Once Dead: Visions of Hell
October 28, 2008 was a landmark day as it saw the release of Onced Dead's highly anticipated debut album “Visions of Hell”. I am very excited to review this album as I have been a fan of these musicians since the early/mid 90's. Due to the volume of work behind these musicians, in my article you will find that I have linked to various sources describing previous band affiliations.
The Once Dead project started as a Vengeance Rising reunion (with Ultimatum’s Scott Waters on Vocals). Doug Thieme, Larry Farkas, Glen Mancaruso, and Roger “Dale” Martin, all original VR members, reunited to play a reunion show. When objections were raised about the use of the name by the non-participating band member, the name of the group was changed to Once Dead (the 2nd VR Album Title). The reunion show was recorded and the DVD “Return with a Vengeance” was issued. With that, planning was started on the album Visions of Hell, however, multiple line up changes and general bad luck held up the process. After years of effort; Devin Schaeffer – Vocals, Glen Rogers – Guitars, Doug Thieme – Guitars, Larry Farkas – Guitars, Angelo Espino – Bass, and Jim Chaffin – Drums have pushed out an album worth the wait.
Who are these guys? We already know Farkas and Thieme from VR and the follow up projects by Die Happy, Larry Farkas also put out two albums with Sircle of Silence. Glen Rogers is a prolific musician who was a member of VR in the early days followed up by a stint with Deliverance. Glen has spent the last several years as an important part of the legendary thrash band Hirax, having contributed much of the music for their last two albums. Angelo Espino spent some time with Hirax but is best know for his work with Reverend. Jim Chaffin has been a long time drummer having played in several bands including The Crucified. Devin Schaeffer is a relatively unknown singer who’s only prior projects have included Fasedown.
With the heavy influences of VR and Hirax and a triple guitar attack this project was anticipated to be an excellent thrash album. It does not disappoint and even yields some nice unexpected surprises.
While I have never heard Devin Schaeffer sing, he does a surprisingly good job not only with the rough thrash vocals, but also showing his range by including death metal shrieks and growls.
As expected, the guitar work is outstanding; the riffs are solid and fast. The lead work by Larry Farkas really rips as he gives a clinic on the use of the Wah pedal. There is enough dissonance to keep the music interesting and more than enough speed to keep the purists happy.
The album starts out fast and in your face with the song “Body Parts”. A quick snare drum intro leads everyone else into a very good thrash song with the point that people are wasting their lives and walking around as “living body parts”. “Body Parts” sets the tone for the album, while there are songs that grind at a slower pace, the heaviness and intensity is consistent through the album.
Other musical highlights on the album include “Visions of hell”, a mid-paced song that sounds very much like classic VR maybe due to the Larry Farkas solo in the introduction. “Grave Robbers” is also an excellent song and the slowest paced on the album. It has some ‘grindcore’ elements with Devin Schaeffer using several different vocal styles and seemingly harmonizing some of his screams, the music and lyrics on this song go especially well together.
“Feeding my Addiction” is another standout track of the album, another mid paced thrash song with a monster groove and ripping guitar solo’s. Other songs on the album incorporate different stylistic elements. The gang vocals on this album are particularly good especially on “Defy Man” I have not heard gang vox on a new album in years and will say that the technique was used particularly well on this album.
Classic Thrash with hints of death and grindcore by people that have been doing it for years, this album is something that Once Dead can be proud of. A couple small notes on the production; the track listing and order of the lyrics in the liner notes was not consistent with the actual track listing on the C.D. Tonally, the snare drum sound did not hit me right as it sounded like a high-pitched Tom rather than setting the base of the rhythm section. Other than that this album had solid guitar and base tones, solid vocal tones, and a good balance through the mix with adequate compression. This album is a Paravellum 4-star recommendation for those who want an excellent old school thrash album.