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Back in the day, Possessed kind of accidentally helped invent Death Metal by playing Thrash with a really muddy production. Seven Churches is hailed as a landmark in Death Metal, as it came out two full years before Death released Scream Bloody Gore, and had a big hand in defining the sound. But Possessed never seemed to be able to capitalize on their legendary status, as they really seemed to want to be a Thrash band, as they proved on their follow-up Beyond the Gates, which was a cleaned-up version of the band and didn't excite anyone very much, and that was about it for Possessed.

Now here we are 34 years later with a whole new lineup except for frontman Jeff Becerra, and a whole new full-length album. Possessed have actually been a going concern for the past 12 years or so, playing shows and putting out compilations and boxed sets and such, but nobody was sure if we would get a new disc, or if it would be any good if we did.

It would have been so easy for the band to crank out a modern Death/Thrash album, slap the Possessed name on it, and coast on nostalgia, but thank fuck they didn't do that. Revelations of Oblivion is a feast of Death/Thrash so old-fashioned it hurts. They didn't just go for a retro recording job, but rather for the classic Possessed songwriting style with a modern punch to the sound. It occurs to me that the musicians playing this were at most teenagers when Seven Churches came out, and they may be coming at it as much as fans as musicians. They really reached for the old sound, and they fucking nailed it.

Becerra sounds incredible, and it's amazing to me that he can turn in such a balls-out performance at his age and from a damned wheelchair. He rips and tears through this album, always maintaining that trademark clarity that is a distinctly Thrash sound. This album contains all the trademark heaviness and ferocity you would expect from the band that fucking invented the term "Death Metal", and the musicianship and production are dead on, making this sound huge, heavy, and savage. The more I listen to this, the more I think it's really a worthy follow-up to one of the most storied albums of all time, and that is no small shit.