POSSESSED released their debut "Seven Churches" on November 4, 1985, through Combat Records, and the album is widely regarded as the first true death metal record. The Bay Area teenagers cut it in a single week, March 30 to April 5, 1985, at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati with producer Randy Burns; frontman and bassist Jeff Becerra and guitarist Larry LaLonde were just 16 and recorded on their spring break. Mike Torrao on guitar and Mike Sus on drums completed the lineup. Opener "The Exorcist" begins with Burns' own take on "Tubular Bells", and the album closes with a song simply called "Death Metal", a title often credited with naming a whole genre. That same November the band played the WWIII Weekend festival in Montreal with CELTIC FROST, DESTRUCTION, VOIVOD and NASTY SAVAGE in front of nearly 7,000 people. DEATH, MORBID ANGEL and countless others followed the path it carved.
