Possessed
Seven Churches

THE REVIEW

Classic after classic of extreme music, revisiting "Seven Churches" by Possessed is a must. Urban legends in rock say that Slayer themselves decided to choose their mode of expression with studs, leather, and blasphemous symbols after attending a concert by this Californian band (whether this is true, I do not know).

The certain thing is that Death Metal (a genre I am particularly not very fond of) was decisively influenced by this group. "Seven Churches" is their first album, released in 1985, definitely their best work, given the youthful genuineness and charisma that does not make them descend into the assembly of older metalheads "convinced preachers" and quite ridiculous.

The album is played fast without compromising, a very enjoyable listen furious and fun, with pounding rhythms and heavy guitars marking every single part of the work with "youthful antics" justified by the young age of the musicians and the desire to shock the audience not yet very used to listening to themes of this magnitude.

The guitarists Torrao and Lalonde are forces of nature, not yet highly skilled musicians, they venture into their best wild part with simple but incisive rhythms, detailed with the addition of sinister trills and pounding tempo changes. Their deadly weapon is the interchanges of solos, over-the-top and dissonant, adding an extra touch to their music, managing to immerse the listener more into an atmosphere of flames and fires of hell.
The drummer Sus with his thrashy tempo, and I emphasize without the need for blast beats, manages to make the album an easier listen, it is not excessively monotonous nor monstrously technical, given that in modern extreme music it is not much considered. In "Seven Churches" the listener is not exhausted after the entire duration of the work due to incomprehensibly fast and technical rhythms but pleasantly satisfied.
The backbone of the band, however, is the singer Becerra, also with an old-school extreme voice, from the Venom school, who despite his guttural manages to make the lyrics understandable to the ear. Particularly charismatic, he has been a master for many new recruits of death metal.

From the titles of the ten tracks, many things can be understood: "Pentagram", "Burning in Hell", "Evil Warriors", "Holy Hell", "Fallen Angel", "Death metal", "The Exorcist". These four devilish guys were as interested in astrophysics, meaning they just wanted to have fun, touching on uncomfortable and out-of-place themes just to cause a stir and maybe to make people talk about them with excellent publicity.

Released in the far-away '85, "Seven Churches" may seem a small reality fortunately removed to modern Death Metallers. In my opinion, instead, it is an example to bring back to light. The album may contain errors, may have abrupt changes in metronome, but it has the peculiarity of being entirely played and sung by human beings, without the aid of computers or advanced techniques. Modern records seem to be played by maniacally perfect musicians, true precision machines, but from time to time listening to their concerts may give some unpleasant surprises. Possessed with this album have shown to be what they were with all their grit, this is the reason that makes this record a classic.

This work can be appreciated even by those who disdain extreme metal.