Leprosy (album)

Background

After releasing their debut album Scream Bloody Gore, the band cancelled a planned tour after rehearsing with Steve Di Giorgio of Sadus in Concord. Chuck Schuldiner then returned to Florida and recruited his former band mate Rick Rozz, along with his bandmates in Massacre, Terry Butler and Bill Andrews.

Music and lyrics

Musical style and instrumentation

Leprosy has been described as sounding "raw", "raucous" and "just absolutely pissed off". Invisible Oranges described the album as sounding "softer" than Scream Bloody Gore and "not as technical" as Spiritual Healing, the album that followed*.*" Scott Burns' production on the album has been described as "unfussy" and "organic", and musically, it has been said to retain the "morbid inertia" of its predecessor. It is considered the band's final "straightforward" death metal release, as they would take a more technical and progressive approach on later releases.

The songwriting on the album has been called "structurally audacious." Jonathan Horsley of MusicRadar assessed, "Even this early in his [career], Schuldiner was a provocateur, upending the songwriting rule book, eschewing repetition, operating like the editor of an action movie in cutting together contrasting riffs and ideas with brutal efficiency." The lead guitar stylings of Rick Rozz on the album utilize whammy bar divebombs, drawing comparisons to Kerry King of Slayer. By contrast, Chuck Schuldiner’s guitar solos on the album have been described as "more technical". Some of the album's guitar riffs have been described as melodic, with some publications noting influence from the New wave of British heavy metal.

Chuck Schuldiner's vocals have been described as "stygian".

Lyrical themes

The lyrical content on Leprosy has been said to be more mature, darker and more "bleak" than its predecessor, Scream Bloody Gore. Author Jeremy Wagner described the album as "eight tracks of miserable fates and sobering nightmares," and went as far as to call the album's themes "abysmal" and "pure horror". While Scream Bloody Gore contained lyrics pertaining to fictional subject matter such as zombies, Leprosy saw Schuldiner beginning to explore nonfictional topics in his lyrics as well. Topics explored by Schuldiner on the album have been described as "more psychologically unnerving", and include social stigma, war, and existential dread. "Pull the Plug" is written from the perspective of a person who is being taken off of life support, and has been called "a death metal contemporary of Metallica’s One".

Artwork

The album's cover artwork has been described as exhibiting a "robed and goulish figure riddled with skin lesions and tissue loss." Author Jeremy Wagner stated that the album cover gave him "an immediate impression of heaviness and unease." Joe DiVita of Loudwire said the artwork "might be the scariest thing to be dominated by pink hues with the hooded leper pulling a piece of cloth over his malformed face."

Reception and legacy

Released in 1988, Leprosy is considered to be ahead of its time musically, and a groundbreaking achievement in the genre. The staff of Loudwire wrote, "In regards to the ‘80s, not much was more extreme than the brutal savagery of Leprosy." According to Eduardo Rivadavia of Loudwire, the album made it apparent that the death metal genre was "already advancing by leaps and bounds." Jonathan Horsley of Guitar World wrote, "There is an argument to be said that, of all the great death metal bands, Death were the least heavy. [But,] if Leprosy is not the heaviest death metal guitar album, it’s possibly the gnarliest, worthy of Ed Repka’s career-best cover art, and essential listening."

In a poll by the German Rock Hard magazine, Leprosy was voted the number one of the 25 most important death metal albums of all time. On April 29, 2014, a three-disc remastered edition containing bonus tracks was released via Relapse Records.

The title track was covered by the blackened death metal band Akercocke on their 2007 album Antichrist. Dutch melodic death metal band Callenish Circle covered "Pull the Plug" as a bonus on their Flesh Power Dominion album, released in 2002; shortly thereafter, Norwegian band Zyklon also recorded "Pull the Plug" to be used as a bonus track. Finnish thrash metal band Mokoma covered the track "Open Casket", with lyrics in Finnish and titled "Avoin Hauta", on their EP Viides Vuodenaika. "Pull the Plug" was also covered by American band Revocation.

The album cover is featured in Metal: A Headbanger's Journey.

In 2013, author Ian Christe wrote: "Now, twenty-five years and twenty-five thousand death metal bands later, Leprosy sounds almost normal. The essence of these cries has echoed with a tormented dimension all along. As you breathe the rotten scent, try not to go insane with awe that Death's early brilliant depravity could change the world so completely. Leprosy proved that this death metal shit was for real, and today it has become inescapable."

In 2024, Joe DiVita of Loudwire named the album's cover artwork as one of the "31 Scariest Metal Album Covers of All Time".

Track listing

All music written by Chuck Schuldiner and Rick Rozz, unless stated. All lyrics written by Chuck Schuldiner. All songs published by Mutilation Music.

Personnel

Death

• Chuck Schuldiner – vocals, guitar, bass
• Rick Rozz – guitar
• Bill Andrews – drums
• Terry Butler – credited with bass but did not play on the album

Production

• Dan Johnson – production
• Scott Burns – engineering
• Michael Fuller – mastering
• Edward Repka – artwork
• Eric Greif – management
• Frank White – photography
• David Bett – art direction
• Alan Douches – mastering (2014 reissue)

References

References

1. "Roundtable: Death's 'Leprosy' (35 Years Later)".
2. Lindsley, Shaun. (April 3, 2020). "Every Death album ranked from worst to best".
3. Loudwire Staff. (November 22, 2022). "Top 80 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1980s".
4. (2016). "Death By Metal".
5. Staff, Invisible Oranges. "Death - Leprosy".
6. Horsley, Jonathan. (June 18, 2021). "5 songs guitar players need to hear by… Death".
7. Mills, Matt. (July 14, 2018). "Death: Ranking All 7 Studio Albums".
8. Wagner, Jeremy. As quoted from the liner notes of the deluxe reissue of ''Leprosy''
9. DiVita, Joe. (July 18, 2013). "10 Best Songs by the Band Death".
10. DiVita, Joe. (October 29, 2024). "The 31 Scariest Metal Album Covers of All Time".
11. Huey, Steve. "Leprosy - Death". [[AllMusic]].
12. (November 1, 2005). "The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties". [[Collector's Guide Publishing]].
13. Herzebeth. "Death - Leprosy review".
14. Loudwire Staff. (November 22, 2022). "Top 80 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1980s".
15. Rivadavia, Eduardo. (November 1, 2018). "11 Florida Death Metal Albums You Need".
16. Horsley, Jonathan. (March 21, 2022). "The 30 heaviest guitar albums of all time".
17. Huey, Steve. (March 20, 2014). "DEATH's 'Leprosy' Album To Be Reissued With Bonus Material". Blabbermouth.
18. Christe, Ian. As quoted from the liner notes of the deluxe reissue of ''Leprosy''
19. link. (November 6, 2015 , the percentage filed is 75% Schuldiner, 25% DeLillo (Rozz))
20. [http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002369763245#!/DeathOfficial ''Death (Official)'', Facebook page administered by Relapse Records and Eric Greif (the lawyer for Chuck Schuldiner's Estate)], (retrieved November 18, 2011)
21. (June 2, 2008). "Death (2) - Leprosy (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com.
22. Frank Albrecht. (December 1991). "Counterattack". Rock Hard.
23. (2016). "Death by Metal".