FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…
On November 16, 1988, Death released their second full-length studio album Leprosy via Combat Records.
Notably different in tone and quality from the band's 1987 debut, it is the first example of Scott Burns' work heard on many of the Death Metal and Grindcore albums of that era. The cover is featured in Metal: A Headbangers Journey. It is the first album to feature drummer Bill Andrews and the only one to feature guitarist Rick Rozz.
Background:
Following the release of Scream Bloody Gore, Chuck Schuldiner had moved back to Florida, splitting with Chris Reifert who had chosen to remain in California, where he went on to form Autopsy. There, Schuldiner teamed up with former bandmate Rick Rozz and two members of Rozz's band Massacre, Terry Butler and Bill Andrews. In 1988, that line-up recorded Leprosy. After much touring in support of the album, including a quick and ill-planned tour of Europe, Rick Rozz was fired in 1989.
In an interview with Kerrang! In 1988, Chuck Schuldiner, Terry Butler, and Rick Rozz talked about the album Leprosy and the bands progression;
“The new album’s much more advanced. There’s a greater variety of tempo changes but it’s still heavy and fast with a lot of slow parts as well. There’s also a full, solid band behind this one, which was something the first album didn’t have.” — Chuck Schuldiner
“People say that Death isn’t a particularly original name. The fact is we had the name long before any bands like us started to get popular. I think the name conveys how brutal and heavy we really are.” — Chuck Schuldiner
“We aren’t trying to be or shitty sounding. We want to be a clean, professional sounding Death Metal band.” — Terry Butler
"We’re not in a speed contest anymore”. We’re not out to prove anything either. We would never get as fast as a band like Napalm Death, because when you get too fast you begin to lose power. There’s more heaviness in a power chord than in playing a million miles an hour. We are Death Metal and we understand exactly what we are doing.” — Chuck Schuldiner
“I think that you can’t turn your back on the underground, the people who helped you out from the start”. — Rick Rozz.
“A band who turn their backs and do something to get out of the underground are simply copping out. I hate that. The underground people are the people into the band from the start and able to stick by that band to put them where they are today. Bands should keep being pleased by their music, not purposely change and leave those fans.” — Chuck Schuldiner
“I can see progressing, but give me a break, why totally change your sound?" — Chuck Schuldiner
About the songs;
“As far as songs go, we’ve got one called Pull the Plug. That’s about a person on a life support system. The people around him want to keep him on it, but the person wants to die and be free and can’t do anything. Most of the stuff on the album deals with real-life gore and real situations. Real stuff that you see on TV or read about in the ‘papers.” — Chuck Schuldiner
Choke on It was a story from the newspapers”. “It was about a bunch of Mexicans who tried to sneak across the US border in a boxcar, but ended up suffocating and choking on their own tongues. Left to Die is about people who go off to war thinking it’s going to be a big adventure, but when they get their legs blown off and are left to die they suddenly realize what war’s all about”. — Rick Rozz
The Legacy of Leprosy:
In a Death Metal special by the German Rock Hard magazine, Leprosy was voted the number one of the 25 most important Death Metal albums of all time. A deluxe re-issue of the album was released in April 2014.
The title track was covered by the Blackened Death Metal band Akercocke on their 2007 album Antichrist. Dutch Melodic Death Metal band Callenish Circle covered Pull the Plug as a bonus on their Flesh Power Dominion album, released in 2002; shortly thereafter, Norwegian band Zyklon also recorded Pull the Plug to be used as a bonus track. Finnish Thrash Metal band Mokoma covered the track Open Casket, with lyrics in Finnish and titled Avoin Hauta, on their EP Viides Vuodenaika. Pull the Plug was also covered by the band Revocation.
On April 29, 2014, a three-disc remastered edition containing bonus tracks was released via Relapse Records.
Critical Reception:
In a review for AllMusic, Steve Huey stated;
“Chuck Schuldiner gets even darker and bleaker on Leprosy, the follow-up to Death's long-awaited 1987 debut, Scream Bloody Gore. Schuldiner recorded the album with a completely different Death lineup, but the record isn't terribly different from its predecessor, aside from a bit more polish in the production and composition.”
In a tribute written in honor of Leprosy for Metal Invader (metalinvader.net) on August 12, 2015, Elpida Baphomet wrote;
“Leprosy undersigns the manifesto issued in Scream Bloody Gore, stating “We are Death and we’re here to claim your sanity”. Death as a band and Chuck Schuldiner as an individual became the school for every aspiring Metal musician, since their brilliance doesn’t apply exclusively in Death Metal genre. Leprosy is a monumental album that will remain unforgettable. This sonic brutality will never be pushed aside.”
The Legacy of Chuck Schuldiner & Death:
Death is considered to be one of the most influential bands in Heavy Metal and a pioneering force in Death Metal. Death is also now recognized as one of the most acclaimed music groups of all time, held in high praise by critics, metal musicians, and fans. Scream Bloody Gore is widely regarded as the first Death Metal album. Music biographer Garry Sharpe-Young considered Death "a genre-breaking band centered upon frontman Chuck Schuldiner" and that the band "would become one of the prime instigators of the death metal movement". However, Schuldiner dismissed such attributions by stating, in an interview with Metal-Rules.com, "I don't think I should take the credits for this Death Metal stuff. I'm just a guy from a band, and I think Death is a Metal band".
In Death's later output, the band's music became more technical and melodic, moving to a Technical Death Metal, Progressive Metal, and Melodic Death Metal style. In January 2001, Mahyar Dean, an Iranian musician, wrote Death, a book about Death and Schuldiner, and released it in Iran. The book includes bilingual lyrics and many articles about the band. The book was sent through the site keepers of emptywords.org to Schuldiner, who in his words was "truly blown away and extremely honored by the obvious work and devotion he put into bringing the book to life". A documentary entitled Death by Metal was released in 2016.
Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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