Back when I was fronting Internal Bleeding, Deathrune was one of the local NY acts that we played with and I became friends with their singer Kelly Izquierdo.  Killer dudes and a great live act as well.  Dark Blasphemies Records has put together an absolute beast of a reissue/compilation, containing all of Deathrune’s material across a beautiful 2 disc set.  Everything has been remastered and sounds amazing.  Hearing the old demos, being brought to justice, with the fantastic remastering is something that just needs to be heard.  The first disc contains the band’s first unreleased album, that this comp is named after.  It was recorded in 1996 and finally we get the album.  They re-recorded some older demos songs and combined them with some newer songs and the music is pure NY brutality.  After the intro, “Plague March” comes blasting forward and the album is unrelenting.  The band had a sound similar to other acts, in the Tri-State area, and the Torture Krypt influence clearly continues on this album, with the punishing guitar sound and viciousness, as well in the vocal department.  This was the bands crowning achievement, musically speaking.

Disc 2 contains the demos; Goat ‘91/’91, Beneath the Cyprus Groves ’92, Memories of the Exhumed ’94 and Remain Forever Entangled ’95.  Hearing these demos again after all these years, with the revamped sound, is astonishing and very nostalgic for me.  I felt during this time period that the ’94 and ’95 demo, that was released with the help of Wild Rags Records, were absolutely punishing and the music is relentless old school NY brutal death metal.  Slamming heavy grooves, slick blast beats and just well done music all around.  The highlights, for me were Kelly’s vocals on these 2 demos, which were his only recordings with Deathrune.  Kelly has a real powerful mid range gruff styled delivery, that really knocks you on your ass.  Similar to John Lavenia, from Torture Krypt.  You can understand his vocals, which makes it even more brutal, as you can imagine Kelly singing these words and pounding some poser into oblivion.

The reissue is essential if you liked Deathrune, like NY style death metal or just like your death metal well played.  2+ hours of punishing remastered sound and the booklet is astonishing.  A super thick multi paneled booklet containing all the lyrics, demo covers, photos, liner notes (which are printed just a tad too small) and biography round out what comes down to one of the best reissues I own, and trust me I own a lot.

[Visit the band's website]

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