No More Room In Hell

Earlier this year, a few old blogger friends were going nuts over the new Possessed album. While I loved the Possessed records from the 80's, I just couldn't get myself motivated to check out the new one, Revelations Of Oblivion. Part of my resistance was that I absolutely treasure Beyond The Gates and The Eyes Of Horror, and I was afraid that I would be left disappointed with the new record...and the other reason for my foot dragging was that I really only wanted to listen to hair metal and stuff from the early 80's. I figured that I'd get around to it sooner or later, but I was just in no hurry.

As I was digging into a few older thrash bands, like Death Angel, Flotsam & Jetsam and Overkill, that had released new albums in 2019, I figured that it was finally time to check out that Possessed album that everyone seemed to be losing their minds over.

While Jeff Becerra is the only original member from the 80's, this new record totally captures the band's sound from those days. Guitarist Daniel Gonzales comes into Possessed from the band Gruesome, where he nails the sound from the early Death records, and here he makes you believe that Revelations Of Oblivion would have been a natural follow up to The Eyes Of Horror in the late 80's. Believe the hype, because this album slays.

I had options for more limited pressings of Revelations Of Oblivion at my local store, but the red vinyl just seemed like the better option, so I went with it.

Possessed By 1987

During my time travelling back to 1987, I obsessed over a lot of different albums, but one of them received more plays than any other...The Eyes Of Horror by Possessed.

This 19 minute EP absolutely destroys with it's all out Thrash attack. From start to finish, this record does not let up. Even now, after some time has passed since my 1987 spending spree, I still can't stop spinning this.

Combat had stopped using the green labels sometime in '86, so by the time The Eyes Of Horror was released, they had switched over to the camo ones. While I really want to focus on collecting those green label pressings, it still feels good to cross an original Combat pressing off the list.

Possessed For Post Number 666

When I saw that I had post number 666 coming up, I knew that I needed to get a record that would be appropriate. I originally bought the Possessed album, Beyond The Gates, on cassette in '86 or '87, and then in '88 I bought the CD release on Combat that included the Eyes Of Horror EP. After having a conversation with Doug about the Beyond The Gates LP recently, I've been listening to this album a lot lately. I figured it was time to buy it again...this time on the format that I love the most...vinyl!

The packaging on this is excellent. It is hard to believe that a band was able to convince their record label to spend the extra money for this in the mid-80's.

The "gates" of the front cover open to reveal the wastelands of Hell.

The cover keeps folding out for a full six panel spread. Impressive.

Once I realized that I had post number 666 on the horizon, I didn't have much time to react. I quickly jumped on to eBay and started my search. While I would have preferred the Combat pressing, I was happy to settle for the UK pressing on Under One Flag.