Braindamage ‘Zine #1 (Usa) – 1984
Katon. W. DePena vocalist for legendary thrash metal band HIRAX was the publisher of this fanzine in early ’80s. The first issue contains articles about Tom Warrior’s Hellahammer, Slayer, Possessed, Mercyful Fate, Celtic Frost, Destruction, Mantas (Pre – Death) and others…
Article about Possessed on Brain Damage ‘zine #1 – 1984, Death Metal was moving its first steps
POSSESSED comes from the S.F. Bay area, the hardcore heavy metal heaven.
At the moment they’re one of the heaviest and fastest bands in the world, no kidding! A lot of bands lose some of their heavyness in the speed but POSSESSED is lightning fast and very heavy and grinding at the same time!
The band was formed by Mike Torrao (guitar) and Mike Sus (drums), who were playing together for quite some time. A while later they found Jeff Bacerra on bass, and then got Brian Montana
(guitar) through an ad in a magazine. With that they started writing songs. Jeff wanted to sing, so they tried it and every- thing worked out. POSSESSED is influenced mainly by VENOM and
EXODUS (!) but there are also noticeable SLAYER influences.
Recently POSSESSED recorded a three song demo tape. The demo’s first track is “Death Metal” (which is exactly what these guys are all about). This is a great fast paced and ultra-heavy song, with some good leads and a great chorus.
Although Mike does sound a bit like Cronos and Lemmy, I like his vocals alot, especially in “Death Metal”. Next is “Evil Warriors”. This one is not as fast as the other two, but still a good heavy song, again there’s some good leads. The best is saved for last – “Burning in Hell”. This song is hardcore metal at its best!!!
This song is speedmetal, but it also has a really good slow n’ heavy part in the middle! Other POSSESSED material includes: “Swing of the Axe” ” Tribulation” and “Satan’s Curse”. Hopefully they’ll be able to get those out either on vinyl or tape real soon! They’ve been contacted by Torrid Records from New York (who is going to sign EXODUS), who is interested but not able to sign them right now. Brian Slagel, (Metal Blade Rec.) also shows interest in the band and plans to put them on Metal Massacre 6 (which also might feature SODOM and DARK ANGEL!) and may be release an L.P. some time in the near future.
POSSESSED has been doing shows in the Frisco area with EXODUS and SLAYER, and plan on doing some more gigs with HIRAX, DARK ANGEL, OVERKILL (from N.Y.!!) and maybe MEGADETH some time in October. However, they’re not likely to play outside the
Bay area in the near future. I can’t wait to hear some new material from this quartet.
Death Metal from the pits of hell!
By V.R.
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