• Genre: Rock
• Active: '80s
• Major Members: Brian Montana, Jeff Beccarra, Barry Fisk, Mike Sus, Mike Tarrao, Larry LaLonde

Biography

Like the extreme music they created, San Francisco's Possessed seemed cursed by dark and evil forces throughout their troubled career. Formed by guitarist Mike Torrao and drummer Mike Sus in 1983, the group would lose first singer Barry Fisk to suicide before even graduating out of their garage band status. They persisted though, and after recruiting vocalist/bassist Jeff Becerra and guitarist Brian Montana, the band was offered a slot on Brian Slagel's Metal Massacre 6 compilation. Possessed's savage sound immediately stood out from their competition and drew the attention of Combat Records, with whom they signed in 1985 after replacing Montana with guitarist Larry LaLonde. Issued later that year, the brutal Seven Churches was arguably the first true death metal album and set the stage for the genre's breakaway from thrash. Their second effort, Beyond the Gates, was released, fittingly enough, on Halloween 1986, but didn't have the same impact as its predecessor. After recording the five-track EP The Eyes of Horror the following year (produced by LaLonde's guitar teacher Joe Satriani), the band decided to call it quits. Two years later, frontman Becerra was shot during a mugging and left paralyzed from the waist down. LaLonde would go on to a long career with quirky trio Primus and Torrao went as far as recording some demos with a new Possessed lineup before dismantling the group once again. A compilation called Victims of Death was released in 1993. ~ Ed Rivadavia, All Music Guide

Representative Albums:

Seven Churches, The Best of Possessed, Beyond the Gates/Eyes of Horror

Similar Artists:

King Diamond, Thanatos, Sacred Denial, My Dying Bride, Mogul Thrash, Hell Bastards, Exumer, Deliverance, The Free for All, Recipients of Death, Onslaught, Nuclear Death, Necrosanct, Nausea, Mortal Sin, Morbid Saint, Leeway, Jerry's Kids, Cancer, Blood, Tankard, Stormtroopers of Death, Sodom, Slayer, Sabbat, Raw Power, Nuclear Assault, Megadeth, Kreator, Heathen, Forbidden, Flotsam & Jetsam, Destruction, Death Angel, Death, Corrosion of Conformity, Christian Death, Celtic Frost, Bolt Thrower, Blood Feast, Blessed Death, Bathory, Anacrusis, The Accused

Influences:

Black Sabbath

Followers:

Impaled, Deceased, Obituary, Asphyx, Sepultura

Beyond the Gates Buy this CD

Seven Churches Buy this CD