Left To Die, the extreme metal supergroup celebrating the early foundations of Florida death metal, will officially release its debut full-length album, Initium Mortis, on July 17 via Relapse Records.
The lineup is a formidable assembly of genre veterans, featuring classic Death members Terry Butler (formerly of Massacre and currently in Obituary) and guitarist Frederick “Rick Rozz” DeLillo (ex-Massacre). The duo is rounded out by the founders of the acclaimed tribute act Gruesome: frontman Matt Harvey (also of Exhumed) and drummer Gus Rios (formerly of Malevolent Creation).
While Left To Die initially made their mark performing songs from Death‘s seminal 1988 album, Leprosy, and their debut LP, Scream Bloody Gore, their upcoming studio effort dives even deeper into the genre’s history. Initium Mortis pays direct homage to the brutal, foundational beginnings of Death with newly recorded versions of songs from the band’s earliest catalog. This includes rare cuts from mastermind Chuck Schuldiner‘s pre-Death band Mantas, a group that prominently featured Rick Rozz alongside vocalist and drummer Kam Lee.
Detailing the organic evolution from a touring act to a recording band, vocalist and guitarist Matt Harvey provided the following full statement regarding the album’s creation:
“After Gus and I performed [Death‘s] Spiritual Healing in its entirety with Terry and James [Murphy at a tribute show to Chuck in 2021], Rick wondered if people might want to hear something similar, but with him joining the three of us to perform Leprosy. Of course, I leapt at the chance to do it, and we quickly threw together a tour which surpassed everyone’s expectations, especially in terms of how much fun we were having playing together. As we continued to tour throughout the U.S., Europe, Latin America, Australia and Asia, people kept asking if we were going to record or write anything. After going back and forth on the topic, we felt that (ahem) exhuming some of these old tracks made the most sense for us. After all, we’re not gonna top Leprosy. I gleefully combed through the myriad Death/Mantas demos and rehearsals looking for stuff that would make sense for a record, and we ended up going with tunes that we felt would make the most cohesive album, hence why ‘Skill To Kill‘ and ‘Back From The Dead‘ sadly didn’t make the cut.”
He continued: “I look at Initium Mortis as a kind of ‘alternate-universe’ version of the Scream Bloody Gore track list, as so many of these tunes were circling around the many Death lineups and rehearsals from ’83-’87. In fact, Chuck and Chris [Reifert] recorded a version of ‘Legion Of Doom‘ for Scream Bloody Gore that never got completed. In revisiting these songs, it was crystal-clear to me that Rick‘s fingerprints are all over the Mantas stuff and tunes like ‘Slaughterhouse‘, so with that connection, the songs where his style really shone through immediately made sense to include on Initium Mortis.”
Bassist Terry Butler shared his excitement over bringing these vital, raw pieces of heavy metal history to a new generation with proper studio treatment, stating:
“Left To Die went from a thought to doing a full U.S. tour in about three months! Pretty remarkable. We wanted to play the early material for the fans that couldn’t see the first albums in a live setting. There are many young fans at our shows that are hearing the foundation that Death stands on to this day live for the first time! With Matt channeling the best Chuck Schuldiner out there and Gus playing the material perfectly and respectfully, we hit the road and haven’t looked back!”
Butler continued: “For Initium Mortis, we wanted Death fans who never heard these demo songs to hear them with good production. Most of these early demos were recorded on a boom box, so by the time someone got their demo through tape trading it was almost inaudible! We think these tracks are a good representation of the birth of Mantas/Death. This is ground zero — where it all started: three 15-year-old kids creating death metal history, and even within these choice cuts from the demo days you can hear the evolution of the music. ‘Archangel‘ is a great way to introduce this album. It’s controlled chaos at its finest: catchy and riffy with a killer evil-sounding middle section!”
Guitarist Rick Rozz, whose signature playing style permeates the record, expressed his gratitude for the project in his own statement:
“First, I would like to thank Gus, Matt and Terry for making Left To Die happen. It’s been an honor and pleasure working with them for the past few years and beyond. It’s really cool to be able to hear these tunes from 1984 properly! The old-school Death fans are going to dig this release.”
Drummer Gus Rios highlighted the surreal nature of the band’s formation and the sheer sonic impact of finally hearing these formative tracks with clear production. He stated:
“The band started simply because Rick called me and asked if I’d be into it… Which I very promptly replied by referencing bears, s**t, and woods. I then called Matt and Terry and the rest is history. Death‘s Leprosy record is my favorite death metal album, let alone Death album. To be given this unbelievable opportunity to play those songs with Rick and Terry across the globe is an honor and a blessing I find hard to put in words. Matt and I are living our 14-year-old selves’ death metal fantasy! And now to make an album with the guys is flat-out surreal.”
“I’m a pretty solid Death fan if I do say so myself, and yet these songs were all new to me. I never really gave the Mantas stuff much of a listen because I’m just not a ‘demo’ production fan. To hear these songs with clean and solid, yet classic analog style production for me is like getting new Death songs… Which rules!”
Initium Mortis serves as both a celebration of a seminal era and a testament to the enduring camaraderie within the extreme metal scene. The album will be officially released across CD, LP, cassette, and digital formats this July.
Initium Mortis tracklist:
- “Legion Of Doom“
- “Archangel“
- “Power Of Darkness“
- “Zombie“
- “Witch Of Hell“
- “Rise Of Satan“
- “Summoned To Die“
- “Mantas“
- “Slaughterhouse“
- “Death By Metal“
