''Slow Death'' is the debut release (7" EP) by

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

rockers

The Leather Nun The Leather Nun are a Swedish rock group. Careening from garage rock to goth and pop-rock, Leather Nun became cult heroes in their native land and wide abroad. History The Leather Nun (a.k.a. "Lädernunnan") was formed in 1978 in Gothenburg, ...

History

Singer Jonas Almquist landed a recording contract for a single with

Industrial Records Industrial Records is a record label established in 1976 by industrial music and visual arts group Throbbing Gristle. The group created the label primarily for self-releases but also signed several other groups and artists. The label gave a nam ...

. He recorded "Death Threats" at Bagger Studio engineered by Magnus Bagger on December 14, 1978. In order to record a b-side he formed The Leather Nun in Gothenburgh, Sweden, in February 1979. The band was road-tested during a festival in March 1979 and then recorded "No Rule", "Ensam I Natt" and "Slow Death" at Chall Sound Studio on May 25, 1979 engineered by Challe Åström to choose from for the b-side.

could not decide and the single ended up a 7" EP and was released in November 1979. In the same year "Slow Death" hit No. 1 in Germany's Musik Express Alternative Charts. The cover art by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson shows the killing of Roberto Crescenzio in Turin in 1977. Compared to the group's later recordings the songs are heavily industrial and abrasive. When re-released as LP in August 1986 a long live version of "Slow Death", recorded live at the Scala Cinema in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on February 29, 1980, was added as new b-side. The live version featured

Genesis P-Orridge Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (born Neil Andrew Megson; 22 February 1950 – 14 March 2020) was a singer-songwriter, musician, poet, performance artist, visual artist, and occultist who rose to notoriety as the founder of the COUM Transmissions arti ...

on violin and

Monte Cazazza Monte Cazazza is an American artist and composer best known for his seminal role in helping shape industrial music through recordings with the London-based Industrial Records in the mid-1970s. Career Cazazza, based primarily in San Francisco du ...

on synthesizer, and had been previously released on the Live at Scala cassette by

. The songs from the original EP filled now the a-side, but "Ensam I Natt" was exchanged with a different version, previously released in July 1984 on Criminal Damage Records. The cover art was changed to show a pattern of skulls resembling the shape of the African continent. The record has not been re-released as CD.

Track listing (original release)

All compositions and arrangements by The Leather Nun. #"No Rule" – 2:50 #"Death Threats" – 3:38 #"Slow Death" – 5:33 #"Ensam I Natt" – 0:13

Track listing (re-release)

All compositions and arrangements by The Leather Nun. #"No Rule" #"Slow Death" #"Ensam I Natt" full version #"Death Threats" #"Slow Death" (Live) with

on synthesizer,

on violin

Personnel

* Jonas Almquist:

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 ...

* Bengt Aronsson:

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s * Gert Claesson:

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s *

Freddie Wadling Berndt Arvid Freddie Wadling (2 August 1951 – 2 June 2016) was a Swedish singer born in Gothenburg, whose over-thirty-year musical career extended from punk to classical ballads. Band member Wadling played bass in a number of bands during ...

: bass

References

7" vinyl entry at discogs.com12" vinyl entry at discogs.comBlog entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slow Death Ep 1979 EPs Leather Nun albums