Review Summary: An aborted fetus cut out before being able to have a shot at life.
After the 1987 break-up of the groundbreaking Metal band Possessed, everybody went thier seperate ways. Larry Lalonde joined Blind Illusion with future Primus bandmate/founder Les Claypool. Jeff Becerra went on to... well, a wheelchair. And the two Mikes went onto doing whatever-the-***, until one (Sus) went to college and the other (Torrao) whistled his way back onto the stage with a new band consisting of Machine Head and Pro-Pain members. The line up consisted of this;
Mike Torrao: Vocals, Guitar
Mike Hollman: Guitar
Walter Ryan: Drums
Paul Perry: Bass
In '91 the re-possessed Possessed dropped a 2-track demo consisting of solid-yet-rusty tracks. And right before they threw in the towel two years later, they released what i can describe to you as a sparkle in daddys eye that never got a chance to open it's own. The simply titled Demo '93, is 3 compositions of unpolished greatness.
Opening with a wave of sonic atmospherics followed by an onslaught of crunchy metallic thrashing and suprisingly solid vocals, the first track 'The Seventh Sign' is excellant. Well-written and well-executed. The follower, Last Ritual, is a merciless onslaught of breakneck brutality with suicidal lyrics. And topping it all off is 'Human Extermination', which opens off with a collage of stomach growl-like sounds and high pitched twinkling feedback. It then snaps into a mid-tempo groove and sort-of hook followed by lightning fast tempos and vicious growls.
All in all, if this incarnation of the band wouldve remained together long-enough to put this stuff onto an album, I think they wouldve had great results and possibly another classic. Too bad it didnt turn out that way. What a shame, what a shame.
