''Once Dead'' is the second studio album by

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

and

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

Vengeance Rising Vengeance Rising was an American Christian metal, Christian thrash metal band from Los Angeles, California. Fronted by vocalist Roger Martinez, they originally formed as Vengeance in 1987, but changed their name in 1989 to avoid conflict with an ...

, released in 1990 on Intense Records and re-released in November 2010 on Intense Millennium Records. According to Allmusic, both the debut and ''Once Dead'' "were huge successes in the world of Christian music, making Vengeance Rising one of the few bands in the genre to cross over into the secular music scene". In 2010 ''

HM Magazine ''HM Magazine'' is a monthly, digital and print on demand publication focusing on hard music and alternative culture of interest to Christians. It is headquartered in Houston, Texas. The magazine states that its goal is to "honestly and accurate ...

'' ranked ''Once Dead'' #45 on Top 100 Christian metal albums of all-time list. Musically, the album showed an influence of

speed metal Speed metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) roots.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' (Berg Publishers, 2007), , p. 31. It ...

, with thrash arrangements on some songs, like the cover of

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

Space Truckin' "Space Truckin'" is a song by British hard rock band Deep Purple. It is the seventh and final track on the ''Machine Head'' album and its lyrics talk of space travel. Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore claims in '' Classic Albums: Deep Purple – The ...

, and "Out Of The Will", which reminded one reviewer of

One Bad Pig One Bad Pig is a Christian punk and metal crossover band from Austin, Texas, which formed in 1985. The ''Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music'' describes them as "quite possibly the most popular hard-punk act ever to arise within the C ...

. In a ''Cross Rhythms'' review, the lyrics were called "very Bible based," containing quotes and references accompanied within the lyrics "giving enough material for weeks of Bible studies". The reviewer went to state that the album "leaves most other Christian metal albums well behind in terms of imagination and sheer execution." Doc Godin of

Metal Storm Metal Storm Limited was a research and development company based in Brisbane, Australia, that specialized in electronically initiated superposed load weapons technology and owned the proprietary rights to the electronic ballistics technolog ...

said that while most Christian metal is rather safe and predictable, "here's something that actually kinda kicks ass, all ideologies aside." They described the album's style as mostly straightforward thrash similar to that of

Slayer Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style ...

and Sodom and compared Roger Martinez's vocals to those of

Martin van Drunen Martin van Drunen (born 1966) is a Dutch death metal vocalist who started out in the band Pestilence. In this band, he also performed the bass duties live. He recorded two albums with them, ''Malleus Maleficarum'' and ''Consuming Impulse''. Af ...

Track listing

#Warfare - 4:50 #Can't Get Out - 3:50 #Cut Into Pieces - 3:15 #Frontal Lobotomy - 4:05 #Herod's Violent Death - 3:07 #The Whipping Post - 8:40 #Arise - 4:50 #

(

cover) - 5:00 #Out Of The Will - 2:04 #The Wrath To Come - 2:43 #Into The Abyss - 8:18 #Among The Dead - 3:03 #Interruption - 0:50

Personnel

;Vengeance * Roger Martinez - Vocals *

Larry Farkas Larry Farkas (born May 2, 1966) is an American musician who primarily performs thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harri ...

- Lead Guitar * Doug Thieme - Rhythm Guitar * Roger Dale Martin - Bass * Glenn Mancaruso - Drums

References

External links

Once Dead
at Metal-Archives {{Authority control 1990 albums Speed metal albums Vengeance Rising albums