Scream Bloody Gore

Scream Bloody Gore is the debut album from the band Death. The album discusses a lot of politics around the time and would be considered very radical while their later releases went more into other political ideas. The album is considered “the first death metal record” while there were very similar sounding records to come before it, just not as defined as this record. Now there have been past records from other notable bands that had a similar sound but Death pioneered the death metal scene. Design wise, it is very underground for their time. The demonic themes of the album cover and the logo itself with an upside down cross was considered underground and looked down upon. But that was the point. Death created the album and cover art for the purpose of shock factor. Nowadays we see it and it is tame compared to what other bands and subculture movements have done but at the time Death’s “Scream Bloody Gore” record art was underground. Also the record inspired a whole wave of death metal album art. Bands such as Morbid Angel, Obituary, and Blood Incantation were not only inspired by the sound that Death helped pioneer, but also the design choices in their visual media such as posters, flyers, tapes, and merchandise. Nowadays little has changed with a lot of death metal art. There are different styles that bands incorporate with either gory scenes or haunting images but it is clear that Scream Bloody Gore helped inspire them and the thousands of other records to follow later. Even if you aren’t a fan of the design and visual representations and depictions, it is clear that Scream Bloody Gore did not only contribute to the death metal sound, but also the visual language that death metal is known for.