An album recorded in 1974 that was only released in 2009, supposedly classified as proto-punk? Let's do it.
"Keep on Knocking" opens with a surprisingly upbeat guitar riff. I was expecting something more like Suicide, especially from a name like Death, but I got something pretty energetic. Then there's a guitar solo that screams 70's and the song continues. This one's incredibly energetic and doesn't wait for anyone. Pretty good song. Vocals are nothing special but fit well. Enjoyable.
"Rock-N-Roll Victim" opens with more fast paced music, this time with clapping, and some echoey crazy person vocals. Once again, they fit very well with the song, and there's a kickin' riff. Like the opener it's repetitive, but it
should be repetetive, and it works very well.
"Let the World Turn" starts with some quiet, echotar and some softer vocals than the rest. Sounds like the guy's doing a bad Roger Waters impression. Doesn't mean the vocals are bad, though. They fit in with what the guitar's doing, and they're pretty good overall. About 30% of the way through it kicks into overdrive like the rest and has another good solo and more fast singing. There's a cool drum solo that leads back into some quiet guitar. It ends fast with some more singing.
"You're a Prisoner" returns to the fast paced tone the first couple of songs took on and has some awesome echoey vocals in the chorus that do a sweet callback section with the guitars that leads into a solo. More good riffs on this one as well. Another good song.
"Freakin Out" opens with a scream of "DEATH" and then some quick guitar thrashes and cymbal crashes that lead to yet another great riff and more awesome vocals. The lyrics here are really, really well done, and the chorus is going to be stuck in my head for days, along with all these riffs I'm listening to.
"Where Do We Go From Here???" takes the opening guitar from "Let the World Turn" and makes it less echoey and much louder, takes some aggressive vocals and tosses them together that leads to some more great riffing and a chorus that fits well but has some potential to be annoying. It follows a very similar structure to "Let the World Turn" in that there's breaks in between the riffing sections, filled by the guitar chords. The vocals - besides the aforementioned slightly annoying chorus - are again very well done, and very catchy. Another outro of guitar noise finishes this one out.
"Politicians in My Eyes" opens with some good riffing, takes a small, break then goes into some quick drumming that helps along a stuttering guitar crash and some really, really awesome vocals that sound a lot like H.R jamming along, especially since it's about politics. I guess. There's some tremendous yelling at the end of this that fits in perfectly with the noisy riff and drumming. It gets a little "Interstellar Overdrive" at the end when the sound starts switching sides, and it really, really works. What a great outro. About 2 and a half minutes of some great noise that shifts from your average guitar to a Death From Above 1979-esque sound and back to guitar again.
And just like that, it was over. It ended perfectly, but that doesn't change my disappointment that I'll never get to hear any new Death material, especially since the singer perished to cancer in 2000.
I loved this. And while I don't think I did a particularly good job of displaying my enjoyment here, this is a hell of a record. I highly recommend it. To anyone. It makes me wish they wouldn't have been so stubborn and just changed their bloody name and released their music, because this is downright amazing.
