Blessed Death – Destined For Extinction

The real deal

Blessed Death hail from Old Bridge, New Jersey, and have three albums out as of this writing:

KILL OR BE KILLED (1985)
DESTINED FOR EXTINCTION (1987)
HOUR OF PAIN (recorded in 1991, but not released until 2006 and 2007)

Blessed Death were able to legitimately tap into primal aggression/rage and counterbalance it with moments of moving melody, as the stunning refrain in the middle of "Incoming Wounded" testifies. Although they were often brutal and one-dimensional thrash, they offset this with quite a few groove/doom sections, eerie & apocalyptic pieces or the aforementioned melodic parts. They thus avoided the dumb, hackneyed ambiance of too many late 80's thrash/death bands.

The singer, Larry Portelli, is similar to Tom Araya from early Slayer, but unlike Araya he actually SINGS on occasion and his falsetto screams are better and more frequent. Sometimes they’re downright harrowing.

Another reviewer criticized the lyrics as supposedly juvenile and even humorous, but keep in mind the genre — it's primal thrash/death/doom/power metal, not friggin' Shakespeare. Not to mention DESTINED FOR DISTINCTION is basically a concept album on war and the human inclination toward violence. It’s obvious that "10,000 Days" in the song "10,000 Days of Bloodshed" is a figurative reference and not literal. Why anyone would take it literally is a mystery. Personally, I prefer albums that possess a more positive, victorious vibe, but DESTINED TO EXTINCTION is a decidedly apocalyptic work and therefore must be evaluated according to what it is and aspires to achieve, not what it isn't.

Aside from the aforementioned “Incoming Wounded,” my favorite songs include “Pain Killer,” which features a nice mix of thrash/speed metal and ominous groove/doom, not to mention a catchy chorus; and “Alien Impregnation,” which opens hauntingly with feedback and portentous doom riffing. Other standouts are opener “Digital War” with its kick-axx stanza and meshing of doom/groove/thrash; the afore-noted “10,000 Days of Bloodshed” and the closer “Destruction’s Eve” with its menacing opening.

Blessed Death was/is the real deal and DESTINED FOR EXTINCTION is Exhibit A. If you favor albums like Bathory's HAMMERHEART, Meliah Rage's THE DEEP AND DREAMLESS SLEEP, Death's SYMBOLIC and Forbidden's OMEGA WAVE you'll want DESTINED TO EXTINCTION in your metal arsenal.

The disc runs 33.5 minutes.

GRADE: A-

Absolutely essential and legendary New Jersey speed metal/death thrash!!! Aside from having possibly the most extreme vocalist ever, BLESSED DEATH were unique in their approach to high speed metal, creating a wall of sound that was both fast as hell and heavy as hell. These guys were standouts and deserve to be one of the most well-known U.S. extreme thrash bands of the mid/late 80's. Their musicianship was outstanding and both "Kill Or Be Killed" (1985) and "Destined For Extinction" (1987) are true master works with their posthumously released "Hour Of Pain" (recorded in '91 but unreleased until over a decade later) showing the band evolve into an even heavier entity adding elements of melodic doom and early death metal to their high speed assault. If somehow you've missed B. DEATH and love this era of thrash/crossover, BLESSED DEATH are an absolute must have part of your collection!!!

Absolutely essential and legendary New Jersey speed metal/death thrash!!! Aside from having possibly the most extreme vocalist ever, BLESSED DEATH were unique in their approach to high speed metal, creating a wall of sound that was both fast as hell and heavy as hell. These guys were standouts and deserve to be one of the most well-known U.S. extreme thrash bands of the mid/late 80's. Their musicianship was outstanding and both "Kill Or Be Killed" (1985) and "Destined For Extinction" (1987) are true master works with their posthumously released "Hour Of Pain" (recorded in '91 but unreleased until over a decade later) showing the band evolve into an even heavier entity adding elements of melodic doom and early death metal to their high speed assault. If somehow you've missed B. DEATH and love this era of thrash/crossover, BLESSED DEATH are an absolute must have part of your collection!!!

Absolutely essential and legendary New Jersey speed metal/death thrash!!! Aside from having possibly the most extreme vocalist ever, BLESSED DEATH were unique in their approach to high speed metal, creating a wall of sound that was both fast as hell and heavy as hell. These guys were standouts and deserve to be one of the most well-known U.S. extreme thrash bands of the mid/late 80's. Their musicianship was outstanding and both "Kill Or Be Killed" (1985) and "Destined For Extinction" (1987) are true master works with their posthumously released "Hour Of Pain" (recorded in '91 but unreleased until over a decade later) showing the band evolve into an even heavier entity adding elements of melodic doom and early death metal to their high speed assault. If somehow you've missed B. DEATH and love this era of thrash/crossover, BLESSED DEATH are an absolute must have part of your collection!!!

Blessed death is one band that compiled all the eclectic furor from the early Thrash Metal bands, at least some from the classic West coast sound. In this record the listener may perceive a frame to frame compilation of lyrical and rhythmical techniques very close to be considered plagiarism, as for example the typical Tom Araya's shrieks in tracks like "Pray for death", then we may easily perceive the following one to one hook transition with marked Thrashy-Hardcore tempo, demarked by grumpy fury vocals that easily remits us to Sacred Reich style.
In other tracks there is a comparative riff direction that bring back memories from DRI half hardcore style mined with Thrash, fast paced rhythm construction akin with Exodus... and we have the drummer who may have easily followed the steps from Gene Hoglan of Dark Angel fame with its brutal drumming and powerful rhythmic changes.

The sound result is pretty compact for the whole record which may make it sound a bit repetitive at times but nevertheless enthusiastic for its own strenghth displayed. The rhythmic changes sometimes come a bit chaotic like in 10,000 days, but at least grant this basic premise for what Thrash Metal meant then, pure fury made music!

So we have a band who exemplifies pretty well the spirit of the moment no matter the amount of similarities found with most classic bands at the time. Blessed Death never as famous as the bands they secretly worshipped and partially imitated with this album certainly bring a cohesive example of Thrash metal power joined with the still undifferentiated closeness with Hardcore. The lyrics that deal with typical topics from the 80s such as the nuclear war paranoia and bloodshed also exemplify the zeitgeist, for this time, all this concentration of muscled violence and lyrical virulence may come as perhaps too "unreal" or unnecessary and certainly indigestive for the comfort zone state that modern music puts people into.