VARIOUS ARTISTS
In The Eyes Of Death
(Vic Records)
58:44min

I always loved compilations. “Projections Of A Stained Mind” for example is still one of my all time favorite records. I loved Rock Hard’s “Monsters Of Death”, Earache’s unforgettable “Gods Of Grind”, Relapse’s “Corporate Death” (when Relapse was cool and INCANTATION, DECEASED and MORTICIAN were featured) and the first two “Death Is Just The Beginning” releases by Nuclear Blast. You get my point here. Now let’s turn to this masterpiece Vic Records so nicely dug out of its shallow grave. Originally released in 1991 by Century Media I immediately bought it on vinyl when I found it for two reasons: first the fantastic artwork by Axel Hermann. I think there was no better visual artist for Death Metal in the early 90s. Yes, there was the great Dan Seagrave, but he always was more cartoonish than Hermann. Just compare “Left Hand Path” and “Into The Grave”: one is a very good Metal cover – the other belongs into a museum next to Caspar David Friedrich. And for this compilation he did a really great job! I was just hypnotized. The second reason was the names of the bands: UNLEASHED, GRAVE, TIAMAT, MORGOTH, ASPHYX and LOUDBLAST. The mystique around these bands in that era was so heavy, it still sends shivers down my spine, through my underwear (with rockets printed on them), down my feet into the ground, where the worms live and feed on rotten memories of good old Death Metal. Where was I? If you own this compilation you can skip the next segment and tune in again a little bit later. If you don’t own or know it read on. “In The Eyes Of Death” features 2-3 songs by the above mentioned bands, almost all of them hard to find today even if they appeared on other releases (Youtube not counting). UNLEASHED start with three tracks (‘Unleashed’, ‘Dead Forever’ and ‘If They Had Eyes’) exclusively recorded for this record, just before “Where No Life Dwells” was recorded in a different studio. What is interesting is when you are aware of the fact that not Johnny Hedlund but guitar player Robert Sennebäck (later DISMEMBER) was the first vocalist of UNLEASHED and he had a deeper voice – you can hear here that Johnny took over and tried to sing in a lower voice on these tracks which later changed when the first record came out (boy, I am in my element). The other two songs they recorded in this session where later released as the “…And The Laughter Has Died” 7″. Next come mighty ASPHYX with two songs already featured on “The Rack” (‘Wasteland Of Terror’ and ‘Pages In Blood’) followed by two tracks by TIAMAT, just before “The Astral Sleep” came out. Their songs also appeared on the 7″ “A Winter Shadow” by CBR Records, but there ‘Ancient Entity’ became ‘Ancient Anxiety’. Both tracks were recorded at Sunlight Studios, in opposite to “The Astral Sleep” which was recorded in Dortmunds Woodhouse Studios. I like the versions on this compilation better. And then there is GRAVE with three tracks from the “Tremendous Pain” session (‘Eroded’, ‘Putrefaction Remains’ and ‘Haunted’) with a unfamiliar cleaner sound, before they entered Sunlight Studios to record their debut. Possible that you could find these recordings on early pressings of that one, but again: some of this stuff is pretty rare. French’s LOUDBLAST come next with three tracks although they were never on Century Media. Of all the featured bands I never got the kick out of LOUDBLAST although their “Disincarnate” cover artwork is one of my favorite Death Metal covers and I bought the LP just because of that. As far as I remember only one of the songs ended on that record (‘Outlet Of Conscience’). The other two tracks ‘Punishment’ and ‘Psalm 9’ (a cover song from TROUBLE) remain exclusive to “In The Eyes Of Death”. But don’t quote me on that. Last but not least: MORGOTH. One track was taken from the then already released “Resurrection Absurd” EP (‘Travel’) and one of the “The Eternal Fall” EP (‘Burnt Identity’), just before they recorded their milestone “Cursed”. I have read that the tape release had a different running order. So what. If you don’t own this record: get it. It is a lot of old school fun and it looks great! If you do own it there is something for you: for every track there is a small interview or statement by members or ex-member from every band about the circumstances of the recordings. For someone like me who inhaled that period of Death Metal there were some interesting information to gain (what, some of them recorded in Bielefeld?), but that does not necessarily is a huge buying point. Still I want to give a big “Thank You” to Vic Records for digging this one up, leaving all the old tipping errors in there and releasing it worthy to its potential! A great compilation to add to your old school collection. www.vicrecords.com

Tim Klöcker

Tim Klöcker

Related reviews / interviews:
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Back To 90's Old-School Death Metal! (Randolph Whateley)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Hymns Of Eternal Decay - A NRW Death... (Thomas Meyer)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Black Steel From The Heart Of The World (Randolph Whateley)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - El Inexorable Triunfo De La Muerte (Vamsi Kanagovi)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - A.Va.Lon (Vamsi Kanagovi)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Heavy 25 Anos (Anders Peter Jørgensen)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - A Brazilian Tribute To Bathory -... (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - The Church Within Records Vol. 1:... (Thomas Reitmayer)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Sampler MMXVIII (Anders Peter Jørgensen)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Russian Death Metal Vol. 5 (Rick Peart)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Sampler MMXVII (Michael Tak)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Russian Death Metal Vol. 4 (Anders Peter Jørgensen)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Tribute To REPULSION (Lem Lycurgus)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Pounding Metal - A Tribute To Exciter (Thomas Meyer)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Seven Burning Churches - A Tribute To... (Anders Peter Jørgensen)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Thrashing Damnation: Thru Compilation 2 (Thomas Meyer)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Born To Punish The Skies... A... (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Russian Death Metal Vol. 3 (Jaime Pérez)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Symphonies Of Madness Vol.I (Antonio Barrote)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Black Metal Warfare (Thomas Reitmayer)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Compendium Of Metal Vol. 9 (Anders Peter Jørgensen)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - 4 Doors To Death (Dick Osmond)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Vestibule Of Hell (Anders Peter Jørgensen)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - 6 Ways Of Hell (Thomas Meyer)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - By The Gods: A Noble Tribute To Virgin... (Julián "We Rule The Night" Núñez)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - If A Person Is Ill That Doesn't Mean... (Thomas Meyer)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Revolution Calling! (Christoph Göbel)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Imperative Music Compilation Volume VIII (Michael Tak)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - No Colours Records - 15 Years Jubileum... (Julián Núñez)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Born To Punish The Skies... A... (Thomas Meyer)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Fryslân (Thomas Meyer)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Deathophobia Vol.VIII (F.Cthulhu E.)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Contaminated 5.0 (Edouard Vergriete)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Century Media - Covering 20 Years Of... (Nathan Shapiro)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Better Undead Than Alive (Ramon Claassen)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - And In The Darkness Bind Them - A... (Matthias Auch)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - A Collection Of Noisymotions (Edouard Vergriete)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Death... Is Just The Beginning Vol. 6 (Leif Jensen)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Don't Burn The Witch - A Heavy Speed... (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Face Your Underground Vol.3 (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Grind Madness At The BBC - The Earache... (Michael Tak)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Metal Mania 2008 (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Monsters Of Death Vol.2 (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Monsters Of Death (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Swedish Death Metal (Julián Núñez)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Metal On Metal - The 4th Crusade (Luxi Lahtinen)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Metal Inquisition Compilation (Julian “Inquisitor of Metal” Nunez)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Strong As Steel - A Tribute To Anvil (Angelica Jannone)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Death Rules Supreme - A Tribute To... (Thomas Meyer)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Afterparty Massacre (Mindaugas 'Plix' Lapinskas)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - The Dead Pit Compilation (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Obscene Extreme 2003 - The DVD (Michael Oelschlegel)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Party.San Festival DVD 2006 (Nhashi)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Black Lotus Records DVD - Sampler (Torsten Gründig)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Vates Noctes Compilation Vol. I (Nhashi)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Altars Of Mad Death Vol. 1 (Ramon Claassen)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - The French Underground Series (Christoph Göbel)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Resurrected In Festering Slime (Anders Peter Jørgensen)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Relapse Singles Series Vol.4 (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - From The Underground... For The... (Thomas Ehrmann)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Spikefarm Sampler (Nhashi)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Demonic Plague - Tribute To Death (Leif Jensen)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Requiems Of Revulsion - A Tribute To... (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - The Plague / The First Cuts (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Hellbangers - Metal Forces (Manolis A.)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Scream Forth Blasphemy - A Tribute To... (Hacker)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Relapse Singles Series Vol.3 (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Berlin Extreme 2006 (Tim Klöcker)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Metal Reigns Supreme (Stefan Franke)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Svartmetall Compilation 2001 (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Resurrected In Festering Slime (Thomas Ehrmann)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Brazilian Assault (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Rage Of Achilles - Conquest For The... (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Keep It True - The Underground Kodex... (Michael Tak)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Unforgotten Past - In Memory Of Chuck... (Ramon Claassen)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Face Your Underground Vol.4 (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Seven Gates Of Horror - A Tribute To... (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Berlin Extreme 2007 / Vol. 2 (Tim Klöcker)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - In The Eyes Of Death II (Schenk)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Face Your Underground Vol.1 (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Conqueror Of The Ibex Moon Vol. 1 (Stefan Franke)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - The Reaper Comes III (Christoph Göbel)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - King Diamond Tribute (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Face Your Underground Vol.5 (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Speed Kills... Again (Wes Rhodes)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Relapse Singles Series Vol.5 (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Overload 2 - Tribute To Metallica (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Fenriz Presents... The Best Of... (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Thrashing Holocaust (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Face Your Underground Vol.2 (Frank Stöver)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Rising Of Yog-Sothoth - Tribute To... (Matthias Auch)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Reflections From The Abyss Chapter 1 (Wes Rhodes)
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Metal Message IV (Matthias Auch)

Leave a Reply