Septicemia - 1992 - Sabbath Conventions

Septicemia were a death metal band from Greece who only released a demo, this MLP and 1 song on a split EP. This MLP has that great, unmistakable dark sound often found on Greek metal albums. Tight musicianship, excellent riffing, and interesting song structures are present throughout the whole recording, and it is all topped off with a strange, tinny (yet full) production job which just adds a level of eeriness to the album.

This is ripped from my own copy of the MLP. Enjoy.

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Necrodeath - 1987 - Into the Macabre

This album is enough to make Necrodeath my favorite band to ever come out of Italy, which is really saying a lot considering the huge amount of great releases that have come from that country.

This is great black/thrash/proto-death metal and is sort of a mixture of Tormentor's Anno Domini, Sodom's In the Sign of Evil and Sodom's Obsessed by Cruelty, with traces of Possessed's Seven Churches. Despite these similarities, it still really has a unique sound of its own.
The production is relatively thin which is very fitting and gives an eerie, occult feel to the album. The overall sound is drenched in reverb (especially those drum toms!), and each instrument is very clear in the mix. The music is full of thrashy black metal and proto-death riffs, bestial drumming and blasphemous vocals, which are done perfectly.

This album is truly a masterpiece and is an important milestone in the history of Italian extreme metal. It's essential. Download it.

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