Possessed
Beyond The Gates / The Eyes Of Horror

Among the collection of thrash metal bands from the Bay Area in California, Possessed are probably the rawest and filthiest. Their second album, "Beyond The Gates" (1986), serves as proof: ten songs, which unfold among crushing riffs that offer no respite, moderately fast-paced rhythms, a voice - that of Jeff Becerra - that brutally screams without ever intoning a melody line, and an absolute refusal of melodic temptations and accessibility. Furthermore, a rough and smoky production (sources speak of economic constraints and lack of resources) adds an extra dose of sordidness to a sound that is already crude and vile in itself. As if that weren't enough, their blasphemous and somewhat simple lyrics do not harbor the angry humanism of early Metallica, nor much of Slayer's violent anti-religious invective; they are mostly satanic invocations (the title track, Seance), prophecies of hellish apocalypses (March To Die, The Beasts Of The Apocalypse), sometimes urging suicide and euthanasia (No Will To Live). Self-indulgences?

Gratuitous provocations? Probably yes, but these nefarious themes will, in a few years, make a splash in death metal, to the extent that our heroes, when not simply (and rightly) listed among the inspirations of such music, are considered one of the very first death bands. To exemplify their indisputable historical importance, even contemporary Brazilian band Sepultura would lend an attentive ear to songs like The Heretic and Tribulation in order to complete, in the period straddling the late Eighties and early Nineties and before venturing into crossover territories, their lethal thrash-death.

The current reissue on CD (the operation dates back to 1998) also includes the subsequent work, the EP "The Eyes Of Horror" from 1987. The sound remains feral and brutal, but denotes better production (provided by Joe Satriani, at the time the teacher of guitarist Larry LaLonde, instead of Carl Canedy) and a notable stylistic debt to Slayer. In this regard, of the five tracks, listen particularly to the sadistic anthem My Belief and the violent Swing Of The Axe: riffs, drumming, rhythmic patterns, everything in short, except Becerra’s unmistakable and always bestial voice, don’t they seem pillaged from "Reign In Blood"? This mini-album is also their testament, as they would disband shortly thereafter, only to regroup occasionally, with Becerra as the sole stable member of the classic lineup (almost paradoxically, LaLonde would go on to partner with Les Claypool and Tim Alexander in the formidable maniacs of Primus).

Negative notes: in "Beyond The Gates" the band can be accused of rather one-note inspiration and thus a certain repetitiveness (in time, however, it will be shown that these characteristics belong to a good part of extreme metal), while in "The Eyes Of Horror" there's evident depersonalization, further evidenced by the massive influences of the more renowned and compensated Slayer. Nonetheless, it should be remembered that Possessed (referring to the original lineup, of course) were born and died very young within a few years, and therefore did not have the time to mature and grow together. While on one hand, their being so rough, primitively brutal, and uncompromising kept them away from the mainstream, on the other hand, they became one of the great and most influential institutions of extreme metal for the same reason.

Four stars: a rating not fully deserved from an artistic viewpoint, but more than legitimate from a historical perspective.