Death SS

DEATH SS成里于1977年,是意大利,乃至欧洲最早的重金属乐队之一.主唱Steve Sylvester(SS)是乐队的灵魂Y音乐题材是HORROR METAL(可能是最早玩这种风格的乐队了) 这是支被人忽视的乐队，80年代初便在不列颠新金属浪潮中出世，是意大利最早一批搞金属的乐队之一，至今仍然活跃在金属乐坛，就在2004年还在意大利开了巡回演唱会。尽管在中国Death SS鲜为人知，但在欧洲却被公认为是意大利重金属乐教父，乐队出道早，但意识观念确是超前的，团员皆做僵尸，木乃伊，兽人或恶魔的装扮来呈现黑暗恐怖气氛，甚至连黑金钟惯用的符号象征都被采用，这对后来欧洲的黑死极端金属文化的发展无疑有巨大的榜样和启示的作用。不过其实乐队早期的音乐出了唱腔略狠以外，黑金的音乐成分很少，完全是传统老金属的风格，和当时的Saxon,Diamonds Head听上去很是相似，到了80年代中后期乐队在传统老金属的风格上向Speed和Power的方向发展，是欧洲最早的尝试speed和Power乐风的金属乐队之一，这无疑又走在了欧洲金属发展轨迹的最前沿，对其他的乐队齐了无尽的引路作用，后来的事实证明Death SS的示范作用是多么的重要。到了90年代初在世界上激流金属遍地开花之前页，乐队居然以更加猛烈的乐风玩起了Thrash,又稍稍领先了时代潮流一步，一直到1997 年的 Do What Thou Wilt还保留了明显的激流金属痕迹，也正是从这张专辑开始，到2000年前后，乐队又尝试着改变风格，玩起了工业和电子金属，甚至都能听出Nu- Metal的蛛丝马迹。当然其实Death SS的音乐一直很复杂，从原声吉他曲，男女声对唱，到恐怖电影配乐，甚至前卫的成分，他们都一直在或多或少的在作品里染指过，我实在是惊讶于乐队无穷的追新求异的能力和开拓创新精神，这样的乐队足以堪称金属界的变色龙David Bowie,对他们表示敬意。
by Eduardo Rivadavia
Ever since their inception in the late 1970's, Italy's Death SS (i.e. "Death of Steve Sylvester") have been synonymous with the sub-genre known as horror metal -- a concept they helped pioneer and have since explored to greater lengths than arguably any other band on this, or any other world. Simply put, if the work of B-movie directing legend Roger Corman has a direct parallel in music, then Death SS is it.
Founded by the enigmatic Sylvester (a.k.a. "The Vampire"), reputedly as far back as 1977, Death SS toiled in total obscurity until 1981, when their evocatively-titled Horned God of the Witches demo began doing the rounds within the heavy metal tape-trading underworld. At this time also comprising guitarists Paul 'Death' Chain (a.k.a. Paolo Catena) and Claud 'Zombie' Galley, bassist Danny 'Mummy' Hughes and drummer Thomas 'Werewolf' Chaste (all of them naturally costumed according to their nicknames), the group eventually started landing tracks in compilation albums, and then self-released a number of E.P.s bearing colorful titles like Zombie/Terror, The Night of the Witch/Black Mummy and Profanation/Spiritualistic Séance. Marked by minimal recording fidelity but rich in sound effects and other theatrical accoutrements (all of them also crucial elements of the band's concerts, of course), these were later compiled into 1987's The Story of Death SS 1977-1984, which wiped the slate clean and permitted the now completely revamped line-up of Sylvester, guitarists Christian Wise and Kurt Templar, bassist Erik Landley and drummer Boris Hunter, to inaugurate their international career proper with the following year's In Death of Steve Sylvester. Since then, Death SS has recorded regularly, persevering in the underground and never losing sight of their horror metal vision, no matter how many musicians have sifted through their ranks. Needless to say, this is all due to Sylvester's single-minded devotion to his subject matter, a devotion which has earned this Mediterranean King Diamond a demi-legend all his own.