Review by Carl on January 20, 2026.

I don't really remember where or when (or exactly why) I got this one; it feels as if it's been in that hulking pile of vinyl of mine forever. It was probably the combination of the name Possessed, and the gorgeous look of this picture disc. I can imagine myself throwing a handful of cash at some hapless seller whilst muttering 'purrrrdy platter' to myself, not once taking my thousand-yard stare of the LP. Yeah, thinking about it, that's probably how it went.

On the A side, we get the undoubted stars of the show here, the legendary Possessed. Well, the early 90's version of the legendary Possessed, the one where Mike Torrao took the reins, as well as the vocal duties. So how did that work out, one might wonder? Well, let's find out, I say!

The first two slices of thrashing madness we get shoved into ye olde ear cavities come from their 1991 demo, and right off the bat, you can hear that their sound got a bit heavier, leaning more into the death metal part of their music. The fluid thrash metal riffing is still intact, as are the battering, no-frills compositions that combine midtempo stomp with battering velocity, and razor-sharp wailing guitar leads injected. It's a sound that had me thinking of bands like Slaughter Lord, Anihilator, Gammacide, and Devastation (TX), to name a couple, and to be honest, it's a sound that suits this version of the band pretty well, really. I'll admit that it also makes them sound more anonymous compared to their glory days, but for me, they more than make up for that with the aggressive and energetic delivery of the music. The slightly odd, distorted vocals featured here made me raise an eyebrow for a second, but these actually suit the music well enough, adding a slightly demented edge to the death/thrash on offer. The production on these two ditties is pretty rad, especially for what is just a demo. The guitars sound good and meaty, the percussion is powerful, and the final mix is pretty agreeable all-round, so I'm totally down with this.

The sound quality goes down on the next four cuts because these are taken from a rehearsal tape, so you know stuff is about to get raw from here. Raw, yet not unlistenable, really. Yes, practically all rehearsal tapes sound like a band doing its thing in a cardboard box, and here is no exception, but in this case, I can definitely dig this. The ingredients mentioned before are all present, with the guitars sounding loud and clear, and the precise execution of the music makes proceedings easy to follow, and that's a big plus on recordings such as these. Ok, the drums consist primarily of a snare drum receiving the beating of a lifetime, with the vocals being mostly a boxed-in growling, but what this rehearsal sure has going for it is that it oozes energy. And I mean it OOZES energy. As an example, it features the track 'March To Die' from the "Beyond The Gates" album, sounding way more raucous than the original recording, despite sounding as raw as minced meat dropped behind the stove while cooking. This is prime death/thrash brought to you by an excellent band. What more do you want?

If you flip this baby over, we get a band called Desecration, one of many, I might add. In the person of the late Bob Yost, there's a link to Possessed (he's the bass player on the A side), so what does that mean when discussing the music?

After the over-famous (and equally over-used) intro to Freddy Hitchcock's 'Psycho', Desecration launches immediately into a hefty dose of tight death/thrash that sounds pretty much the same as what Possessed had on offer on the A side. We get more fast and busy sounding thrash metal riffing combined with a tight and energetic percussive attack, all poured into tracks that go from stomping midtempo crunch to Slayer-fueled velocity. Throughout, we get blasted in the face with excellent manic guitar leads, executed to the nines, and because of this high level of musicianship, there's also a certain influence of speed metal bands such as Hallows Eve, Omen, and Savage Grace present. It's a more than sturdy (and energetic!) package, but the thing that will grab most people's attention are Mr Yost's vocals. In short, these are a good example of 'love 'em or hate 'em'. The good man employs a kinda hardcore punk-inspired approach to what he does, performing a balancing act on that thin line between shout-y and straight-up tuneless. If I were asked to describe it, I'd try something like the much-missed Paul Baloff (Exodus) imitating "Season Of The Dead" era Killjoy (Necrophagia) imitating Bill Crooks from Cryptic Slaughter. Or something like that, I don't know, really. Personally, I can listen to it well enough; he's got this 'rambling homeless guy' thing going, and I find it pretty entertaining, even if it can become somewhat grating after a while. Go check it out yourself, I'd say, I'm starting to feel kinda uneasy talking shit about a man who has passed away, honestly.

As on the A side, Desecration serves up a mixture of demo and rehearsal recordings, which was probably an obligation if you wanted to be on this LP, I guess. The demo tracks featured here are crisp and balanced, and funnily enough sounding more like classic Possessed than Possessed themselves on the A side. The guitars sound great, simply chainsawing away throughout, making proceedings sound as aggressive as all hell. What it also does is highlight the limitations of the vocals, something that is magnified even more on the rehearsal tracks, where Bob at times sounds like a nervous methhead trying to talk himself out of a narcotics sting. Again, it has a certain demented charm for sure, but it gets tiresome after a while.

In the end, this is a cool and interesting glimpse into the early 90's SF death/thrash scene, unearthing some totally cool tuneage in the process. Is this required listening, you might wonder? I'd say no, but it sure is interesting to hear what Possessed was doing in the aftermath of the initial thrash metal boom, and despite my criticisms earlier, the Desecration part is certainly worth the effort of checking out at least once. And if you eventually get tired of the music, there's always that beautiful picture disc artwork you can gawk at. How's that for a sweet deal, eh?

Oh yeah, just so you know: you can't believe the amount of restraint I had to put in to not make a "Brokeback Mountain" joke at that "Cowboys In Bondage" title.

You're welcome.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10