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Necrophagia > Season of the Dead > Reviews
Necrophagia - Season of the Dead

Underrated and Unique - 95%

GoreFreak89, August 27th, 2023

Season of the Dead is needless to say, somewhat slept on in the metal scene. While I understand it's not for everybody, this album is easily one of the most unique death metal albums of the old school era. This album also came out of an era where death metal had almost no presence. Scream Bloody Gore wouldn't even be out for another few months. Season of the Dead was essentially the truest realization of a horror metal album the world had seen at the point of its release.

With context established, the album begins with a roughly 3 minute somber and beautiful acoustic intro leading into haunting ambience, a clock chiming, and a choir, until it finally breaks. At about 4 minutes, you're met with a sinister lurching riff that remains one of my favorite riffs of all time. This track is called Forbidden Pleasure, and it sets the tone very well for what you'll be in for with the rest of this album. Most of your time with SOTD will be spent between chugging lumbering riffs to make up the verses, and haloween-ish and strange riffs in between which are genuinely brilliant and set this album apart from most other death metal. While a listener could be turned off by Killjoys odd vocal delivery, this album really wouldn't feel nearly as good as it does without them. Killjoys seriously unique take on death metal vocals, as well as the riffings from Larry Madison are what carry this album for me. That said, Joe Blazer on drums and Bill James on bass are also unique players that put this album where it is in its delivery.

I also have to say SOTD is probably the purest distillation of the atmosphere of a horror movie put onto an album ever. This is a metal album for horror fans, pure and simple. The album speaks to films like Night of the Living Dead and other zombie classics, and communicates that language instrumentally, never relying on samples or naming songs after movies.

Highlight tracks - Forbidden Pleasure, Terminal Vision, Mental Decay, Beyond and Back

All in all, I strongly recommend SOTD for people looking for a unique Death Metal album, as well as dedicated horror fans in the metal scene.

The worst "seminal death metal hidden gem" - 30%

Annable Courts, November 6th, 2022

Dude, don't you know about Necrophagia ? If you ever thought to yourself "hmm, I wonder how shitty early death metal must've sounded like" then this album should put a smile on your face. Sure, it's an album credited as being a forerunner in establishing the sub-genre, but all in all there were quite a few bands that did that really. They weren't that rare, and the others didn't necessarily sound like a bad joke. For most of it, this is basically tuggah-duggah-duggah-duggah angry thrash with a Lombardo beat, that's slightly a darker color than your average thrash metal from around the late 80's...oh and with particularly shitty production. That acoustic guitar intro, goodness me. It's like watching a clip that you prepared yourself to be serious for, but start cracking a smile when you realize it's simply impossible to take seriously. In the opening seconds the guy struggles to switch chord fingering fast enough which, with the awkward silence that follows, is snort-worthy; later he misses countless strokes going up and down the arpeggios...it's got some thought put into it, let's be fair, but it doesn't exactly put the listener in the right predisposition for the rest of it. It's rare a studio record has a guy who still can't play his instrument well, but anyways, moving on.

Is the rest of it believable then ? Well, it sounds like youths got together in them late eighties there, youngsters from a typically middle-class neighborhood that were fans of horror movies and all that... and produced material that felt more disturbing and radical to them, than it really was. The vocals in particular try really hard to sell the notion this is obscure grown-up music, and that it's totally mental, man. And admittedly, I've found myself listening to this saying out loud "ooh, spooky". On a few occasions, too. But you can tell, so painfully so, they're a bunch of college kids (probably) with an immature imagination that, anyways, was far too ambitious for their abilities. For any growler out there, one will know, these vocals are comical: the guy is like this loner-type nerd at school who went super fucking hard at everything, constantly in his own little world...and got picked up and recorded this at their older friend's home studio basically off the cuff. So in truth, this is very much like the cinematic genre it's attempting to depict: it's a B horror-movie metal album.

Musically ? Some riffs are pretty cool, there's a good groove or two in this - but nothing one wouldn't hear elsewhere, and certainly not enough to get over the less-than-ideal production and pedestrian overall quality of it. If there's anything on this that's genuinely and uniquely innovative, and absolutely worthy of notice, then there is few and far between over the course of it. A sizeable chunk is absolutely basic thrash with no additional appeal whatsoever. A track every now and then will pull the atmosphere down a bit, giving it a slightly graver tone, but for the most part this is, eh... a mediocre Slayer. Rudimentary song-writing devices from early death/thrash are employed and scattered around some 45 minutes of an underwhelming, expendable, lowbrow good. And for the term "good" to appear anywhere in this review, is quite generous.

Not your typical death/thrash album - 95%

Slater922, March 22nd, 2021
Written based on this version: 1987, CD, New Renaissance Records

Necrophagia has a rather interesting place in the death metal scene. The Ohioan band released several demos before they came out with their debut album "Season of the Dead". While it was initially praised, the album has since become forgotten thanks to future releases like Death's "Scream Bloody Gore", leading to the band being more of an underground sensation. This album may not feel special in the metal scene today, but there was no other album that sounded like it when it first came out. Even after all of these years, SOTD remains Necrophagia's best work.

The intro to this album is iconic. It begins with the track "Season of the Dead", which is an acoustic guitar playing a soft, mellow tune. It sounds basic, but the slow playing of the guitar brings in an atmosphere of mystery and darkness and foreshadows the themes for the rest of the album. As the track plays on, the guitar gets more dark and eventually gives way to creepy-sounding synths and deep growls that play in the background. The atmosphere gets more sinister as the track goes on, and it eventually leads into the second track "Forbidden Pleasure". This track involves guitars that play chaotic riffs while the drums beat in fast and groovy patterns. In the middle of the chaos is Frank "Killjoy" Pucci, whose vocals consist of the fast whispering that this album is famous for. The first two tracks off the album bring in an atmosphere of mayhem and chaos, and remain one of my favorite opening tracks off a death metal album.

From here on out, the album follows the dark atmosphere in various ways. In the track "Insane for Blood", the song offers a more technical structure with the guitars playing more complex and noisy riffs. The drums also beat in a ritualistic way and bring in a more spiritual sound. Killjoy's vocals also use a pitch-shifter in the middle of the track, making his voice sound more devilish and horrific. "Mental Decay" is also one of the more thrash metal-like tracks on the album, especially with the guitar riffs playing a more groovy riff in the beginning. This track also has one of the best vocal moments on the album, as Killjoy's vocals have more of an aggressive tone, making him sound more furious and powerful. Each track has its own elements and style that makes it unique, and they are all connected to bring in an atmosphere of chaos and madness.

One track that feels a bit weak though is "Painful Discharge". This is also another one of the more thrash metal-like tracks, but it feels less genuine. The guitars play riffs that feel a bit bland, and they don't offer the same powerful sound like some of the other tracks. The drums also beat fast for the sake of beating fast, and even Killjoy's vocals sound a bit drowsy and moody. While the instruments and vocals are tiresome, the track does have descriptive lyrics about a serial killer going on a rampage. Nevertheless, it's one of the worst tracks off the album and it is one I would rather skip.

Despite one weak track, this album is overall amazing. The intro to the album is a classic, the instruments offer a nice blend of thrash and death metal, and Killjoy's vocals are unique and fitting to the instruments. "Season of the Dead" is a polarizing album when you compare it to other releases at the time, and its lack of recognition makes the album feel tragic. But while it may not be highly regarded as other death metal albums, SOTD is still an amazing death/thrash metal album that I highly recommend you check out.

The original zombie apocalypse. - 91%

hells_unicorn, November 25th, 2019
Written based on this version: 1987, CD, New Renaissance Records

When considering the already years long relationship that heavy metal had with horror cinema by the mid-80s, hindsight might well dictate that death metal was the inevitable offspring of said union. Be this as it may, what was considered death metal during this time period seems a far cry from what it would become in the following decade, let alone what it has come to embody since the turn of the century. Hybrid sub-genre titles such as death/thrash and even ones denoting a specific time period such as modern versus old school become a necessity given the vast evolutionary leaps that have occurred, leaving some to question whether most of the primordial offerings that first showed a stylistic divergence from thrash metal could be regarded as proper death metal or if some additional qualification need to be applied. Apart from obvious prime-movers such as Possessed's Seven Churches and Sepultura's Morbid Visions, one of the albums that helped to shape the death metal sound yet is often treated as more of a proto-death affair is Necrophagia's 1987 debut Season Of The Dead.

Though practically speaking, this album is actually the second album to be recorded by this outfit, its 1986 predecessor Ready For Death would not be released for several years, after the band's initial demise no less. It nevertheless has the distinction of being a debut effort to come a little before Scream Bloody Gore that hits very similar territory and stands as a rung on the ladder closer to that brutal sound that would emerge in the early 90s via Cannibal Corpse. It shares a distinction with Death's aforementioned debut in being the product of several years of toiling with numerous demos and could almost be treated as a similarly suited "best of the demo years" compilation that is also a stand alone studio LP, though it's a bit closer to a proper studio album in how it is structured. Drawing heavily from front man Killjoy's love of horror films, it has a sort of cinematic character to it, spearheaded by an extended acoustic guitar driven ambient intro song and title track that has sort of a theatrical overture vibe to it, even drawing some comparisons to what King Diamond would often feature at the beginning of both Fatal Portrait and Abigail.

Then again, once this album transitions into full on metallic fury, the vibe is clearly of a thrashing persuasion, coming off as a murkier and slightly more dissonant repackaging of where Kreator and Slayer were a year prior. Part of this owes to a greater usage of double bass kick beats (arguably a tad more often than Death's concurrent debut) and the vocals having a slightly more menacing quality than that of Petrozza or Becerra. It should be noted that Killjoy's voice isn't really the sort of deep, necrotic guttural bark that became more common towards the close of the 80s at this point, and even is a tad more high-pitched when compared with Schuldiner's shouts; it could perhaps be best likened to the demonized ravings of a mad warlock recounting horrific tales from his personal library, like a sort of raspy recitation of a tale defying mortal understanding. Though it goes without saying that the chaotic kit work, inhuman vocal ravings and flashy guitar solos are a staple of the early death metal sound, Necrophagia managed to set themselves apart a bit from the crowd by having a fairly competent bassist in Bill James who is featured quite prominently and does much to shape the dark, dreary atmosphere of this album. It's a pity that he basically hung it up after 1987 because his chops are about up to par with Alex Webster's during the early 90s.

While this is often a chapter in death metal's early years that is treated as a mere stepping stone on the way to more brutal days, Season Of The Dead stands the test of time and stands as a sort of early manifesto of death metal. It doesn't make the same degree of progression towards sheer auditory violence that Cannibal Corpse and Deicide would a few years later, but it predicts a number of prominent innovations in the earlier Florida scene, most specifically the haunting atmospheric aesthetic that Morbid Angel would use to great success on Altars Of Madness and a strategic implementation of slower doom elements comparable to the Autopsy and Obituary debuts. But more so than a forerunner to these highly important albums, it stands on its own as a highly engaging blend of raw death thrashing madness and a dash of theatrical nuance and atmosphere that became far less common after the close of the 80s. Whether it be the riff happy and complex journey through instrumental intrigue and lyrical nod to the Evil Dead film "Ancient Slumber", or shorter romps into mad thrashing insanity with guitar shredding and biting bass like "Forbidden Pleasure", "Mental Decay" and "Painful Discharge", there is scarcely a dull moment. It's an essential album for anyone fancying themselves an old school expert, and a fine addition to any fan of the mid-80s Teutonic thrash and Brazilian death thrash sound that don't mind some extra rawness and ferocity on the side.

groundbreaking, but a bit of a mixed bag - 68%

TrooperEd, May 27th, 2018
Written based on this version: 2005, CD, CD-Maximum (Reissue, Remastered)

Picked this up out of respect for one recently departed Frank "Killjoy" Pucci. I figured hey, it's supposedly classic death metal, released (arguably) the year the sub-genre was born, and it's one of the first examples of horror and death metal. What could possibly go wrong? The answer is, a couple of things.

The first problem greets us right off the bat is that this supposed collection of odes to zombies, horror and the dead starts off with....two minutes of acoustic guitar. Some would argue that this sort of thing sets up atmosphere, which would be fine, if right afterwards we didn't get another atmospheric introduction which goes on for almost another two minutes. Odens Ride Over Nordland is shorter than these two intros. My guess was the intent was to establish a Night of the Living Dead motif, where the day starts like any other before things go horribly wrong, but that's the sort of thing that needs to be heard AND seen. Granted, the second intro is much more appropriate to this type of music than the first, but by making the listener (a death metal listener no less) wait this long, you set high expectations for yourself that can be almost impossible to deliver. Thank God for the iTunes start and stop options, or I probably wouldn't be reaching for this very often.

When the music does kick in proper, we come to our second issue: the mix. The production itself isn't bad, and if you're one of those people who abhor the Morrisound/Scott Burns production, you'll swear this is instantly superior. I'm all for raw production in death metal, and I will say I like the guitar tone on this album, which is a mixture of crunch, Marshall amps and cabinets, along with a heap of reverb. This gives it a death-thrash feeling. However, it seems no matter what they aren't quite loud enough, a problem exacerbated by Killjoy's weird placement in the mix (more on that later). It's amazing how with a good mix there are little details you don't notice but with a faulty one you come to appreciate them. The drums sound fine, but they do have a cardboard sound to them, especially on the tom-toms. I do not consider that type of sound a flaw, but there are people who do, and I'd be remiss to not point that out with this review.

Then there's the matter of Frank's vocals themselves, which feel almost like raspy incantations rather than the demented roars of Jeff Becerra and Chuck Schuldiner. They are considerably less in-your-face in this regard. The best thing I can compare them to are David Vincent's vocals on Altars of Madness. I imagine he heard these vocals and thought while they sounded evil, he could make them sound more evil, which in my opinion he did. Concerning the album's mix, Killjoy doesn't really feel like he's with the band. Not in an off-time sense, but more like there's a type of soundproofing that keeps him from coalescing with the music. With death metal, and all types of metal really, you want the vocals to feel like they're in the eye of the storm, and that the vocalist is cutting through to deliver his odes and curses to the listener.

Another issue that I can really only refer to as "abortion pains" is that there are songwriting ideas here that just don't work. The clunky drum and bass sections of Terminal Vision comes to mind. As an intro it's an ok setup to a decent zombie doom bite, as well as a very creepy riff around the 0:36 mark, but then they bring it back after hyper-fast assault around 1:40. It really halts the song's momentum, almost as if they were shushing each other as the cops were passing by. Then there's Beyond and Back, which features an acoustic breakdown of all things before the first two minutes are up. The song rebuilds itself decently around the passage, but this sort of thing just doesn't belong in death metal. Hell I'm pressed to think of examples of metal where it does belong.

The highlight of the album is Mental Decay, which introduces itself with an almost Venom feel to it. A pumping kick drum demands the listener clap his hands or pump his fist in the air in time before giving way to a more mid-paced attack. Honestly, this gives the song good commercial potential, particularly if there was a music video in a club made from it. Don't let that description discourage you, as there are plenty of twisting zombie licks to grab at you to try and rip you apart. Bleeding Torment is typical of this album, with it's controlled thrash assault that gives way to a more vicious attack about 90 seconds in.

I don't want to take too much away from Season Of The Dead. It beat Scream Bloody Gore to store shelves by about three months. Even if it didn't, the fact that this came out in 1987 proves that it's still fairly innovative. However, it feels more innovative in that it shows mistakes being made and inspired most death devotees to correct those ideas rather than embellish them. I'm afraid this is a lost gem for a reason. For hardcore death metal historians only.

Underrated and Overlooked Classic - 95%

TheZombieXecutioner, December 23rd, 2012

Based out of Ohio, Necrophagia is one of the earliest if not the earliest death metal band. Disbanding after only releasing one stellar full length that showed some true potential in the band. Displaying some amazing riffs, creepy vocals, and horror inspired lyrics they seemed to be unique for their time, but never got a chance to fully show their talent. That being said on this debut they show a great deal of talent and creative music that is a must hear for old school death metal fans.

Riifs. This album has got them by the fuck load, and everyone is memorable and haunting. Starting with "Forbidden Pleasure" and its great crawling chord progression. "Bleeding Torment" gives a great look into their faster, thrash oriented riffs that are rather enjoyable. Later on in the middle section of the same song they show their true talent of giving great catchy riffs. "Painful Discharge" is another catchy tune that has some great hooks and even a Kreator like intro. The band also shows some slower riffs on "Ancient Slumber" that bring the whole "Evil Dead" feeling to life. Besides the riffs this record has some great Slayer-like solos that totally rule. "Bleeding Torment" and "Painful Discharge" are great examples of a speedy solos that give great chaotic and climatic feeling to the songs. Interestingly guitarist Larry Madison also shows a great deal of acoustic guitar that works perfectly in the opening track "Season of the Dead" and the middle section of "Beyond and Back", which has a great lead over it that is truly haunting. The guitar work can also get complex at times, especially in the last two track "Painful Discharge" and "Beyond and Back". Overall the guitar work is top and the only real issue is they are kind of quite, but just turn the volume all the way up and you shouldn't have much of a problem.

Killjoy makes for a great vocalist in these recording. Provided with a rusty creepy voice that sounds like a rotting zombie was shuffled into the studio to supply vocals, Killjoy really fits well with the music and lyrical content. Mostly telling horror stories based on death, murder, zombies, and even "Evil Dead". The lyrics can be cheese, but what do you expect? They are actually rather fun with lines like, "Walk among the night if you dare I have no name I'm your worst fucking nightmare" and "The need to feel you suffer Grows stronger everyday The hatred on my face Will bring you to your grave."

Bill James does a solid job on bass giving some supportive lines on "Forbidden Please" and "Painful Discharge" The bass is surprisingly audible and can be heard grinding in the back supporting the guitars on "Abomination" and very prominently on "Terminal Vision" and even on "Insane for Blood". The bass tone is rather nice, very clean, no muddy distortion. The drums are also very great. Giving great simple beats on a kit that sounds as if it was decaying in the studio. This isn't a bad thing at all, I actually really love the rusty and simple beats on this record. "Reincarnation" has some nice rotting rolls and some clean beats to show. "Ancient Slumber" has a very nice drum break that is very simple. yet I don't know why i like it so much.

In the end this album is incredible underrated and overlooked, as is the band. The riffs rule, the drums and bass are solid, and who wouldn't want to hear a zombie as a singer? Showing some great talent and potential, Necrophagia should definitely be checked out by an metal head wanting to hear some of the earliest forms of death metal and horror lyrics.

An Under-Rated Classic Debut! - 90%

SoulCancer, November 29th, 2009

Remember when death metal was something new, and there weren't any clone bands? You know, that era where everyone was still trying to really define what death metal was? Necrophagia are one of those bands that don't sound like anyone else at the time, and it worked out really well for them on Season of the Dead.

Season of the Dead, if you really wanted to pin it down to one thing, was horror movie inspired death metal. There are songs about zombies, mutants, killers from slasher movies, and even some dedicated to Evil Dead (Ancient Slumber) and Bela Lugosi (Insane for Blood). Compared to other bands at the time (Mantas / Death, Xecutioner / Obituary, Morbid Angel, and so on), the content wasn't that much different, but the Satan card is never really played.

But it all comes down to the music for this one: instrumentally, this is a heavier version of thrash metal along with enough distortion and speed to propel it past your typical thrash at the time. Also of note is the unconventional use, in that era, of keyboards, acoustic guitars, electronic effects on vocals, tape slowing, and time changes all the while maintaining a foreboding atmosphere.

Finally, Killjoy's vocals were very unique - they're half spoken, half throaty rasp that one would imagine would be more fitting for a zombie, or maybe even a black metal vocalist? Quorthon and Mayhem are both thanked in the credits, but it's not a far stretch to say that every band they could think of was thanked - the "thanks" takes the entire two internal pages of my copy! Either way, no death metal vocalist sounded like this, and made for a unique and interesting album.

Starting from the beginning, we're taken on a journey. We are lulled in by the calm, yet dark acoustic into before Forbidden Pleasure kicks in, taking us to a sonic slasher flick with the occasional zombie chewing up the scenery. I hesitate to call this "death metal", because it stood out from the rest of the pack. The riffs themselves sometimes sound like they were lifted from horror movie soundtracks - possibly Goblin was an influence in that respect. But from start to finish, this is a solid album that deserves to be listened to from start to finish, as there isn't one filler track here. All of the riffs, leads, drumming, vocals, bass playing (and yes, you can hear the bassist - clearly) and effects are a complete work that works more effectively as a whole album rather than a collection of songs.

If I had to nitpick, I'd say that Killjoy's vocals aren't for everyone on this release. While he would further develop and expand on his style in later years, it's here where something new is being created: something untouched, untried and unheard of. And there are effects on about 20% of the vocals, so it's not a wholly natural performance. However, watching Dawn of the Dead demands you just saw a zombie take a man off of a motorcycle and eat him in the middle of a mall, and the Friday the 13th movies demand you believe Jason is still alive after being shot, stabbed, hung, bludgeoned, beaten and dismembered. With that in mind, the vocals fit perfectly.

This is a necessary album for any true old school death metal fan to have in their collection, as it helped in the development of a sound that, once cut into form, became too common. A lot of the death metal bands of today are clones of one of the original masters and are therefore diluted versions of a potent drug. Season of the Dead, then, is the same drug in concentrated form.

And, if you really had to pick stand-out songs (a problem since they all stand out for me), listen to Season of the Dead / Forbidden Pleasure (they're both track 1 on my CD), Insane for Blood, Ancient Slumber, Mental Decay and Terminal Vision. But you're cheating yourself if you don't listen to the whole album and fully experience it.

Strong contender against Scream Bloody Gore? - 90%

Destroyeroftheweak, April 14th, 2007

So, I was reading up on death metal history and I stumble upon Necrophagia's Season of the Dead. I take a huge liking to old death or death/thrash albums like Pestilence, Death, Morbid Angel, etc. I download this album and I find the most brutal name on the album, "Insane for Blood". I begin the song...and wow, i'm astonished on how brutal this is for 1987. It's a little more doomy type than the more brutal thrash style in the ways of Scream Bloody Gore. Another thing I notice is the vocal style, probably the most brutal and evil vocals i've heard besides from Sarcofago's INRI.

The guitar work is fast and evil, giving off a feeling of murder, evil, and just carnage. The recording on this album is well...near terrible, mainly for the drums. The drumming is somewhat boring, it's like the drummer couldn't think of anything for the songs so he just improvised. The drumming is very slow, the total opposite of what the drumming should be. With these brutal and evil riffs, you need good fast brutal drumming. The recording and drumming is basically the only faults on this album.

Overall, this is an excellent album. From the brutal riffs to the evil hellish vocals from Killjoy (?). This is a must have for death metal fans, it's not a real headbanger as much as it is to mosh or to just murder to. Excellent album...well, the only excellent album from Necrophagia, sadly.

Forbidden Pleasure - 90%

Byrgan, April 15th, 2005

Necrophagia dates back to 1984 and comes from the Midwestern state of Ohio in the US of A. A band that put out multiple demos prior to their '87 debut here: Season of the Dead. Shortly after this album the band would split for some time, and be later reformed with only the original singer Killjoy.

The main production point on SOTD was to create a horror movie like atmosphere, with the instrumentation of dark and deadly death-thrash. Just like a horror movie, you need effects to create a shadowed atmosphere. Some would suggest plenty of fog and plenty of blood. A translation of this would be reverb to distort, and bloody lyrics to disgust. Reverb is blanketed on top of every instrument, as well as other uncanny, cloaking effects, and loads of distortion. To add a few twists and turns, there are sound bits panned across the recording: one being the sounds of bats chirping and flapping their wings, and the other being a sample from the early 80's movie The Evil Dead. Another stand out aspect is on the first track, which has an astounding instrumental piece, streamlined with clean guitars and an eerie choir to back it up; then, to slash its way into your pounding heart, a mid-song transition of their classic thrashy death metal sound to begin the countdown of the album.

The first instrument to give the breath of life, but to blacken your lungs and cause death by metal is the guitars. Madison's beastly guitar playing will go from extreme double picked sections to dual guitar lines. The dual guitar riffs bleed through towards the final breath of the album. The best part about the guitars is the production. There's so much reverb, that it gives the effect of a near-dark, noisome, creepy-creaking house, with you fumbling in a panic stricken commotion at each unknown noise passing by you at closer and closer intervals. When he pulls out solos, which is showcased about every other song, the sound level usually takes over and becomes louder than the rest. The complexity isn't really there but the forethought is. The bass guitar sounds like it might have a slight distortion added. Usually it can be heard underneath the electric guitars playing along with a basic rhythm, and during some highlighted sections as well.

First off, and I hate to say it: the drums are the weakest link of the album. Sound-wise they are great, being loaded with surplus amounts of effects like the rest. But they lack a steadied direction. For the most part he is on time, but he just hits simple fills and breaks and 'just passes' to get the job done. No leading adventurousness, just a following along to the main expeditionaries. However, here and there he abuses the double bass pedals. And during some slower parts he uses the toms to do simple patterned beats to keep the vocals in check. Killjoy's voice is the last demolishing piece to wield its blood-stained hammer. The weirdest part about this record is the transition of the vocals. The demos retain raspy vocals and screams but are still on time with the rest of the music. Although, here on Season of the Dead he changed it up, but luckily not for the worst. Basically his vocals became more or less raspified talking. Stylistically when the music is playing he tells his gore-obsessed tale overtop, and doesn't worry about were he vocalizes. He begins and ends with the start and finish of riffs, but in between, that's another story. To me, personally, I can't complain. Because it adds to the atmosphere and you feel as if you have a narrator as you are slowly dying in a graveyard full of surreal noises and melodies.

My least bit of a complaint is Joe Blazer's less than heavy drum fills. His sound is great, it is just he could have been more structured with the rest of the music. The other side of this output is a great death-thrash release. From the reverb intoxicated guitars to the raspy, narrative-like vocals to the more than present bass guitar. Season of the Dead is a high recommendation in my book. Later listening to the original LP, compared to the CD, it has a slightly rougher sound quality to it. Whichever version someone gets their talons on, they can hear an atmospheric horror themed album, from the production to the instruments, and from the titles to the lyrics. Season of the Dead was like a score for a moody horror movie that never came out. Or even comparative to a soundtracked read along for a short atmospheric horror novel.

eleven delicious courses of blood and grue - 86%

necron313, September 15th, 2004

"Season of the Dead", as might be inferred from the band name, is a highly nutritious blend of vitamin-enriched gore and sickness served on a savory organic bed of mid-to-late 80's death metal. Peculiarly, Necrophagia (and most prominently, their diminutive, splatter-freak-till-death-and-beyond vocalist, Killjoy) never obtained the popular acclaim of similarly-styled bands emerging in the same sliver of time (Morbid Angel, Obituary, Death etc).

One or two spins of the gaping, festering zombified nightmare that is "Season of the Dead" may convince the hapless listener that this album would have been a heinous and fitting death-metal soundtrack to "Evil Dead" or any of the better zombie flicks of the period. The opening (and title) track, is a haunted, melancholic mood-setting acoustic piece that sedates the listener and taps into the darkest reaches of the imagination - whispering of lonely autumn skies, desolate cornfields, graves that will soon open from within, and the unspeakable mockeries of nature which will soon emerge from them in a mindless, perverted hunt for the savory and exquisite entrails of Homo sapiens. :::::licking chops:::::

For those entirely unfamiliar with the Necrophagia sound, songs such as "Ancient Slumber" , "Reincarnation" "Forbidden Pleasure" and "Terminal Vision" offer up a sense of the slow, purposeful and dreadfully painful manner in which Necrophagia devour their victims; Guitarist Larry Madison's riffs are intentionally drudgerous, heavy and belabored. Joe Blazer's drumming has a droning, throbbing quality to it throughout the album, adding to the overall cobwebbed, murky, suspensful feeling of something(s) hideous this way coming. Tying this stinking, maggot-infested, centuried package together is the throaty, mocking, growled voice of Killjoy, which has an unrepentant and inexplicably whispery quality to it throughout. The subdued, dusty and vault-shuttered atmosphere of this album are enhanced by lousy production and an interspersal of delightful and uplifting effects such as (what sounds like) stonework being gradually hauled away from a mausoleum-door and a serenading swarm of ravenous bats flying overhead.

:::shudders uncontrollably::::

This album is arguably the zenith of Necrophagia's works to date.
It is an exaggeratedly creepy, fun, B-grade gore-drenched stomachfull of low-key, somberly guitar-driven originals pulled together by one of early death-metal's most folkloric prognosticators of pus and putrescence (Killjoy). If you like Necrophagia, S.O.T.D. has been in a black trophy in your collection for years; if you're curious, go out and get it before it shambles horribly to your doorstep and gets you.