Desecration - Damaged By Decibels (1985)
Tim Yo, of Maximum Rock'n'Roll, reviewed this record calling it 'death metal core' in 1986.
A strange way to categorize a band for sure. Especially when you consider the musical landscape at the time. As far as i'm aware, death metal wasn't really a defined thing. There were various out-there thrash metal and crossover acts, but death metal, as well as black metal, wasn't defined as a legit genre until the late 80s.
The intro to the opener 'It's Just Begun' has the ominous keyboard soundscape of an 80s horror movie, which leads me to thinking that Tim isn't too far wrong. But then the band thrashes out some gnarly malevolent hardcore violence. Admittedly, the lingering chords that preface the hardcore attack on 'It's Just Begun' lead one to think 'hey, it's kinda metal'. But the hardcore surely outweighs everything here. Their version of Sabbath's 'Paranoid' is a fast hardcore blast, which is pretty rad. And 'Nothing Free' follows suit in the hardcore assault. The closer 'Bureaucratic Nonsense', as you may have guessed, is manic hardcore. However, wedged in-between the frenetic blasts of noise is a rough as shit solo and a mighty riff. Definitely the best track here.
This demo is roughly recorded, the drums sound muffled, the bass is inaudible, and the file clips in places. But don't let that put you off. 'Damaged by Decibels' has a ripping guitar sound, lunatic vocals, and is a great representation of 'metal damaged' mid-80s hardcore. Their later records, 'Who's In Control' and a split with Subverse are way more produced and are also worth tracking down.
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And here's Tim Yo's review. Taken from the great 'Kill From The Heart' website.
A four-song "death metal core band" that zips along at a frantic pace, isn't as metal as it is thrash, and avoids lame lyrics and sticks to political/social subjects. A pretty hot debut.
-Tim Yohannan (from Maximum Rocknroll #33, February 1986)
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