live shows, and was indeed the first song written, reaching back to when they were known as Mantas.

Despite the many songs written during Death’s demo days, only half of them were re-recorded for the album, the rest being new compositions. Infernal Death and Baptized in Blood originally appeared on the Infernal Death demo. Zombie Ritual, Mutilation and Land of No Return originally appeared on the Mutilation demo, and Evil Dead and Beyond the Unholy Grave were originally on Death By Metal. Beyond the Unholy Grave and Land of No Return were also cut from the album, though were included on the re-release, with the live audio tracks taken from the Ultimate Revenge II video.

Certain songs on the album were inspired by horror movies. For example, Regurgitated Guts was inspired by the film City of the Living Dead a.k.a. The Gates of Hell, Beyond the Unholy Grave was influenced by the movie The Beyond, and Zombie Ritual was inspired by Zombie, all of which were films directed by Italian director Lucio Fulci.[5]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [6]
Metal Storm [7]
Sputnikmusic [8]

Scream Bloody Gore is perhaps the first death metal prototype, and “clearly defined [death metal’s] true essence for the first time”[9], “which would qualify [it] as the first true death metal album”, declared music biographer Joel McIver[10], who also noted that “Scream Bloody Gore was a turning-point in extreme metal”[11]. Writer Ian Christe stated in Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal that “Scream Bloody Gore emulated hardcore punk. It also evoked the dark moods of horror sound tracks from the drive-in zombie and cannibal horror films of George Romero”.[12] Metal Forces described the album as “death metal at its utmost extreme, brutal, raw and offensive - the kind that separates the true death metallers from countless trend-following wimps”.[13]

Track listing

All songs written by Chuck Schuldiner.

No. Title Length
1. "Infernal Death"   2:54
2. "Zombie Ritual"   4:35
3. "Denial of Life"   3:37
4. "Sacrificial"   3:43
5. "Mutilation"   3:30
6. "Regurgitated Guts"   3:47
7. "Baptized in Blood"   4:31
8. "Torn to Pieces"   3:38
9. "Evil Dead"   3:01
10. "Scream Bloody Gore"   4:35
CD bonus tracks
No. Title Length
11. "Beyond the Unholy Grave"   3:08
12. "Land of No Return"   3:00
1999 remastered version
No. Title Length
13. "Open Casket" (Live) 4:50
14. "Choke on It" (Live) 5:56
2008 remastered digipack version
No. Title Length
13. "Denial of Life" (Live) 3:47

Credits

References

  1. ^ Aldis, N. & Sherry, J. Heavy metal Thunder, 2006, San Francisco: Chronicle ISBN 0-8118-5353-5
  2. ^ a b "Blabbermouth Reifert interview". Roadrunnerrecords.com. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=71774. Retrieved October 13, 2011. 
  3. ^ Lahtinen L. Chris Reifert - Ex-DEATH, ex-AUTOPSY & ABSCESS, metal-rules.com, (retrieved May 23, 2010)
  4. ^ Death. In: Jon Kristiansen: Metalion: The Slayer Mag Diaries. Bazillion Points Books 2011, p. 134.
  5. ^ "Diamonds Are Forever". Hard Rock Magazine. March 2002. http://www.emptywords.org/HardRock03-2002.htm. 
  6. ^ Huey, Steve. "Scream Bloody Gore - Death". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r5284. Retrieved October 13, 2011. 
  7. ^ "Death - Scream Bloody Gore review". Metal Storm. http://www.metalstorm.net/pub/review.php?review_id=157. Retrieved October 13, 2011. 
  8. ^ "Death - Scream Bloody Gore (album review)". Sputnikmusic. http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/1143/Death-Scream-Bloody-Gore/. Retrieved October 13, 2011. 
  9. ^ Death page @ Allmusic
  10. ^ McIver, J. Justice for All: The Truth About Metallica, 2004, p. 155, Omnibus Press
  11. ^ McIver, J. The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists, 2009, #10: Chuck Schuldiner, Jawbone Press
  12. ^ Christe, I. The Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal, 2003, p. 241, Harper Collins
  13. ^ as noted in Mudrian, A. Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore, 2004, p. 75, Feral House
Death
Studio albums
Live albums
Demos
Death by Metal · Live in Tampa · Reign of Terror · Live at Ruby's Pub · Infernal Death · Rigor Mortis · Back from the Dead · Infernal Live · Mutilation
Compilations
Videos
Related articles