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Seven Churches
Studio album by Possessed
Released	November 4, 1985 (1985-11-04)
Recorded	March 30 – April 5, 1985
Studio	Prairie Sun Studios (Cotati, California)
Genre	Death metal thrash metal
Length	39:21
Label	Combat
Producer	Randy Burns
Possessed chronology
Death Metal (1984) Seven Churches (1985) Beyond the Gates (1986)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com	(favorable)
AllMusic
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	5/10
Spin	(favorable)

Seven Churches is the debut studio album by American death metal band Possessed. The album title refers to the Seven Churches of Asia mentioned in the Book of Revelation. "The Exorcist" begins with producer Randy Burns' version of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, performed as it was in the 1973 horror film of the same name. Seven Churches is widely regarded as the first death metal album to exist, and About.com named it one of the ten essential albums of the genre. Jeff Becerra and Larry Lalonde were only 16 when the album was recorded.

Background

According to David Konow's Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal, the album was recorded during the Spring Break of 1985 when Pinole Valley High School juniors Jeff Becerra and Larry LaLonde had ample time for studio production. Up until the release of the album, the band had practiced at manager Debbie Abono's house in Pinole, but had formed in the El Sobrante/San Pablo area, which was the location of Mike Torrao's and Mike Sus' garage band.

In November of the same year, the band flew to Montreal, Quebec, Canada for the WWIII Weekend Festival in support of the Seven Churches release, playing alongside Celtic Frost, Destruction, Voivod and Nasty Savage; the concert was Possessed's first and largest arena appearance, with nearly 7,000 in attendance.

Legacy and impact

While Florida's Death had released more albums and is also cited as an enduring death metal progenitor, Seven Churches predates the latter band's debut album Scream Bloody Gore by two years. The book Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore credited bassist/vocalist Jeff Becerra as initially creating the term in 1983.

Seven Churches has been interchangeably described as "connecting the dots between thrash metal and death metal", being "monumental" in developing the death metal style, and as being the "first death metal album", the latter attributed to interviews with (or literature by) musicians including Kam Lee (ex-Mantas/Death, ex-Massacre), the late Ronnie James Dio (ex-Dio, ex-Black Sabbath) and Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield). Former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris said his introduction to metal was Possessed's Seven Churches album, a personal recommendation to him by then-guitarist Justin Broadrick.

In its July 1986 review of Seven Churches, SPIN described the album as belonging to the "sub-mutated genre of death-metal" and being a "full-on Japanese-commuter-train-without-brakes of what this genre should sound like...bassist/vocalist Jeff Becerra regurgitates what have to be the most Stygian vocal utterances to date."

British extreme metal record label Earache Records stated that "....the likes of Trey Azagthoth and Morbid Angel based what they were doing in their formative years on the Possessed blueprint laid down on the legendary Seven Churches recording. Possessed arguably did more to further the cause of 'Death Metal' than any of the early acts on the scene back in the mid-late 80's."

"The Exorcist" is covered on Cannibal Corpse's 1993 EP Hammer Smashed Face, on Cavalera Conspiracy's 2008 album Inflikted, and on Death's 2011 reissue of their 1993 album Individual Thought Patterns (though Gene Hoglan plays the drums and guitar on it).

In August 2014, Revolver placed Seven Churches on its "14 Thrash Albums You Need to Own" list.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Jeff Becerra, except where noted; all music is composed by Mike Torrao, except where noted

Personnel

Possessed

• Jeff Becerra − bass, vocals
• Mike Torrao − guitars
• Larry LaLonde − guitars
• Mike Sus − drums

Production

• Randy Burns − keyboards on tracks 1 and 9, producer, engineer
• Barry Kobrin − executive producer

References

1. "New Releases" (PDF). FMQB. November 1, 1985. p. 37. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
2. J. Andrew (January 18, 2023). "Graves Of The 80s: POSSESSED Seven Churches". Metal Injection. Retrieved August 17, 2023. Jeff Bacerra offered some amusing details about the recording of Seven Churches, conducted at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, California
3. ^ Schalek, Dave. "Essential Death Metal Albums". About.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
4. ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Possessed: Seven Churches". AllMusic. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
5. Popoff, Martin (November 1, 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 267. ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5.
6. ^ Rankin, Judge (July 1986). "Possessed: Seven Churches (Combat)". Spin. ISSN 0886-3032.
7. "Jeff Becerra - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives". www.metal-archives.com. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
8. ^ Konow, David (2002). Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal. Three Rivers Press. p. 234. ISBN 0-609-80732-3.
9. Christe, Ian (February 17, 2004). Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal. It Books. p. 142. ISBN 0-380-81127-8.
10. Peel, John; Mudrian, Albert (2004). Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore. Feral House. ISBN 1-932595-04-X.
11. Purcell, Natalie J. (2003). Death Metal Music: The Passion and Politics of a Subculture. McFarland & Company. p. 54. ISBN 0-7864-1585-1.
12. McIver, Joel (2008). The Bloody Reign of Slayer. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84772-109-5.
13. Ekeroth, Daniel (2008). Swedish Death Metal. Bazillion Points. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-9796163-1-0.
14. Peel, John; Mudrian, Albert (2004). Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore. Feral House. p. 70. ISBN 1-932595-04-X.
15. Dio, Ronnie James; Bukszpan, Daniel (October 1, 2003). The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal. Sterling Publishing. p. 88. ISBN 0-7607-4218-9.
16. Wilson, Steven; Wagner, Jeff (December 1, 2010). Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal. Bazillion Points. p. 161. ISBN 0-9796163-3-6.
17. Mudrian, Albert (July 14, 2009). Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces. Da Capo Press. p. 59. ISBN 0-306-81806-X.
18. "Interview with Jeff Becerra". Earache.com. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
19. "14 Thrash Albums You Need to Own". Revolver.com. August 29, 2014. Archived from the original on August 31, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2014.

• Possessed (band) albums
• 1985 debut albums
• Combat Records albums
• Roadrunner Records albums