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[SOLD OUT] BLACK DEATH "Black Death" vinyl LP + 7" (gatefold, w/ poster)

[SOLD OUT] BLACK DEATH "Black Death" vinyl LP + 7" (gatefold, w/ poster)

Regular price €23,95 EUR
Regular price Sale price €23,95 EUR
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LP + bonus 7"! Comes in a gatefold cover with printed inner sleeve and a large poster.

LONG-overdue reissue of BLACK DEATH's self-titled debut album. Highly sought after by collectors, not only is Black Death a crucial piece in the rich history of Cleveland heavy metal, its original 1984 release marks the first full-length by an all-African-American heavy metal band. More than that, with the band's origins dating back to 1977, BLACK DEATH are largely known to be the first African-American metal band. But most of all, BLACK DEATH's lone album is a fucking classic of raw 'n' wild HEAVY fucking METAL with a thirst for the epic and dramatic.

BLACK DEATH's original lineup consisted of Siki Spacek on lead vocals and lead guitar, Phillip Bullard on drums and percussion, bassist Daryl Harris, and guitarist Gregg Hicks.

Indeed, across the original version of Black Death - which consisted of a seven-song main LP and then a two-song 7", the four maniacs of BLACK DEATH create a towering work of true metal magick. The production is almost punkish, emitting a blown-out and garagey atmosphere, but this ably benefits this maniacal playing across the collective nine songs. Energy and electricity explode from every note, passion writ large across each time-evaporating minute; every player is giving it his all and going for the throat, finding that elusive balance between the barbaric and virtuosic. The songs themselves possess the swagger of red-blooded rock 'n' roll, but are generously daubed in the darkness and mystery of aeons-old metal. Imagine, if you will, Judas Priest's Sad Wings of Destiny boosted with an OTT meanness or if Cirith Ungol were punks but indulged their Thin Lizzy tendencies more. Truly, Black Death is that awesome and awe-inspiring.

As for the oft-discussed issue of race, "Being an all-dark American heavy metal band was not a preconceived idea by any of us," Spacek says. "It was something that just happened to turn out that way. To us, and especially to me, we were a heavy metal band PERIOD. A coloring book is a coloring book no matter what different colors are used inside of them."

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