Description
Still sealed with slipcase
If you were talking German thrash metal in the second half of the 1980s, you couldn’t go past Assassin from Dusseldorf, who released their highly influential (go ask the Norwegian black metal scene) first two full-lengths The Upcoming Terror and Interstellar Experience in 1987 and 88 respectively. The latter, which is widely regarded as a quintessential Teutonic thrash album, was tracked at Music Lab Berlin with legendary producer Harris Johns (Kreator, Voivod), who had the band record the material live in studio prior to the actual sessions. Now for the first time ever, these recordings – all album tracks minus Baka, which was written on the fly later on, while Damned World was renamed Strange World – will get a proper album release. Entitled Outer Space Death, the material was transferred from cassette, restored and mastered in late 2024. The result shows just how good Assassin were as performers, arguably even surpassing the final album versions of the songs. It’s definitely worth listening to because it sounds very different, says guitarist Dinko Vekic, hitting the nail on its head. Harris Johns wanted to get an impression of what the tunes would eventually sounds like, so we had to perform each one for him live as some kind of demo, explains singer Robert Gonnella, who then added his vocal lines to the recordings. Looking back, he still couldn’t be happier with Johns as a producer, because we were able to do everything just the way we wanted. While Outer Space Death is by no means intended to improve on or even replace Interstellar Experience, it does serve as a historic document displaying the huge potential of a line-up that had just begun to find its feet but sadly broke apart shortly after touring with Death Angel and Rumble Militia.
Track list:
1. Junk Food
2. Abstract War
3. Damned World
4. A Message To Survive
5. Resolution 588
6. A.G.D.
7. Pipeline
8. Interstellar Experience
9. Strange World-rehearsal 1987
10. A Message To Survive-rehearsal 1987
11. Junk Food-rehearsal 1987
12. Interstellar Experience-rehearsal 1987
13. Resolution 588-rehearsal 1987
14. Abstract War-instrumental version-rehearsal 1987
15. Junk Food-live 1987
16. Abstract War-live 1987
17. A Message To Survive-live 1987