‘Vengeance Rising’ – “Released Upon The Earth” (Remastered & Expanded, 2 CD)

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VR_20Released_202014_originalFew bands have the pleasure that they can say they have 4 killer CDs in their discography that are equally different. Certainly Vengeance Rising is one of these fortunate bands.

“Release Upon The Earth” is seen as the “ugly duckling” of VR discography by many of their fans and as a resulte, it’s barely mentioned in conversations about the band and, frankly, I don’t understand all this “prejudgement”. When talking about the contributions of Roger Martinez, although the other musicians are mentioned in the technical record, he was the composer of lyrics and music, as well as the lead & rhythm guitars and bass guitar. Really busy guy, isn’t he? haha

The album starts with an almost instrumental track of six frightening, disturbing minutes that serve as a prelude of the thrashing ‘The Damnation Of Judas And The Salvation Of The Thief’, which reminds a bit of the previous album “Destruction Comes,” but it is both unusual, yet well fit with an acoustic guitar arrangements in the chorus.The self-titled track shows us a “new Vengeance Rising”, because, like the rest of the album, it’s essentially Death Metal, so that most of Roger Martinez vocalizations follow a more “guttural” path, different from the thrashier approach of the previous albums. General highlights are ‘The Damnation Of Judas And The Salvation Of The Thief’, ‘Release Upon The Earth’, ‘Bishop Of Souls’, and ‘You Will Be Hated’.

The version I have in my hands is the Remastered & Expanded one, released in 2014 by the American label Roxx Records. The audio was reworked by Ysidro Garcia and he gave a cool upgrade in its sound. However, the crown jewel of this release is the bonus CD that went out in the Limited Edition. An entire concert recorded in March 12th, 1992, wherein the band shows all their fury on stage. With some luck, you can find one of this around.

Renegade by most and loved by few, yet a killer album like every work of VR: this is “Release Upon The Earth”.

Rating: 8/10

Written by Márllon Matos
Translation by Carol Mariana

Tracklist:
1 Help Me
2 The Damnation Of Judas And The Salvation Of The Thief
3 Released Upon The Earth
4 Human Dark Potential
5 Instruments Of Death
6 Lest You Be Judged
7 Out Of Bounds
8 Bishop Of Souls
9 Tion
10 You Will Be Hated
11 Interview 1992 (Daniel & Johnny)
12 Interview 1992 (George Ochoa)

Albums:
“Human Sacrifice” (1988)
“Once Dead” (1989)
“Destruction Comes” (1991)
“Released upon the Earth” (1992)
“Anthology” (1993)
“Human Sacrifice” 25th Anniversary Edition (2013) [Review]

Record Label: Roxx Productions,2014

Video below: ‘Help Me’

Video below: In the Studio 1992

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