This is Death's very first album, released in July 1987. When it came out it simply blew everyone's mind, as there was nothing else quite like it before. Death played brutal riff-infested sickness influenced by the likes of Slayer, Possessed, Venom and Celtic Frost. They combined those musical influences with a more brutal vocal approach, a lower end growl which came to be known as death metal. The first official album to feature Chuck Schuldiner who was first heard in a band called Mantas who put out a couple demos during 1983 and 1984. Chuck played lead guitar, bass and did lead vocals on this album, and was joined by Chris Reifert on drums who later played in Autopsy and Abscess, and also featured John Hand on guitar. Musically its all out brutal sickness and is very raw. It just can't get much more raw on this album. I love it personally, as I love all of Death's music, but some fans of Death's mid-period albums and especially later albums may be a bit turned off by the raw brutality and minimal production.

Lyrically its very much inspired by all the great classic horror films like "Day Of The Dead", "Dawn Of The Dead" and of course "Evil Dead" which they dedicate a song to on this album. The album kicks off with "Infernal Death" and right away with its sick, sinister main riff, you can tell these guys hit gold with an awesome new style, and especially by the time you hear Chuck sing, his vocal style was simply inhuman at the time, and inspired many to come. Next up is "Zombie Ritual" and is another great brutal song, a fan favorite too as it stayed in their live set through all of their career. Other highlights for me are "Mutilation", "Regurgitated Guts" (also in their live set much of the time), "Evil Dead" and the ever unholy "Scream Bloody Gore". It also has two bonus tracks on the cd which Amazon don't name, these songs are "Beyond The Unholy Grave" and "Land Of No Return" in case you are curious, and yes they are both great. All in all, this is highly recommended, as it inspired legions of great bands to come, both in the death and black metal genre.

I was sad to learn on this dark dreary December day of Chuck's passing, losing his two year fight with cancer, which has saddened us enough. It seems its the talented musicians that always die too young, like Chris Oliva, Cliff Burton, Gar Samuelson, Randy Rhodes, Cozy Powell, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, John Bonham, Keith Moon, Ronnie Van Zant, Al Collins, and now Chuck Schuldiner joins that list. May all who read this review continue to let all of Chuck Schuldiner's music contiue to move you and inspire you in the rough times, and it has for me for many years. We will miss you Chuck!!!