Death metal in 1985 might not be remembered by anything else than Possessed’s Seven Churches, but there’s actually more that should be known, namely Paul Speckmann and the demo Fuckin’ Death from his band Death Strike. Though the 1985 release was just a minor tape demo, it was compiled six years later to a CD release with another four songs, once again named Fuckin’ Death. Even this release didn’t garner as much attention as it probably should have gotten, but perhaps it will happen now that Dark Descent Records has put it out, in this era of enormous old school and retro worship.
Of course, Fuckin’ Death isn’t pure death metal as we understand it today. You could think of Venom, Hellhammer and Discharge to depict the album to yourself: thrashing, almost punky and hardcore old school metal in a charming eighties production. The four songs of the original tape are the true highlights of the whole: muddy guitars executing that simple yet sweet power chord hell with occasional screeching solos, Speckmann’s harsh (and very harsh were they for that time) vocals really upfront in the mix, and drums steadily battering those primitive blasts.
”The Final Conflict” begins the second part of the album, or more like a compilation, presenting the material from 1991, starting with acoustic guitars, soon after bursting into menacing death / thrash metal riffage with a fuller and bassier sound behind. This material isn’t as crushing as the first, yet presents some very solid old school metal. As a bonus on the recent Dark Descent re-release, there’s another slew of four tracks added to the end, really scruffy sounding live rehearsal tracks that will mostly serve the most hardcore fans of the band. I must admit, though, that the extremely raw sound only strengthens the band’s dark aura here.
Fuckin’ Death isn’t the most memorable collection of songs from those years, but definitely worth of the attention of anyone into the first days of death metal or, in this case, proto death metal. There’s simply no reason to keep Death Strike hidden anywhere as it’s a convincing piece of metal history, even if not the most essential of all. No need for doubts (or some damn MP3 samples), old school metal listeners can make a blind buy in this particular case.
Of course, Fuckin’ Death isn’t pure death metal as we understand it today. You could think of Venom, Hellhammer and Discharge to depict the album to yourself: thrashing, almost punky and hardcore old school metal in a charming eighties production. The four songs of the original tape are the true highlights of the whole: muddy guitars executing that simple yet sweet power chord hell with occasional screeching solos, Speckmann’s harsh (and very harsh were they for that time) vocals really upfront in the mix, and drums steadily battering those primitive blasts.
”The Final Conflict” begins the second part of the album, or more like a compilation, presenting the material from 1991, starting with acoustic guitars, soon after bursting into menacing death / thrash metal riffage with a fuller and bassier sound behind. This material isn’t as crushing as the first, yet presents some very solid old school metal. As a bonus on the recent Dark Descent re-release, there’s another slew of four tracks added to the end, really scruffy sounding live rehearsal tracks that will mostly serve the most hardcore fans of the band. I must admit, though, that the extremely raw sound only strengthens the band’s dark aura here.
Fuckin’ Death isn’t the most memorable collection of songs from those years, but definitely worth of the attention of anyone into the first days of death metal or, in this case, proto death metal. There’s simply no reason to keep Death Strike hidden anywhere as it’s a convincing piece of metal history, even if not the most essential of all. No need for doubts (or some damn MP3 samples), old school metal listeners can make a blind buy in this particular case.
3 / 5
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