Description

Living Death formed around 1980 around the core lineup of Reiner Kelch on guitars and Dieter Kelch on bass. After adding vocalist Thorsten “Toto” Bergmann, guitarist Frank Fricke and drummer Frank Schubring, Living Death set about raising hell in their hometown Velbert, more noted for its disco scene. Some demos caught the attention of various labels, and in 1983 Living Death were signed to Earthshaker records. Just before the recording of their first album, Schubring departed, leaving Living Death to record their first album with a session drummer Eric. Living Death’s first effort was released the next year. ‘Vengeanec Of Hell’ had a mix of rather standard heavy/speed metal tracks, very much in the vein of Accept and Motorhead. Most of the songs are quick slices of speed metal, in particular You And Me, Living Death and My Victim. They also have a few Ac/dc style midpaced crunchers, most notably Night Light. A definite highlight would be Heavy Metal Hurricane, which seems to carry an intensity not found in the other cuts. The guitarists (who would ‘secretly’ become members of progressive thrashers Mekong Delta) work well together, locking in tightly and providing some aggressive rhythm work. A better representation of their style is in the instrumental Labyrinth, where they peel off an aggressive downpicked rhythm similar to that of Anthrax’s Belly Of The Beast. This live recording was recorded in Frankfurt on the 10th of September 1984. The greatest thing about this recording is that at the time the band didn’t have any other tracks then the ones that ended up on their debut album so the complete album was performed live even though the track list order were changed. They sound quality isn’t the best but to hear the complete ‘Vengeance Of Hell’ makes up for it.

Track listing:
1. You And Me
2. Heavy Metal Hurricane
3. Riding A Virgin
4. Night Light
5. Hellpike
6. Labyrinth
7. Vengeance Of Hell
8. My Victim
9. Living Death