VARIOUS ARTISTS
Death Is Just The Beginning 2

Year of Our Lord MCMXCII

The vile plague of Death Metal music is invading the world; bands like Carcass, Morbid Angel, Death, Napalm Death, Obituary have already released foundational albums, contributing to the widespread dissemination of this extremely hardcore musical genre. This is a compilation, the second in a long series, that the German record label "Nuclear Blast" released to the market right at the end of 1992; there are twenty-one groups involved in this very long compilation, almost eighty minutes of a barbaric sonic assault.

A spectral and dark design that evokes infernal places; winged demons, a huge bloodstained cross, tombstone graves abandoned. A bluish sky above that announces an impending flood: this is how the album cover presents itself, aiming to, and successfully, evoke images of death, pain, and suffering.

The depraved Austrians Pungent Stench have the honor to kick off the mad race, immediately followed by Monstrosity and their intricate Death played at an impressive speed. Right away, you notice a much more refined production, with the sounds of all the instruments audible; a great step forward from the sonic frenzy of the first compilation released a couple of years earlier.

Sinister, Benediction, Brutality: a terrifying triplet, a cascade of notes that leaves no survivors. Moreover, we are facing three bands that have made the history of the genre. There's no time to catch your breath as you arrive at my favorite track; "Immortal Cessation" by the American band Incantation. Just over three minutes of Death-Doom with gigantic movements, with Graig Pillard's suffocating growl that tears you apart, as do the dark and down-tuned sounds of the guitars. A truly chilling track.

And it's not over yet as there are still other monsters of the genre missing: Dismember, Gorefest, Amorphis. But here I stop: I leave it to you to discover the insidious beauty of these tracks.

A compilation second only to the third episode of the series; I will have time one day to take care of it.