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POSSESSED LYRICS


Album: ''Death Metal'' (1984 Demo)
1. Death Metal
2. Evil Warriors
3. Burning in Hell




Rehearsal


Album: ''Rehearsal'' (1984 Demo)
1. Pentagram
2. Swing of the Axe
3. Twisted Minds
4. Fallen Angel




Seven Churches


Album: ''Seven Churches'' (1985)
1. The Exorcist
2. Pentagram
3. Burning in Hell
4. Evil Warriors
5. Seven Churches
6. Satan's Curse
7. Holy Hell
8. Twisted Minds
9. Fallen Angel
10. Death Metal




Demo 1985


Album: ''Demo 1985'' (1985 Demo)
1. Fallen Angel
2. Swing of the Axe
3. Death Metal



Album: ''Pre-production Demo'' (1985 Demo)
1. The Exorcist
2. Pentagram
3. Burning in Hell



Album: ''Seven Churches Demo'' (1985 Demo)
1. The Exorcist
2. Pentagram
3. Burning in Hell
4. Evil Warriors
5. Seven Churches
6. Fallen Angel
7. Twisted Minds
8. Death Metal
9. Satan's Curse




Beyond the Gates


Album: ''Beyond the Gates'' (1986)
1. Intro
2. Heretic
3. Tribulation
4. March to Die
5. Phantasm
6. No Will to Live
7. Beyond the Gates
8. The Beasts of the Apocalypse
9. Seance
10. Restless Dead
11. Dog Fight




The Eyes of Horror


Album: ''The Eyes of Horror'' (1987 EP)
1. Confessions
2. My Belief
3. The Eyes of Horror
4. Swing of the Axe
5. Storm in My Mind




Victims of Death


Album: ''Victims of Death'' (1992 Best of/Compilation)
1. The Exorcist
2. Pentagram
3. Swing of the Axe
4. March to Die
5. Death Metal
6. The Eyes of Horror
7. Fallen Angel
8. Burning in Hell
9. Beyond the Gates
10. Seven Churches




Agony in Paradise


Album: ''Agony in Paradise'' (2004 Live album)
1. March to Die
2. Pentagram
3. Beast of the Apocalypse
4. Holy Hell
5. Swing of the Axe
6. Burning in Hell
7. Heretic
8. Phantasm
9. The Exorcist
10. Fallen Angel
11. Seance
12. Twisted Minds
13. Death Metal




Possessed by Evil Hell


Album: ''Possessed by Evil Hell'' (2007 DVD)
1. The Beasts of the Apocalypse
2. Holy Hell
3. Tribulation
4. The Heretic
5. Burning in Hell
6. Phantasm
7. Seance
8. Fallen Angel
9. Twisted Minds
10. March to Die
11. The Pentagram
12. The Beasts of the Apocalypse
13. Holy Hell
14. Swing of the Axe
15. Burning in Hell
16. Phantasm
17. Seance
18. Twisted Minds



possessed

POSSESSED BIOGRAPHY

1) Possessed started with Mike Torrao (guitar) and Mike Sus (drums) as a garage band in San Francisco's Bay Area. They formed in 1983, and were basically a garage band, with several lineup changes. Late in 1983, though, their singer Barry Fisk committed suicide, and when they managed to recruit singer/bassist Jeff Becerra they formed the band Possessed.
Jeff was fronting a local commercial-style metal band called Blizzard before he quit to join Possessed. (Also involved in this band were future Possessed guitarist Larry Lalonde and the band's future manager, Debbie Abono.) Jeff and the two Mikes, along with second guitarist Brian Montana, started perfecting their own brand of metal which was the precursor to modern death metal - very fast, savage riffs, warp-speed drums, mile-a-second solos, and the raspy growl of the vocals later perfected by Chuck Schuldiner of Death. (In fact, Chuck's vocals on "Scream Bloody Gore" sound almost exactly like Jeff Becerra's vocals on "Seven Churches," an album Schuldiner cites as a significant influence.)
Possessed took San Francisco's metal scene by storm, playing out with fellow Bay Area thrashers Exodus (it happened that the two Mikes were pretty good friends with Exodus' H-team, Rick Hunolt and Gary Holt) and other bands (many now long gone). In 1984 they recorded a four song demo which made its way to the ears of Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records. He was impressed enough to ask them for a track for the upcoming Metal Massacre 6. Possessed gave them the song Swing Of The Axe, which proved to be the highlight of that compilation, and was included on the later "Best of Metal Massacre."
However, at the same time the band was deciding which track to give them, they were dealing with a weak link in the band, and his name was Brian Montana. In interviews after the fact, Torrao says that Montana's playing skills and dedication to the image that the band was trying to create (the 'leather and stud, inverted cross death/black stage presence) left much to be desired. He was fired, and Possessed then enlisted the axe-playing skills of Larry Lalonde, finagling him from that earlier band.
Thus, all at once, Possessed got one track released and a new guitarist. However, Metal Blade did not sign Possessed, and neither did Torrid Records, by this time the home of Exodus.

Then came Combat.
Combat Records signed Possessed in 1985, and the band spent the school Easter break recording the heaviest, fastest, most evil piece of metal ever to be carved into vinyl grooves - Seven Churches. This is the album that set the standard for death metal. Released in October of 1985, it was light-years ahead of its time, with the intricate-yet-heavy riffing of The Exorcist, Twisted Minds, and the title track (LaLonde's first co-writing credit) and the skull-pounding brutality of Burning In Hell, Evil Warriors, and the seminal Death Metal. The album was masterfully produced by Randy Burns, and recorded at Prairie Sun Studios. Seven Churches went on to be Combat Records' biggest-selling album. Not bad for a quartet of high school kids.
They spent most of the next year gigging around the US and Europe, and in October 1986 (on Halloween, to be exact) unleashed their second album Beyond The Gates. A poor production job by Carl Canedy robbed the songs of some of their energy, but the musical genius of Torrao's and Becerra's songwriting shone throughout the album, especially on cuts like The Heretic, Beyond the Gates, and No Will To Live. Torrao and Becerra also got some help from LaLonde, who wrote three of the album's songs: Phantasm, Seance, and Tribulation (a crowd favorite from before the first album). This album was especially well received in Europe, where they toured at the end of 1986.

They toured more in the states early in 1987, and later that year they recorded and released The Eyes of Horror, a five song EP produced by LaLonde's guitar demagogue, Joe Satriani. It was musically the most advanced thing that Possessed had done, but the trademark satanism was almost completely absent on the EP. They had begun moving more in a thrash direction, and were getting away from the death and black magic imagery of their first two albums.
Shortly after the release of The Eyes Of Horror, the members of Possessed decided to call it a day, and Sus, LaLonde, and Becerra left the band.
Mike Torrao continued writing and recording music music under the Possessed name, taking over vocal duties. This part of the history is incomplete. Possessed went through several people trying to settle on the perfect mix for the band. After several tryouts (including, among others, Duane Connley [guitar] and Colin Carmichael [drums] from fellow Bay-Area thrashers Sanguinary), the line-up finally settled on Bob Yost (bass), Walter Ryan (drums), and Mark Strausberg (guitar) in 1991. This line-up recorded one two-song demo. Yost quit, but Torrao, Ryan, and Strausberg continued with new bassist Paul Perry, and this lineup released a three-song demo in 1992 (though apparently there was also a four-song version, including a newly- recorded version of The Exorcist). In 1993 Possessed returned to the live stage in the Bay Area, opening a few shows for Machine Head.

Discography

Major releases:
Seven Churches (1985)
Beyond the Gates (1986)
The Eyes of Horror (1987)

Demos:
Death Metal (1984)
1991 Demo (1991)
1993 Demo (1993)

Other releases:
Resurrection (Compilation, 2003)

2) This is the story of a band whose tragic legacy could never have been predicted. Possessed were born out the thriving underground West Midlands Rock & Blues scene of the mid to late ‘60’s. This was a scene in which band- leader, Vernon Pereira, had been a key figure.

The band were formed in late 1969 when Vernon teamed up (after a spell playing next to Robert Plant in The Band Of Joy) with Mick Reeves, who had been playing in (amongst other bands) Sugarstack with Al Atkins. This was the band that would eventually evolve into being the first incarnation of Judas Priest.

Exploration was originally intended for releases in 1971. Due to various reasons the album never saw the light of day.

The band were finally on the verge of signing a major deal, when tragedy struck. Whilst returning home from a gig in 1976, the bands van drove into a stationary tanker, taking the lives of three band members.



POSSESSED GENRES
Death/Thrash Metal

POSSESSED LYRICAL THEMES
Satan, Occult, Evil, Anti-Christ

POSSESSED ORIGIN
United States of America (San Francisco, California), formed in 1983

POSSESSED CURRENT RECORD LABEL
Combat Records

POSSESSED STATUS
Active

POSSESSED CURRENT LINE-UP
Jeff Becerra - Bass, Vocals (1983-1988, 2007-) (Side Effect, ex-Blizzard (US))
Emilio Marquez - Drums (2007-) (Sadistic Intent, Asesino, Engrave (US), Brainstorm (US), Nokturnal Fear, Coffin Texts, Brujeria)
Ernesto Bueno - Guitars (2007-) (Sadistic Intent)
Rick Cortez - Guitars (2007-) (Sadistic Intent)
Bay Cortez - Bass (2007-) (Sadistic Intent, Dethshit)

POSSESSED PREVIOUS LINE-UP
Vocals:
Barry Fisk (R.I.P, suicide) - Vocals (1983)

Guitars:
Brian Montana - Guitar (1983-1984)
Larry Lalonde - Guitar (1984-1988) (Blind Illusion, Blizzard (US), Primus, Flying Cunts of Chaos)
Mark Strausberg- Guitar
Dave Couch - Guitar (1990) (Thanatopsis, Mudslinger, Lethal Conception)
Mike Torrao - Guitar (1983-1993), Vocals (1991-1993) (Desecration (US))
Mike Hollman - Guitars (1993) (Bizarro, ex-Pro-Pain)

Drums:
Mike Sus - Drums (1983-1988) (Desecration (US))
Chris Stolle - Drums (1990) (Diabolicus, Thanatopsis, Somnus, Lethal Conception, Dark Arena)
Colin Carmichael (1991)
Walter Ryan - Drums (1991-1993) (ex-Machine Head (US))

Bass:
Bob Yost - Bass (1991-1992) (Desecration (US))
Paul Perry - Bass (1993)

 


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