MORBID SAINT – Century Media To Reissue Classic Spectrum Of Death

A masterpiece of raw and rabid, deadly thrashing madness is going to return as stunning reissue in March 2016 via Century Media Records: Morbid Saint’s Spectrum Of Death. Originally recorded in the late ‘80s and produced by Eric Greif (Acrophet, Num Skull, Viogression), the 1990 released album by the Wisconsin thrashers offers a vicious and intense mix of early Slayer, Kreator, Dark Angel, and Destruction that has not lost any of its violent impact.

Morbid Saint originally formed on November 1st, 1984, shared stages with the likes of Death, Dark Angel, Acrophet, and many more. After a never fully realized second album, the band performed its final show in 1993 and disbanded. Morbid Saint reformed in 2010 and the band has been ravaging stages worldwide since then.

For this release, founding member Jay Visser (guitar) dug deep into his personal archive and excavated tons of rare photos, flyers as well as audio material hardly anyone has ever heard before/

After a series of low-key reissues and shabby bootlegs, Spectrum Of Death will now be released on vinyl replicating the original sleeve design with an extensive LP-sized booklet telling you the full history of the band and including rare visual material as well as 2CD and digital. The latter two will be released under the title Spectrum Of Death (Extended Edition) and contain everything, Morbid Saint have recorded so far including the rough mix of the unreleased, often bootlegged second album, Destruction System, various tracks recorded in 2010 and 2012 plus a previously unreleased early ‘90s demo, of which only 50 copies were ever made.

Jay Visser explains the history behind this long lost obscurity:

“The unreleased demo never even had a proper title we just called it ‘the black tape’, kind of ripping off Metallica’s famous album. It was recorded shortly after we had done ‘Destruction System’ in the studio back in 1992. As some of you might know, ‘Destruction System’ only existed as a quick rough mix, which we got from the studio to listen to as a basis to think over doing possible adjustments or redo any tracks that we didn’t like before finishing the mix. At that point, we were over budget with about $500 USD and didn’t have the money to finish the album. So we recorded the demo on a four-track recorder in my basement, and sold about 35-40 copies to cover some of the money we owed the studio. By the time we had enough cash to return and finish the album, the studio was already out of business, and all assets were seized by the bank resulting in all the track tapes being lost (including the master/track tapes for Spectrum Of Death). For Century Media’s reissue, we digitalized also a copy of this particular demo, and it was fantastically restored especially for this release! Enjoy!”

Whereas the Spectrum Of Death album was specially mastered for vinyl, and hardly touched to preserve its original sound, all other tracks have been carefully restored and remastered by Patrick W. Engel / Temple Of Disharmony (Iced Earth, Grave, Morgoth, Massacra) to ensure a most pleasant, violent listening experience.

Tracklisting:
Limited 2CD Digipak / Digital album:

CD1
“Lock Up Your Children”
“Burned At The Stake”
“Assassin”
“Damien”
“Crying For Death”
“Spectrum Of Death”
“Scars”
“Beyond The Gates Of Hell”

Destruction System Demo (1992)
“Destruction System”
“Disciples Of Discipline”
“Sign Of The Times”
“Living Misery”

CD2 (Destruction System Rough Mix)
“Intro”
“Destruction System”
“Darkness Unseen”
“Depth Of Sanity”
“Disciples Of Discipline”
“Spectrum Of Death II”
“Halls Of Terror”
“Living Misery’
“Sign Of The Times”
“Final Exit Recordings 2011”
“Intro / Death Before Dawn”
“Thrashaholic” (first song ever written by the band in ’85)

Recordings 2010
“Dying Day”
“Life’s Blood / Outro”

LP:

Side A
“Lock Up Your Children”
“Burned At The Stake”
“Assassin”
“Damien”

Side B
“Crying For Death”
“Spectrum Of Death”
“Scars”
“Beyond The Gates Of Hell”