Terry Butler Archives - Thrash Metal IQ

Leprosy is the second studio album by Tampa’s Death, released on August 12, 1988 on Combat Records. It is best known for the track “Pull the Plug“, which is about as close to a hit song as a band like death can get. Leprosy was much more progressive than the “Scream Bloody Gore” album. Much of this can be assigned to the engineering work of Scott Burns, who was the go-to thrash metal producer of the time.

The Many Early Death Line-Ups

The only constant thing about Death is a continually changing lineup. Each album has almost an entirely different group of players on it outside of founder Chuck Schuldiner. This album “featured” Terry Butler, who now plays bass, and Obituary but froze up in the studio actually didn’t play on the album. Chuck Schuldiner recorded his bass parts.

Many critics and fans alike consider Leprosy to be Death’s best album. Metal radio stations and even MTV played the song “Pull the Plug” relatively frequently (at least as extreme music goes). By the time the subsequent album “Spiritual Healing” was released, almost the entire band was replaced with a new group of players outside of Chuck Schuldiner,

LeporasyTracklist

“Leprosy” 6:19
“Born Dead” 3:25
“Forgotten Past” 4:33
“Left to Die” 4:35
“Pull the Plug” 4:25
“Open Casket” 4:53
“Primitive Ways” 4:33
“Choke on It” 5:54

Death leprosy line-up:

Chuck Schuldiner – guitar, bass, vocals
Rick Rozz – guitar
Bill Andrews – drums
Terry Butler – credited with bass but did not actually play on the album

Why Slowly We Rot Is Metal That Rips Your Head Off

“Slowly We Rot” by the Tampa, Florida band Obituary is the heaviest album of all time. That isn’t just my opinion. That is a fact. What makes the album even more intense is the band does not rely on “down tuning.” The play in E 440 concert pitch, but it sure doesn’t sound like it!

Rhythm guitar player, Trevor Perez, is known for omitting most of the high-end on his guitar by turning the tone knob all the way down. Trevor also plays a Fender Stratocaster with a maple neck, which is far from a typical death metal guitar. The rest of the patented Obituary sound comes courtesy of a RAT pedal and a vintage Marchall JCM 800. This leads to his signature guitar sound, which is often imitated but never duplicated. However, it’s worth noting Trevor’s tone is reminiscent of Tom G Warrior and Celtic Frost in some ways.

The band released a series of highly influential death metal albums through the 90s before disbanding from 1998-2005.

Listen To Slowly We Rot On Youtube

The guys in the band were barely eighteen when the album was produced for a budget of $4000! It’s hard to believe that such an epic slab of metal that stands the test of time could’ve been produced in 1989 under the circumstances! In April 2013, Obituary started recording thier their ninth studio collection “Inked in Blood” before bassist Frank Watkins died from cancer on October 18, 2015. They released self tited 2017 and have a new album “Dying Of Everything” slated for release in January 2022.