{"id":1409,"date":"1986-02-01T00:00:03","date_gmt":"1986-02-01T00:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=1409"},"modified":"2012-06-10T01:01:11","modified_gmt":"2012-06-10T01:01:11","slug":"feature-possessed-mf16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-possessed-mf16\/","title":{"rendered":"POSSESSED – Maniac Possession (MF16, 1986) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

POSSESSED – Maniac Possession<\/strong><\/span><\/span>
\nDave Reynolds<\/span>
\nMetal Forces, Issue 16 (1986)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Possessed (l-r): Mike Torrao, Jeff Becerra (bottom), Mike Sus and
Larry LaLonde<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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There are many of you who just couldn\u2019t wait for the debut Possessed album, Seven Churches<\/em>, to appear in the stores. There was a buzz about this band that had filtered its way through the metal underground system, saying that San Francisco\u2019s Possessed were about to take the thrash world by storm. And when the album did make it out, via Combat in the United States and Roadrunner in Europe, then all the reports about this quartet proved to be true. Possessed instantly became the new gods of thrash, and even an old sceptic like myself was bowled over by them.<\/p>\n

It would be pointless to try hoodwinking you into believing that I\u2019ve always been a thrash fan at heart. No, my musical tastes are more in tune with the flash direction than thrash, but I am interested in thrash when it\u2019s played well, so that means I get a kick outta Metallica, Living Death, Iron Angel and a host of others. Well, Possessed are the heroes of this piece and they certainly can play thrash metal well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was Venom and Exodus who first got us into thrash metal,\u201d says Possessed guitarist Larry LaLonde. \u201cThey\u2019re the only bands for us. We\u2019re really good friends with Exodus, as you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

The quartet, completed by Jeff Becerra (vocals \/ bass), Mike Torrao (guitar) and Mike Sus (drums), first came to the attention of many people thanks to the band\u2019s contribution to the Metal Massacre VI<\/em> compilation album, with the infamous \u2018Swing The Axe\u2019. They then landed a contract with New York\u2019s Combat Records, and also a spot on the Metal Forces<\/em> compiled Speed Kills<\/em> album as a taster for the Seven Churches<\/em> album. The main thing that struck me about the album is that the band actually achieve something musically, and it\u2019s not just noise like, say, Sodom. The musicianship is a strong point in Possessed\u2019s favour. \u201cYeah, I think so too,\u201d says Larry. \u201cWe just wanted to make a record without just making pure noise and we tried to get the production (by Randy Burns) just how we wanted it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Can you fulfill the potential shown on the album in a live situation? \u201cYeah, I think we can, even if we aren\u2019t able to use our own equipment we\u2019ll still be able to get that sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there a problem getting gigs? I\u2019ve been hearing stories of thrash bands being banned from playing in clubs. \u201cNo, not really. I haven\u2019t really heard that much. Some clubs have banned shows, but those are the small clubs that don\u2019t usually deal with metal bands and can\u2019t take in the number of people that metal bands attract.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are there any plans for Possessed to tour in the near future? \u201cYeah, as soon as we can get some dates set up. We\u2019ll be just doing some small tours here and there.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about Europe? You\u2019ve obviously heard how well Exodus were received? \u201cOh yeah, it looks like we\u2019ll be over in Europe \u2013 especially Germany \u2013 in the summer. We really wanna come over there but it\u2019s difficult at the moment because me and Jeff are still at school, so we\u2019re gonna have to wait a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure once Possessed do make it over to Europe everyone is gonna go nuts over \u2019em, just like they did when Slayer<\/a> and Exodus came over last year. But does it bother the band that a lot of people who buy the record really take the Satanic imagery seriously? \u201cNot really. I don\u2019t think they take it seriously at all, they see that it\u2019s just part of the show and they all come and have a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well I hope so, but I\u2019m still not convinced, especially after reading some of the Penbanger<\/em> ads in this very magazine. I think 1986 will see a serious backlash against bands who sing about Satan, whether for real or just show. The Americans are a sensitive nation when it comes to messin\u2019 with evil, possibly all to do with their God fearing pilgrim roots. Remember when the comic book capers of Kiss first made a name for themselves? They were branded as being Knights in Satan\u2019s Service and Gene Simmons was accused of actually being the Devil incarnate. Or how about in the 60s, when John Lennon was misquoted in a magazine when talking about religion and ruined a tour of America for The Beatles? And now with the possibility of this P.M.R.C. bill coming into effect we\u2019ll have to see what happens in 1986.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Satanic imagery or not, Possessed plan on furthering their undoubted potential in 1986. \u201cI\u2019m not exactly sure as to when we\u2019ll be doing another album,\u201d says Larry. \u201cBut we should be recording an EP or something in February because we\u2019ve been working on some new songs recently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Something that should, hopefully, see the band seriously threaten the big league \u2019cos they\u2019ve got the youth on their side, and what they may lack in experience they more than compensate for in their ability to play excellent heavy metal with the required dosage of enthusiasm that only deserves to see them do well.<\/p>\n

As far as the show itself is concerned it\u2019s just a \u201cstraight ahead show, no bombs or anything\u201d, but who knows? Once they develop into an act that merits heavy financial backing then, well, they could have maybe something on the lines of Venom. The only difference being that people tend to laugh at the tongue-in-cheek element of the Cronos charade (don\u2019t get me wrong, I like Venom, being what you might call an original fan of theirs), but it\u2019ll be an entirely different story with Possessed. Wait and see.<\/p>\n

Interview taken from Metal Forces, Issue 16 (1986)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

POSSESSED – Maniac Possession Dave Reynolds Metal Forces, Issue 16 (1986) Possessed (l-r): Mike Torrao, Jeff Becerra (bottom), Mike Sus and Larry LaLonde There are many of you who just couldn\u2019t wait for the debut Possessed album, Seven Churches, to appear in the stores. There was a buzz about this band that had filtered its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-possessed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1409"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5864,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409\/revisions\/5864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}