Lista de Bandas Thrash Death Death Strike Fuckin' Death

Death Strike's legacy as one of the death metal pioneers in the 80s is evident, with frontman Paul Speckmann going on to front death metal band Master after Death Strike. Despite their relatively short existence and few releases, the band has managed to become legends in their own rights. 2011 sees the reissue of the band's debut full length album Fuckin' Death for those out there who are desperate to find a copy of the album.

While Fuckin' Death is considered a full length album, it contains the four tracks taken off the 1985 demo tape and 4 new tracks, so it is perhaps a good thing for those who missed the band in their early days. In the 2010 reissue as well, four more bonus rehearsal tracks are included.

When the album first opens, what instantly catches the listener is the extremely raw production quality, especially on the drums department. The raw energy from the band just seeps out naturally, crushing everything in its path. Vocalist Paul Speckmann's style is a semi-shout/growl, almost in an aggressive crossover punk/thrash style. This is evident on songs like Mangled Dehumanization where he vilely spits out the lyrics to the song. At times he sounds almost he is simply narrating the lyrics in his growling vocal style, such as on Re-Entry and Destruction. All these are further thrown into chaos with the usage of echo effects on his vocals, definitely suitable and blend in well with the rest of the music.

This is backed by the simplistic yet energetic drumming by John Leprich and the simple guitar riffs of Kirk Miller, reminiscent of hardcore punk bands. However, this does not mean that they do not have the technical capabilities to play complex stuff as evident on the fast and bordering-on-chaotic guitar solos, such as the numerous guitar solos on Mangled Dehumanization. The old school drum tone and the big lead guitar tone adds a nice overall touch to the music, displaying the music of the 80s and early 90s in its full glory, especially on Pay to Die.

The variation in songwriting is also displayed by the band, such as on The Final Conflict, which opens with an acoustic guitar section before going into a doom metal section, heavy riffs at a doom pace, and is certainly a far cry from what was presented on the first four tracks. While the style of the individual instruments are still unmistakable (such as the vocals of Paul and the guitar solos of Kirk), the band has ditched their punk/thrash speed and aggression, instead choosing to replace them with heaviness (both in terms of music and atmosphere) on The Final Conflict. Towards the end of the song the band threatens to go into breakneck speed once more, only to leave listeners craving for the speed as they slow down to their previous speed and the music slowly fades out.

Indeed, the song lengths could have provided a hint of such change in direction, with songs like this and Man Killed America/Embryonic Misconceptions running for 7 and 6 minutes respectively. Remorseless Poison further displays their songwriting capabilities with a well-thought out and retrospective intro riffs. It is also on these tracks that the music becomes more familiar to death metal as we know it. However, the punk edge is still present through the melody and the riffs on songs like Man Killed America, providing a quirky touch, but such moments and elements are reduced compared to the first four tracks. Perhaps out of these tracks, only Pervert leans closer to the songwriting and musical style of the original Fuckin' Death demo.

The four bonus rehearsal tracks are also a nice display of the band's actual playing capabilities, such as the flawless guitar solos, and are definitely a nice addition to album. The rehearsal tracks include 2 songs from their early demo, Pay to Die and The Truth. On songs like The Truth it lets listeners have a taste of what live performances of these songs are like, minus the vocal effects that could have put some off on the studio versions. Even the songs that are not on the album sound and lean closer to their original style rather than the later style of their career, with the frantic pace that they go at, such as on Live for Free (seemingly to contrast Pay to Die).

Unlike modern death metal bands, Death Strike's style of death metal leans more towards the original death metal styles, somewhat like death metal pioneers Death, only with a more thrashy and raw edge to their creations. Fuckin' Death, with the inclusion of the original demo has also managed to track and display Death Strike's growth as a band and as musicians.