One of the landmark albums of the late-'80s
grindcore
uprising,
World Downfall
is nonetheless one of the least known, because the band only existed long enough to record this one
Earache
release. In fact,
Terrorizer
had already parted ways by the time of
's 1989 recording and release. The Los Angeles-based trio -- vocalist
Oscar Garcia
, guitarist
Jesse Pintado
, and drummer
Pete Sandoval
-- existed for only a short period of time, roughly from 1987 to 1988, and though they played some local shows, they were most successful on the tape-trading network so integral to the underground
metal
scene of the time. Via this tape-trading network,
Pintado
came into contact with fellow guitarist
Mitch Harris
, who passed along the
demo tape to
Earache Records
. The British label, which was ground zero for the
movement, wanted to usher
into a studio to record an album. Meanwhile,
Sandoval
had been invited to join the Florida
death metal
band
Morbid Angel
, which had been around for several years and had a strong underground following.
accepted the invitation and joined
in Tampa, where the band entered
Morrisound Studios
to record
Altars of Madness
, released by
in May 1989.
Garcia
and
in turn joined their relocated bandmate in Florida, and the reconfigured
lineup -- which now included
bassist
David Vincent
, who offered to fill in the bass duties -- rehearsed for a couple days before entering
. It took producer
Scott Burns
two days to record and mix the tracks of
, which
proceeded to release in September 1989. The album is a 16-track, 45-minute onslaught of prototypical
a la
Scum
: the free-form songs, which range from about 1:30 to 3:30 each, are filled with blastbeats, growling, and solo-free riffing. Highlights include
"After World Obliteration,"
the insane opener and longest song on the entire album, clocking in at 3:29;
"Fear of Napalm"
;
"Corporation Pull-In"
; and
"Dead Shall Rise."
Shortly after the release of
,
was invited to join the ranks of the mighty
Napalm Death
, whose guitar slot had been vacated by the departure of
Bill Steer
, who left to focus his efforts exclusively on his other band,
Carcass
.
joined
in time to re-enter
Morrisound
once again, this time to record
Harmony Corruption
(1990), while
went on to enjoy a long-lasting career with Morbid Angel.
would later sing in the revived lineup of
Nausea
. So while
was never well known, since the band barely existed, let alone toured or promoted itself,
has grown in stature over time and is regularly cited as a
classic. ~ Jason Birchmeier