''Deathwish'' is an EP by American

deathrock Death rock (or deathrock) is a rock music subgenre incorporating horror elements and gothic theatrics. It emerged from punk rock on the West Coast of the United States in the early 1980s and overlaps with the gothic rock and horror punk gen ...

band

Christian Death Christian Death is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles County, California, in 1979 by Rozz Williams. With major line-up changes over the years, Christian Death has retained "a relentlessly confrontational stand against organized religi ...

. It consists of demos recorded by the band in 1981, prior to the release of Christian Death's debut album ''

Only Theatre of Pain ''Only Theatre of Pain'' is the first studio album by the American rock band Christian Death, released on March 24, 1982, by the Frontier record label. It is considered by most critics to be the harbinger of the deathrock style of music, as well ...

'', but was not released until 1984 by French record label l'Invitation au Suicide. ''Deathwish'' was recorded in 1981 at Orange County Studios in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, prior to the band signing to

Frontier Records Frontier Records is an independent record label, started in 1980 in Sun Valley, Los Angeles by Lisa Fancher, a former employee of Bomp! Records and writer of the liner notes for the first album by The Runaways. History Frontier Records first ...

for ''Only Theatre of Pain'' (1982).

Critical reception

In a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, critic Ned Raggett gave the EP 3 out of 5 stars and wrote that " he EP isa great peek into some of the band's roughest beginnings".

Track listing

Personnel

* Rozz Williams – lead

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Rikk Agnew Richard Francis "Rikk" Agnew Jr. (born December 9, 1958) is an American musician with a career spanning more than 40 years. He has previously been a member of some of the most influential bands of the Orange County hardcore punk genre, as we ...

– guitars *James McGearty –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

s *George Belanger –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

References

External links

* {{Christian Death 1984 EPs Christian Death albums