Description
Relapse double cd re-issue with tons of bonus tracks
Despite being somewhat primitive by modern standards, Horrified is widely regarded as a classic album among grindcore aficionados and is one of the more influential early albums in that style. The songs, mostly in the one- to two-minute range, are constantly up-tempo, alternating between blastbeats and double-time thrashing, with only a few sections approaching any kind of groove. The bass creates an unholy mess of distorted sludge, while the guitars bash out simple thrash riffs as well as some of the most incredibly noisy whammy-bar-eruption solos imaginable. The vocals are delivered in a rough, mid-range sneer (rather than the exaggerated Cookie Monster style of much later grindcore) that shows virtually no variation from one track to the next, either in sound or in the rhythm of the words. You’d be forgiven for thinking that once you heard four or five songs, you’d heard the whole album, because on the surface there isn’t much of a difference from one song to the next. Then again, variety probably wasn’t high on the band’s list of priorities — this is more about constant intensity and extremity (something that’s always relative to the times, meaning it isn’t so extreme anymore). Certain songs do stand out — for example, “The Stench of Burning Death” (whose opening riff was borrowed by Napalm Death for their song “Deceiver”), “Radiation Sickness,” and the brilliantly titled “Maggots in Your Coffin” (also covered by Napalm Death on their later Leaders Not Followers EP). This is an album whose legacy is inevitably shrouded by its historical impact (especially on the early Earache label school of grindcore) as well as by a certain level of nostalgia among those who happened to be of the right age when this was first recorded back in 1986. Listening to it nearly 20 years later takes some reorienting on the part of listeners who have been exposed to the likes of Dillinger Escape Plan, Brutal Truth, Cryptopsy, and others who have taken the early grind template to wildly creative extremes in years since (not to mention being accustomed to the more modern production techniques that have evolved over the years). But, taken on its own terms as a direct blast of youthful, horror-inspired thrash/grind mayhem, it still has value beyond its historical/evolutionary importance.
Track list:
1. The Stench Of Burning Death
2. Eaten Alive
3. Acid Bath
4. Slaughter Of The Innocent
5. Decomposed
6. Radiation Sickness
7. Splattered Cadavers
8. Festering Boils
9. Pestilent Decay
10. Crematorium
11. Driven To Insanity
12. Six Feet Under
13. Bodily Dismemberment
14. Repulsion
15. The Lurking Fear
16. Black Breath
17. Maggots In Your Coffin
18. Horrified
19. Armies Of The Dead-Genocide rehearsal nov 1984
20. Satans Whores-Genocide rehearsal nov 1984
21. Crack Of Doom-Genocide rehearsal nov 1984
22. Armies Of The Dead-Violent Death demo 1985
23. Six Feet Under-Violent Death demo 1985
24. Violent Death-Violent Death demo 1985
25. The Lurking Fear-Violent Death demo 1985
26. Crack Of Doom-Violent Death demo 1985
27. Horrified-Violent Death demo 1985
28. The Stench Of The Burning Death-WFBE demo 1986
29. Decomposed-WFBE demo 1986
30. Slaughter Of The Innocent-WFBE demo 1986
31. Eaten Alive-WFBE demo 1986
32. Six Feet Under-WFBE demo 1986
33. Crypt Of Terror-WFBE demo 1986
34. The Lurking Fear-WFBE demo 1986
35. Festering Boils-WFBE demo 1986
36. Pestilent Decay-WFBE demo 1986
37. Black Nightmare-WFBE demo 1986
38. Bodily Dismemberment-WFBE demo 1986
39. Horrified-WFBE demo 1986
40. Radiation Sickness-live 14th of May 1986
41. Black Breath-live 14th of May 1986
42. Excruciation-Excruciation EP
43. Helga (Lost Her Head)-Excruciation EP
44. Rebirth-Excruciation EP
45. House Of Freaks-Excruciation EP
46. Depraved-Final demos 1991
47. Face Of Decay-Final demos 1991
48. Something Dead-Final demos 1991