![]() ![]() ![]() “Mental Slavery”, “Twisted Urges”, and “People of the Lie” remain mosh pit anthems to this day. I don’t care how “cool” or in denial of your thrash phase you are these days. But instead of comparing Coma of Souls to its predecessors, we should look at it for what it is, and that’s a damn fine thrash album. It’s neutered in comparison to the youthful savagery of Endless Pain (1985) and Pleasure to Kill (1986). I’ve heard some people say even this album is “too polished” for their liking and I can understand why. I’m not saying these Teutonic thrashers went to shit after the release of Coma of Souls, but…they did. Cuts like “Living Monstrosity”, “Within the Mind”, and the title track owe as much to classic prog rock and jazz fusion as they do death metal. ![]() However, it was Leprosy that showcased the creative potential of death metal to a widespread audience like no other release up until this point. Sure, Nocturnus’ The Key and Hellwitch’s Syzygial Miscreancy would play a major role in the subgenre’s development later in the year, and test pressings of Atheist’s Piece of Time had been floating around since 1989. And Leprosy, well…let’s just say this album singlehandedly paved the way for technical death metal. Leprosy refined these already established songwriting and musical traits to unleash an even deadlier attack. Scream Bloody Gore showcased death metal at its rawest and most primal. The evolution of the genre itself is reflected in each subsequent release. There are people who argue that Death is the ultimate death metal band and I understand why. All of these changes and more are reflected in what may be our most stylistically diverse list yet, our Top 10 Metal Albums of 1990. Death metal was here to stay, and so was black metal for that matter. After a co-headlining global arena jaunt by Slayer and Megadeth, it would peak commercially as well. Even thrash, the relatively fresh offshoot of the NWOBHM and hardcore punk, had now peaked creatively. Saxon, Angel Witch, and other titans of the NWOBHM were now about as prehistoric as their heroes were a decade earlier. A new decade is here and metal is officially 20! A lot has changed in the two decades that have passed since those foreboding church bells rang on February 13, 1970. ![]()
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