Florida Death Metal!!!!!!

There used to be this game that they would play on the Howard Stern Show for cash and prizes. Contestants would have to guess whether some heinous and sick crime took place in Florida or Germany. Is it any coincidence that both places are hotbed of metal? Probably.

But back in the late 80's/early 90's, Florida was a hotbed of what Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth called 'crazy satan metal'. He was referring to the death metal scene emanating from Tampa and Morrisound Studios. Bands like Death, Morbid Angel, Obituary, Deicide, and many others forged a new sound from the ashes of thrash metal; heavier, faster, and in some ways simpler, with lyrics focused primarily on death and occult themes. It was the craziest thing going at the time, rivaled only by the grindcore scene happening in England. It's still sounds no less caustic than it did 20 years ago. So here are a few of the many classic albums to came out of that scene.

Obituary's 1990 opus 'Cause Of Death' is one of the heaviest motherfucking albums ever released. It is a propulsion of molten riff after molten riff at varying tempos, from sick slow crawl to blast beats of skull crushing righteousness. The addition of guitar hero James Murphy in this line-up propels the win on this album into the stratosphere, his leads adding just the right touch of melody and virtuosity. Vocalist John Tardy is one of the best death growlers who ever walked on a planet. His voice conjures Satan and everything that is evil; a thick, deep chortle, almost scat-like in it's approach. This album even features a killer cover of Celtic Frost's "Circle of the Tyrants", Frost being this band's logical progenitor. But as good as this album is, it comes in a very close second to the next earthshaker.

Death's classic 'Leprosy' album is clearly the heaviest album of 1988, which was a fantastic year for metal. I would rank this album as heavier (if not greater) than Slayer's 'South of Heaven'. It may be the heaviest album of the 20th century. Nothing sounded like this in '88. Even their previous and primitive 'Scream Bloody Gore' cannot compare. The combination of brute force, technicality with an eye for melody, and intelligently frightening lyrics make this album a classic. Riff after riff just bowls you over, pummels you into submission. It actually leaves you physically exhausted, bringing you one step closer to, well, death. The only small criticism I could make it that the drum sound is weird and a bit compressed, though it actually works well on a few songs. But this is a tiny complaint, as Chris and I agreed that this was the winner of the night.

Coming a distant third is Deicide's 'Amon: Feasting the Beast'. It is a compilation of two demos from the 80's, when the band was known as Amon. It has always been regarded as a release primarily for Deicide fanatics, but I am not one of them, and it is my favorite Deicide release. It is thrashier and the guitars thicker sounding than the albums, a good document of a decent death metal band finding their sound. That said, Chris and I agreed that it comes in third place. It's not terrible, but too gimmicky to be great. The songs thrash around to no where in particular, held together by the band's incredibly tight musicianship. They are capable of shifting tempos and keys at a hair trigger, which holds the atonal riffs in place. But the band tries to be more evil than they actually, Glen Benton's lyrics being either about Satan or taking some horror movie more seriously than it actually is. So it's hard to take this album seriously or for more than a few listens.


That's it for Metal Night for this week. Metal pics have returned. Enjoy our caustic narcissism!