Scream Bloody Gore

Scream Bloody Gore is the debut studio album by American death metal band Death, released on May 25, 1987, through Combat Records. It is considered by some to be "the first true death metal record".[1] Chuck Schuldiner plays bass and guitar, wrote all the songs on the album and provided all the vocals. John Hand is noted on the cover as playing rhythm guitar, though this was incorrect and Hand was only in the band for a short period and was not on the recording.[2] This is also the only Death album to feature drummer Chris Reifert, who had joined for the Mutilation demo, and the only one of the band's albums to not be recorded at Morrisound Recording.[3]

Scream Bloody Gore
Studio album by Death
Released	May 25, 1987
Recorded	November 1986
Studio	The Music Grinder in Los Angeles, California
Genre	Death metal
Length	37:51
Label	Combat
Producer	Randy Burns, Chuck Schuldiner
Death chronology
Mutilation (1986) Scream Bloody Gore (1987) Leprosy (1988)

Perseverance Holdings, Ltd. and Relapse Records reissued the album on May 20, 2016, on CD, vinyl, and cassette.[4] The album was remastered for this release, and also included the original Florida session as well as recordings of rehearsals performed in 1986.

Overview

The album was actually recorded twice, with the second Los Angeles-based session being released as the complete album by label Combat Records (later Relativity). It was first recorded in Florida, although only the rhythm guitar and drum tracks were recorded. The track listing consisted of "Torn to Pieces", "Legion of Doom", "Scream Bloody Gore", "Sacrificial Cunt" (later shortened to "Sacrificial" because the label asked the band to do so, possibly because "they didn't want to get P.M.R.C. on their case"[5]), "Mutilation", "Land of No Return", and "Baptized in Blood". The label were unsatisfied after hearing the initial mix, so Schuldiner and Reifert re-recorded the album in California with Randy Burns as producer. Once returning to Florida, the first session was released as a promotional tape, and was eventually bootlegged. "Legion of Doom" was a longtime staple of Death's rehearsals and live shows, and was indeed the first song written, reaching back to when they were known as Mantas.

Despite the many songs written during Death's demo days, only half of them were re-recorded for the album, the rest being new compositions. "Infernal Death" and "Baptized in Blood" originally appeared on the Infernal Death demo. "Mutilation" originally appeared on the "Back from the Dead" demo. "Zombie Ritual" and "Land of No Return" originally appeared on the Mutilation demo, and "Evil Dead" and "Beyond the Unholy Grave" were originally on Death By Metal. "Beyond the Unholy Grave" and "Land of No Return" were also cut from the vinyl and cassette versions of the album, though were included as CD-only bonus tracks and on subsequent re-releases in other formats, along with two live audio tracks taken from the Ultimate Revenge II video.

Certain songs on the album were inspired by horror movies. "Regurgitated Guts" was inspired by the 1980 film City of the Living Dead (a.k.a. The Gates of Hell), "Beyond the Unholy Grave" was influenced by the 1981 film The Beyond, and "Zombie Ritual" was inspired by the 1979 film Zombie, all of which were directed by Italian director Lucio Fulci.[6]

Reception and legacy

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Sputnikmusic	4.5/5[8]

Scream Bloody Gore is often considered the first death metal album. Although some critics consider Possessed's Seven Churches to be the first death metal record, AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia suggests that Seven Churches was a transition between thrash metal and death metal, while Scream Bloody Gore defined the core elements of death metal.[9] According to music journalist Joel McIver, Death's debut album was a "turning-point in extreme metal",[10] and qualified it as "the first true death metal album".[11] Writer Ian Christe stated in Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal that "Scream Bloody Gore emulated hardcore punk. It also evoked the dark moods of horror sound tracks from the drive-in zombie and cannibal horror films of George Romero".[12] Metal Forces described the album as "death metal at its utmost extreme, brutal, raw and offensive – the kind that separates the true death metallers from countless trend-following wimps".[13]

In 2016, a re-release of the album was one of the top 200 selling albums in the United States in its first week of release, marking Death's first appearance in the US Billboard 200 chart at No. 174.[14]

Track listing

All songs written by Chuck Schuldiner.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Infernal Death"	2:54
2.	"Zombie Ritual"	4:35
3.	"Denial of Life"	3:37
4.	"Sacrificial"	3:43
5.	"Mutilation"	3:30
6.	"Regurgitated Guts"	3:47
7.	"Baptized in Blood"	4:31
8.	"Torn to Pieces"	3:38
9.	"Evil Dead"	3:01
10.	"Scream Bloody Gore"	4:35

CD bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
11.	"Beyond the Unholy Grave"	3:08
12.	"Land of No Return"	3:00

1999 remastered version

No.	Title	Length
13.	"Open Casket" (Live)	4:50
14.	"Choke on It" (Live)	5:56

2008 remastered digipack version

No.	Title	Length
13.	"Denial of Life" (Live)	3:47

2016 reissued Relapse Records version (bonus disc 1)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Torn to Pieces" (Original Florida Session)	3:29
2.	"Legion of Doom" (Original Florida Session)	3:11
3.	"Scream Bloody Gore" (Original Florida Session)	4:29
4.	"Sacrificial" (Original Florida Session)	3:41
5.	"Mutilation" (Original Florida Session)	3:25
6.	"Land of No Return" (Original Florida Session)	2:59
7.	"Baptised in Blood" (Original Florida Session)	4:25
8.	"Regurgitated Guts" (Rehearsals 08-20-1986)	3:48
9.	"Sacrificial" (Rehearsals 08-20-1986)	4:08
10.	"Sacrificial - Take 2" (Rehearsals 08-20-1986)	1:39
11.	"Torn to Pieces" (Rehearsals 08-20-1986)	3:54
12.	"Do You Love Me? - Version 1" (Rehearsals 08-20-1986)	0:56
13.	"Infernal Death" (Rehearsals 08-20-1986)	3:01
14.	"Zombie Ritual" (Rehearsals 08-20-1986)	4:49
15.	"Beyond The Unholy Grave" (Rehearsals 08-20-1986)	3:01
16.	"Do You Love Me? - Version 2" (Rehearsals 08-20-1986)	3:09
17.	"Denial of Life" (Rehearsals 08-20-1986)	3:49

2016 reissued Relapse Records version (bonus disc 2)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"(Part of) Scream Bloody Gore" (Rehearsals 5/28/86)	3:06
2.	"Legion of Doom" (Rehearsals 5/28/86)	3:28
3.	"Beyond The Unholy Grave" (Rehearsals 5/28/86)	3:12
4.	"Scream Bloody Gore" (Rehearsals 5/28/86)	4:45
5.	"Torn to Pieces" (Rehearsals 5/28/86)	3:39
6.	"Mutilation" (Rehearsals 5/26/86)	4:16
7.	"Torn to Pieces" (Rehearsals 5/26/86)	3:29
8.	"Zombie Ritual" (Rehearsals 5/26/86)	4:41
9.	"Land of No Return" (Rehearsals 5/26/86)	3:10
10.	"(Part of) Evil Dead" (Rehearsals 5/26/86)	1:19
11.	"Baptised in Blood" (Rehearsals 5/26/86)	4:59
12.	"Infernal Death" (Rehearsals 5/26/86)	2:57
13.	"Denial of Life" (Rehearsals 5/26/86)	3:22
14.	"Death Metal (Possessed cover)" (Rehearsals 5/26/86)	2:00

Personnel

• Chuck Schuldiner – lead guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals, bass
• Chris Reifert – drums
• Edward Repka – design, illustrations
• Randy Burns – percussion, producer
• John Hand – credited on album as rhythm guitar but did not actually play on album (or during any live performances)[2]

Charts

Chart (2016)	Peak position
US Billboard 200[15]	174

References

1. Aldis, N. & Sherry, J. Heavy metal Thunder, 2006, San Francisco: Chronicle ISBN 0-8118-5353-5
2. "Blabbermouth Reifert interview". Roadrunnerrecords.com. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
3. Lahtinen L. Chris Reifert - Ex-DEATH, ex-AUTOPSY & ABSCESS, metal-rules.com Archived 2010-06-14 at the Wayback Machine, (retrieved May 23, 2010)
4. http://www.relapse.com/death-scream-bloody-gore/
5. Death. In: Jon Kristiansen: Metalion: The Slayer Mag Diaries. Bazillion Points Books 2011, p. 134.
6. "Diamonds Are Forever". Hard Rock Magazine. March 2002. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
7. Huey, Steve. "Scream Bloody Gore - Death". Allmusic. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
8. "Death - Scream Bloody Gore (album review)". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
9. Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Death Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
10. McIver, J. The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists, 2009, #10: Chuck Schuldiner, Jawbone Press
11. McIver, J. Justice for All: The Truth About Metallica, 2004, p. 155, Omnibus Press
12. Christe, I. The Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal, 2003, p. 241, Harper Collins
13. as noted in Mudrian, A. Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore, 2004, p. 75, Feral House
14. Widerhorn, Jon. "32 Years Ago: Death Start a Revolution With 'Scream Bloody Gore'". Loudwire. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
15. "Death Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved June 1, 2016.