1515 - Von Satanic Blood 1992

In the early ‘90s, a band from San Francisco called Von put out a demo, "Satanic Blood". This demo had only about 100 copies made, passed among friends and those within the metal scene in the area. Von was formed in the late ‘80s by guitarist/vocalist Goat, bassist Venien, and drummer Snake. They worked on various demos that would form the template for Satanic Blood. Venien was not involved in the recording of Satanic Blood, as he had a personal matter that required a leave of absence, and Kill (aka Joe Allen, current Autopsy bassist) took his place in the recording. When Satanic Blood was released, the very essence of what constitutes "black metal" was in its infancy. Norway was becoming the go-to place for the genre, where luminaries like Immortal and Darkthrone were forging a new sound with no directions to read from or older bands to compare to. The United States had yet to throw its hat into the race, yet when Satanic Blood began to circulate in the underground metal community, it might have well been the entry point into black metal for the U.S. The guitar’s role in Von is used more to highlight the basic riff melody provided by the bass, with a more decipherable, higher pitched display – nearly qualifying as canine abuse at times. These create ominous, horrifically satanic melodies over the actual riff’s (provided by the bass guitar) minor, equally ominous presence. The tin drums then alternate between its two modes: chilled, foreboding simplicity and blaster-bating chaos. Von Venien’s vocals then bark in amateur conjunction with the drumming at a pace that would make you think they censored every second vocal track on the record. Venien’s vocals are also a lot deeper than most black metal vocalists, as he uses a more barked, demonic chant approach rather than the regular singing via screeching bouts of torment like everyone else. Von roars through the title cut, multi-tracked vocals forming a militia of demons around a band that races toward the end.