Brand new SLAUGHTER - Strappado cassette tape.
Pioneering Canadian death/thrash metal band, widely considered as one of the earliest proto-death metal acts and highly influential in the nascent death metal underground.
Slaughter was formed in 1984 and released two demo tapes that year, followed by another demo and a live tape in 1985. Their first "official" release was the Nocturnal Hell 7" in 1986, followed up by their classic album Strappado in 1987. The band released two more demo tapes in 1988, but they called it a day in 1989. They briefly reformed in December 1994 but split up again in 1995.
No, not the commercial cock rock wimps. As I'm sure most of you are aware, Slaughter are the cult underground Canadian death metallers that famously rehearsed with Chuck Schuldiner of Death. Beyond that, Slaughter were highly influential to the death metal genre and even a little bit to the genre of black metal. The band's sole release (Unless one counts Not Dead Yet and Fuck of Death as being Slaughter albums), Strappado is an unrelenting musical attack that more than earns its cult classic status.
Let's start with the production. Strappado falls into the category of "albums that sound exactly like the cover" metal albums. The production sounds gritty and almost putrid. I feel like "chainsaw guitar" is an overused descriptor in metal nowadays, but the guitars on this album certainly warrant that description. This album, along with the equally intense Horrified by Michigan death grinders in Repulsion, may be the source of the Swedish death metal guitar sound made famous by bands like Entombed. The drumming is a savage barrage that permeates throughout the mix. Some would describe the drumming on this album as "no more than senseless smashing", but there's a lot more to it than that. The drums on Strappado almost have a driving force to them, a rhythmic pounding that rolls along with the riffs and provides a fluid momentum to the music. The bass in the mix is sort of a deep, throbbing pulse that helps the album with its almost putrid and necro production. Like Kreator, Slaughter has two vocalists. Dave Hewson provides the main vocals in the form of a deeper, Tom G. Warrior styling. Terry Sadler provides lead vocals on three of the songs (four if your version has the bonus tracks) and has a nasally vocal style similar to Rob Urbinati from Sacrifice or perhaps some crossover thrash bands. I prefer Dave Hewson's vocals, but Sadler's songs wouldn't sound the same with Dave on vocals.
This album is a fantastic collection of total death music. The apparent influence of Celtic Frost is cast throughout this album, along with crossover like D.R.I. and Cryptic Slaughter. I truly enjoy the diversity in speed on this album. For instance, "Tortured Souls" has a breakneck, total speed verse with a doomy, Frost-like chorus. That rhythmic driving force thing I mentioned with the drums is especially prevalent in songs like "The Curse" and "Nocturnal Hell", rolling the song along on a warpath of terror like a tank plowing through a battlefield. Of course, you have crushingly heavy slow songs like the ever romantic "Fuck of Death" and the evil "Tales of the Macabre" (which also showcases the album's murky bass sound). And who could forget the destructive thrashing duo of "Disintegrator/Incinerator"? Classic. The only song that doesn't really do much for me is "Parasites". Not to say that it's a bad track (it has a killer main riff), but it attempts to do this sort of weird tempo change that a lot of 90s death metal bands would do and here it just doesn't work. The lyrics on this album are great, too. "Tales of the Macabre" in particular has a lot of menacing imagery in its lyrics and are delivered well by Terry Sadler's in a callous, nasally snarl. I would be an idiot if I didn't mention the insane bonus tracks that are on the reissues of this album. More thrashhard tracks like "Death Dealer" and "One Foot in the Grave". The "I'm the dealer, give me death" lyric in "Death Dealer" is hilariously stupid, like something you'd read on an early Sodom release.
At the end of the day, Strappado is a cult classic death/thrash metal release for a reason. The songs are all concise, catchy, and brutal with decent musicianship. The lower quality production and total death musical approach may scare away some modern listeners, but for veteran headbangers it shouldn't be an issue. This is one of the finest Canadian metal albums to come forth from the 80s underground, and considering its competition, that's saying a lot. If you're a death metal fan, this one's mandatory listening.
Selling cuts: Basically everything, but especially "The Curse", "Fuck of Death", "Tales of the Macabre", and "Nocturnal Hell"