In 1985, San Francisco's Possessed released their now-legendary death metal debut "Seven Churches".

Not only did Seven Churches' blend of thrash riffs, grunting vocals and blistering leads send shockwaves of excitement throughout the underground tape-trading scene of the day, but the album's final track, "Death Metal"?and Possessed's 1984 demo of the same name?just may have given an official name to the genre that had already spawned such American bands as Death, Morbid Angel and Master.

Click the song names below to download each track:
'Death Metal'
'Evil Warriors'
'Burning In Hell'
'Fallen Angel'

Months before "Seven Churches" hit the stores, cassettes of "Death Metal" had been spreading throughout the extreme metal community. While the tape typically traded contained four tracks: 1) 'Death Metal', 2) 'Evil Warriors', 3) 'Burning in Hell' and 4) 'Fallen Angel', the original self-produced demo did not contain 'Fallen Angel'. 'Fallen Angel' was reportedly recorded during the "Death Metal" session, but did not make the official demo, because it was banged out quickly at the end of the recording session. But, through the tape-trading process, "Fallen Angel" became tacked on to the end of "Death Metal".

Source:	blogs.guitarworld.com
Band profile:	Possessed