Black Metal History Month-Looking Back In Anger at Possessed's "Seven Churches"

Here is where we go back and listen to albums that are supposed classic and see if they were really as good as we thought at the time and ask how well have they stood up. Credited as one of the forerunners of black metal formed in 1983 this album was released in 1985. This was also the first band of Primus guitarist Larry Lalonde. The opener sounds more thrash, but you can hear why Dimmu Borgir has credited this album as having influenced them. Bands like Samael, Falkenbach and Rotting Christ have name checked this guys as an influence. The vocals on the song"Pentagram" sound more like Venom than the harsh growls of the first song. The drums are more thrash than what we consider black metal today. "Burning In Hell" is almost sloppy due to it's speed. While the album that followed this one was criticized for being not as aggressive as this one it makes me wonder if it's as bad as originally thought. They do sound a lot better when they slow down into the chug for this song. More like "Bonded By Blood" era Exodus.

There is more of a Slayer feel to "Evil Warriors". The vocals would not sound out of place on a modern black metal album, though they are a little more punk. This song might have been ground breaking at the time , but now it feels like warmed up Slayer. I do like the attack of the title track despite the fact it speed up into that stiff punk like snare I hate in metal, and to be honest am not fond of it in punk either. Lyrically this song is not as strong as the others. The harmony runs the bass and guitar do are pretty impressive if those kinds of chops are what you are into. The guitar might be this bands biggest asset , but the bass playing is not far behind it though sits back further in the mix than say Atheist. "Satan's Curse" is pretty straight forward. The chorus is really punk, almost reminds me of Suicidal Tendencies. I think "Holy Hell" is a better song, though it's more in the Venom vein.

"Twisted Minds" kinda feels more like that place where death metal and thrash once met. There is a cool mosh riff under the guitar solo, but you know the rule around here is cool riffs alone do not a good song make. "Fallen Angel" has more anger in it's attacks. The drums are not the greatest , but they get the job done. The song "Death Metal" is more thrash than death metal. It kind of blasts by without leaving much of an impression even after going back to listen to this more than once. I'll give this album an 8, it's good, but not a classic as it doesn't even hold up to say "Altars of Madness" .

1349 : "Massive Cauldron of Chaos"

When you have been around since 1997, you are entitled to go through some changes. This album might please some fans who did not like some of their more experimental moments on albums past, but they have still not returns to the traditional first wave of Norwegian Black metal. What grim old timers might frown upon is how this albums sounds good and is loaded up to the gauntlets with catchy riffs.

'Cauldron" opens the album as in your face as you can get. The drums hammer at you head like a migraine. This becomes another case of the opener bowls you over with it's intensity, until it is hard to imagine the band being able to keep it this hard hitting for the duration, without devolving into noise. The album holds a similar hateful streak as the last Hod album I reviewed on here not too long ago, so if you liked that one then skip the rest of this review and give this a listen.

The riff to "Slaves" is so slick it's almost rock n roll at time and very much holds a thrash bent in the tight palm muted attack. The chorus of "the slaves shall serve" is delivered in varied degrees of snarl.The drums are not only giving a rapid beat down  but they are very precise and not at all sloppy with blast beats tripping over themselves from the momentum like some bands. There is a pretty straight forward stomp to "Exorcism". The double bass flows like lava underneath it until they blow up into blasty mcnastiness.

In places "Post- Mortem"  has more groove than I remember these guys having, not to the extreme of pussing out like Satyricon.  In fact  it surprising how often they hit a place that sounds like the cross over days of punk and metal, than anything resembling say Darkthrone. They play fast but don't default to blast beats. Harkening back to the 80's the guitars are tight with the thrashing. Slayer is one of this album's predominant influence. The monstrous drumming helps to further force this into your face and shove the songs down your throat. Normally this would be too straight forward for me but something about whats happening works here. They cling to similar pacing on "Mengele's" an ode to the man who earned the name Angel of Death. The vocals spew forth with a renewed scathing to them. They way the chorus hit's it reminds me more of Deicide.

The band launches full force into the speed demonics of "Golem". This makes me wonder if the WWII themed titles are intentional. The lyrics are audible within the throaty screams, but not to the point where the lyrics really leap out at you, unless he goes into more of a croak. It wasn't until the bass break down on "Chained" until I realized I was no longer listening to "Golem". "Chained" has more inventive guitar playing than the previous song, though they are not trying to break a whole lot of new ground. The octave chords that accent the verse riff are pretty fucking cool.

 They rival Immortal's most epic battle gallops on "Godslayer". They are not indulging into much fantasy with their occult imagery, but have a passion for being this pissed. Listening back to this one a few times I can hear the "Show No Mercy" era Slayer ghosts haunting this chapel of ghouls. The creepy spoken vocals are a nice touch and keep the fury well paced. They keep with the 80's thrash theme by covering a Possessed song. Of course they pull this one off and pretty much nail it to the cross.

I will give this one a 9 as it's pretty much what you see is what you get thrashed out black metal, which at times is a little too straight forward for me to imagine cranking this for the rest of the year, but I have gotten several good listens out of it already.