Deathrow

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Deathrow
General information
Genre (s) Thrash metal
founding 1984 (as Samhain)
resolution 1992
Founding members
Milo
Sven Flügge
guitar
 Thomas Priebe
Markus Hahn
Last occupation
Bass, vocals
 Milo
guitar
 Uwe Osterlehner
guitar
 Sven Flügge
Drums
 Markus Hahn
former members
guitar
 Thomas Priebe (until 1987)

Deathrow was a German thrash metal band. She was one of the most important representatives of the German thrash metal movement ("Teutonic Thrash") of the 1980s.

Band history

The band was founded in 1984 by Milo, Thomas Priebe, Sven Flügge and Markus Hahn in Düsseldorf under the name Samhain . The contact between the four musicians, aged between 17 and 20, came about through advertisements in various music magazines. In 1985 the quartet recorded their first demo titled The Lord of the Dead , followed in 1986 by Eternal Death , which the band recorded in a professional recording studio . Eventually, thanks to the advocacy of Mille Petrozza ( Kreator ) , they were signed to the German independent label Noise Records . The release of the debut album caused difficulties . At first the band had to rename themselves Deathrow at the insistence of the record company , because Glenn Danzig had previously founded a band called Samhain . In addition, the album by Riders of Doom had to be renamed Satan's Gift for the North American market and given a different cover because concerns about the title were registered in the USA.

Since Thrash Metal had a lot of fans in Germany at the time the debut was released , the band quickly gained a foothold in the scene and after a tour with Possessed and Voivod was able to join other bands such as Kreator , Sodom , Destruction or Tankard establish. The album received airplay on various college radios in the USA and reached top positions in various leaderboards, particularly in Eastern Europe. In 1987 the second album Raging Steel was released and a tour with Tankard followed. Then founding member Thomas Priebe left the band and was replaced by the hitherto unknown Uwe Osterlehner. This provided for the more technical and progressive orientation of the third album Deception Ignored , which was released in 1989. Although it was the band's most successful album, financial problems led to differences with Noise Records and the band did not accept the option offered to them for another album.

In the following years it was quiet about Deathrow. In June 1991 the band completed a short tour with Psychotic Waltz and Life Artist , and also performed at a festival in Spain . In 1992 Deathrow reported back with the album Life Beyond , produced by Andy Classen ( Holy Moses ). But after it came to legal disputes with the new record company West Virginia Records, Deathrow broke up.

Sven Flügge and Markus Hahn set up a recording studio with friends in 1997 , in which, in addition to pure music recordings, they also do the synchronization, animation and background noise for computer games. Singer and bassist Milo subsequently earned his living under a pseudonym with techno and advertising jingles , later he worked in the computer industry and organized concerts. Uwe Osterlehner moved back to his home town of Augsburg , set up a recording studio there and worked as a session musician at times .

Due to the great demand for the first two LPs Riders of Doom and Raging Steel , the Dutch label Displeased Records decided about 20 years after their first release in 2008 to reissue both albums on CD . As a bonus, the band's demos are included.

style

Deathrow played the very fast and straightforward Thrash Metal typical of the second half of the 1980s in Germany, which music journalists also called "Teutonic Thrash". The first album was criticized for its poor production, but even then the band was certified with a feeling for melodic guitar harmonies that other contemporary bands of the genre lacked. The successor Raging Steel had one of the best productions of the time and Rock Hard named it in the same breath as Tankard, which was already more successful at the time . This release is sometimes referred to as the band's career highlight.

With the departure of guitarist and founding member Thomas Priebe and the new guitarist Uwe Osterlehner, the band turned to more progressive elements, so that the third album Deception Ignored came up with partly overlong pieces and complex structures. Although the record was produced with a lot of pressure, the arrangements sometimes seemed “too deliberately complicated”. With their last album Life Beyond, however, the band was largely able to dispel these points of criticism .

Discography

  • Riders of Doom (1986, Noise Records )
  • Raging Steel (1987, Noise Records)
  • Deception Ignored (1988, Noise Records)
  • Life Beyond (1992, West Virginia Records)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Eduardo Rivadavia: Biography. Allmusic, accessed July 3, 2009 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e Marcus: DEATHROW (D). Carnage Webzine, accessed July 2, 2009 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Dávid László (translated by Christian Wachter): DEATHROW. Voices from the Darkside, accessed July 2, 2009 .
  4. ^ Blizzard: Deathrow (Germany) "Riders of Doom (Satan's Gift)" CD. METALGLORY Magazine, accessed July 3, 2009 .
  5. ↑ Holger Stratmann: Review of "Riders of Doom". RockHard Online, accessed July 3, 2009 .
  6. ^ Thomas Kupfer: Review of "Raging Steel". RockHard Online, accessed July 3, 2009 .
  7. ^ Blizzard: Deathrow (Germany) "Raging Steel" CD. METALGLORY Magazine, accessed July 3, 2009 .
  8. ↑ Thomas Kupfer: Review of "Deception Ignored". RockHard Online, accessed July 3, 2009 .

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