Messiah
Rotten Perish


4.5
superb

Review

by BlackLlama USER (48 Reviews)
March 22nd, 2013 | 39 replies


Release Date: 1992 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Messiah's Rotten Perish is a testament to the creativity and obscurity of the 90's death metal scene. An excellent mixture of beauty and brutality.

The relevance of death metal in the 90's is a hard topic to grasp today. The major players in the genre consisted of many US bands that are still enjoyed (read : worshipped) today. Death, Morbid Angel and Deicide among others are names often associated with the "popular" opinion of the genre. Taking nothing away from those bands, one simply needs to scratch the surface of the era to discover excellent releases by relatively obscure bands. Digging even deeper than that we find the 92 release from Messiah - Rotten Parish.

A 4 piece band out of Switzerland Messiah started releasing music in the early 80's. Fans of black and thrash metal should seek out these releases. Possessed of excellent technical skills, if not laughably bad songwriting they were an above-average genre band for the time period. In the 90's the band took a decidedly more traditional death metal approach with their release Choir of Horrors (also highly recommended). In 1992 they released their concept album Rotten Perish. The first track is laden with ambiance and a spoken word introduction to the album delivered by what sounds like a 10 or 11 year old child. After this initial burst of "what the hell did I get myself into?" the album spawns forth some epic, brutal 90's technical death-thrash.

The first 6 songs blend the oppressiveness of death metal (the bass is a standout on this one, really nicely done) and the precision of thrash seamlessly. The vocals are... fitting. Not so much of a singing style but approaching spoken word (think Necrophagia mixed with Obituary). The track "Dreams of Eschaton" marks a change in this release. Musically it takes a turn from classic death and thrash to incorporate some groove elements. It is a noticeable difference, and fits in with the theme of the concept. Still, it is a marked enough change to keep the album from becoming stagnant.

Rotten Perish is a gem of the obscure 90's metal scene, and way ahead of its time.



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user ratings (63)
4
excellent


Comments:Add a Comment 
BlackLlama
March 22nd 2013


2178 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Gonna start digging out some of my old 90's stuff to review :D

Atari
Staff Reviewer
March 22nd 2013


27943 Comments


"Death, Morbid Angle and Deicide among others are names oft associated with the "popular" opinion of the genre"

Angel not Angle :P also names OFTEN associated with the popular opinion of the genre. good review though man this looks cool i think i'll check this out. pos

BlackLlama
March 22nd 2013


2178 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

"Angel not Angle"



Total spell check fail hahaha

Atari
Staff Reviewer
March 22nd 2013


27943 Comments


it happens lol. I use microsoft word spellcheck AND proofread but I still find mistakes in my reviews

oltnabrick
March 22nd 2013


40621 Comments


you should review Choir of Horrors.


thats my fav from Messiah

JamieTwort
March 22nd 2013


26988 Comments


Choirs of Horrors and Hymn to Abramelin rule, haven't heard this one, might check it out.

BlackLlama
March 22nd 2013


2178 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

you should review Choir of Horrors.



I was torn, as I think both have merits. Choir if more of a straight forward DM release. I was going to do an Altar review next, then maybe I'll hit that one up.

BlackLlama
March 22nd 2013


2178 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

you should review Choir of Horrors.



I was torn, as I think both have merits. Choir if more of a straight forward DM release. I was going to do an Altar review next, then maybe I'll hit that one up.

SylentEcho
May 16th 2013


1606 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

Always wanted to review this. Never got a chance to. Messiah are one of the best Death Metal acts of the late 80's/early 90's. Love the acoustic parts on this one too.



It's rare when each song on an album is this good.



facupm
January 24th 2014


11844 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

i should try this

BlackLlama
January 26th 2014


2178 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Yeah, this is at least worth a YouTube listen to the entire cd. I have rips of the original if you want it though...

JamieTwort
January 26th 2014


26988 Comments


Hymn to Abramelin and Choir of Horrors are great, should probably check this one.

facupm
January 26th 2014


11844 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I love rips so i will definitely ask you for it. Not now, though, on holidays miles away frommy PC

BlackLlama
January 27th 2014


2178 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

No problem. Collected metal on CD, tape and vinyl for almost 20 years before converting to audio. I have over 2tb's of nothing less than FLAC and 320 direct cd rips. Mostly focused on death metal, thrash and 80s/90s glam and sleaze.

facupm
January 27th 2014


11844 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Damn thats great, i also collect only 320 rips or flacs but only got about 50G, thats not much but...



So much metal

Anthracks
August 15th 2014


8012 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

this album slays my dick off

KILL
August 15th 2014


81580 Comments


choirs is better

Anthracks
August 15th 2014


8012 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Nah I prefer the production on this one. Much heavier

KILL
August 15th 2014


81580 Comments


i'll jam this again just for you x

wacknizzle
August 15th 2014


14555 Comments


Rippin & dippin dots

Someone should review Choir



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