Death is June - Looking Back in Anger at Death's " Leprosy"

Why am I choosing to dig into this album instead of "Scream Bloody Gore"?  The reason is the same as why I do any of these Look Back in Anger reviews, the pedastal we put some albums up on is based soley on their reputations and the sometimes inaccurate memories of when we first heard the, . How well do they actually hold up over time. Their first album was less death metal and more still crawling from the thrash from whence they were concieved. I think Slayer's "Hell Awaits" album served as the catalyst to bridge from thrash to what would be death metal.It was meaner, darker and uglier, though owed more to metal than to punk, where many thrash band's had a combat boot on both sides of the fence.

"Pull the Plug" would with out question be in the top 10 death metal songs of all time. The riffs wrap themselves around the drums in a more progressive manner than I picked up on when I first got this album back in 1988. Scott Burns would produce most of the classic death metal from this era . "Born Dead" is still catchier than most death metal today however it is more ofa return to the kind of thrashing found on their first album. "Forgotten Past" races along and sometimes is muddled in the speed but they still wrote songs with hooks to bring it back to. "Left to Die " being even more hook orientied .

"Open Casket" is no "Pull Plug", but it was still way ahead of it's time. "Pull the Plug" benefitted from the empahsis being place on the growl on the chorus that made it the strongest vocal on the album. The vocals were not the focal point of things like this . Though not as obligatory as the vocal used by thrash bands like Rigor Mortis. There is almost the thrash groove to "Open Casket" , but the more primal drumming gives it more attack., The catch being when we get into that stiff snare pattern it represents what I do not like about death metal from this time period. Other albums from this band could be argued as being among the best like "Individual Thought Patterns" which would be worth considering, though "Human" is the one most would defualt to, however musically they are more like technical thrash albums. The last few ones on this one after repeat listens begin to feel like filler . They do end strong here with "Choke on It" . Not "Pull the Plug" strong, but more nuanced song writing, some what Slayer influenced. I will give this album a 9, it's solid and certainly note worth for it's time ,but as the best death metal of all time. I am not sure it holds it's weight.