LEPROSY

When this Florida band released their second album Leprosy in 1988, the death metal scene did not exist as we today knows it. Very few people did understand this album and it was therefore met with derision and contempt in the heavy metal media. But it also inspired a generation of death metal musicians and spurred them on to greater things. The death metal scene exploded into life (sorry the pun) two years later when Scott Burns opened the gates to Morrisound Studio. Death was not particular technically skilled musicians, with the exception of Chuck himself. The result was therefore the a simple, but brutal death metal record. The eight songs on this album did not venture away from the verse-chorus-verse classic rock'n'roll structure. It has nothing to do with progressive rock whatsoever. Neither is it as savage brutal as the albums from the death metal era that burst to life two years later. But the quality of the songs on Leprosy is really good. I would even call this a classic death metal album. Mostly due to the impact it has had on the scene. But it sounds a bit dated in today's scene. I once loved this album, but the world has moved on. The follow up Spiritual Healing is anyway a far better album than this one.

A solid three stars for this classic death metal album.