apanthropy

Left to Die
Initium Mortis
Relapse Records
To Be Released: July 17th, 2026

Rating: 8/10

“While there have been tribute acts such as Death to All and Symbolic, and even sonically adjacent acts such as Gruesome, Left to Die most closely resembles the fury and straight-forward assault of the earliest material of Mantas/Death. These tracks, a selection of ten sonic attacks, show the foundation of what led into the meteoric Scream Blood Gore. At a total of 27 minutes, this is a compact and lethal battery in its purest form.”

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1 – Legion of Doom
2 – Archangel
3 – Power of Darkness
4 – Zombie
5 – Witch of Hell
6 – Rise of Satan
7 – Summoned to Die
8 – Mantas
9 – Slaughterhouse
10 – Death by Metal
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Out of the endless thousands upon thousands of extreme metal bands, there exists an elite cadre that requires no introduction. Out of these selected few, perhaps one of the most respected names in extreme metal is that of Death. Death eventually grew to a point where they surpassed genres and became a regular name in the heavy metal world, one that is respected across whole spectrums of music. The historic run, starting under the name of Mantas, began in 1983 and ran until 1998, an epic stretch of a decade and a half worth of untouchable heavy metal. Countless numbers of demos, rehearsal tapes, and live albums pepper the band’s discography, and the full-lengths that Death released are almost treated as something truly sacred amongst fans.

Left to Die, comprised of former Mantas/Death members Rick Rozz and Terry Butler alongside Matt Harvey and Gus Rios, have offered forth perhaps one of the most unique listens of 2026 in the form of Initium Mortis. This is not a cash-grab. This is breaking down the crypt door and resurrecting the corpse of ancient songs once drafted by Mantas/Death and paying sincere homage to what was some of the most formative material of the early extreme metal scene. With it comes the modern production, the enhanced audio presentation, and a rare light cast upon songs that would have otherwise been overlooked by most. Relapse Records is handling the release, which is set for July 17th, 2026, and the album will come in every format – multiple vinyl editions, CD, cassette, and digital/streaming.

While there have been tribute acts such as Death to All and Symbolic, and even sonically adjacent acts such as Gruesome, Left to Die most closely resembles the fury and straight-forward assault of the earliest material of Mantas/Death. These tracks, a selection of ten sonic attacks, show the foundation of what led into the meteoric Scream Blood Gore. At a total of 27 minutes, this is a compact and lethal battery in its purest form.

The album opens with ‘Legion of Doom,’ a track from the first recording session of Scream Bloody Gore, that the band was ultimately unsatisfied with. Re-recording the album elsewhere led to the final commercial release of Scream Bloody Gore that every listener has heard, however, ‘Legion of Doom’ did not end up making it to the second recording. Which is a shame, because it’s an interesting song that shows what early Death did well; combining tight aggressive rhythmic riffs with complex and intricate technical fluidity intermixed. While many of the tracks on Initium Mortis are very straight-forward in both composition and tempo, ‘Legion of Doom’ combines a variety of paces and a myriad of riff structures, ranging from simple four chord tremolo sequences to complicated leads and soloing. The track would have fit well on either Scream Bloody Gore or Leprosy, and with its renewed animation through modern tones and production, its character is immense and bright.

Switching gears is the next track, ‘Archangel,’ which appeared on live tapes going as far back as 1984, showing up on the Infernal Death demo from 1985, a formidable cut of up-tempo heavy thrash the builds into what can only be described as…well, death metal. This is, essentially, the cave drawing that helped establish the massive civilization of extreme music that exists today. Downbeats are heavily embellished, the drum work is a demonstration of technical chops, and the riff work is a grinding monstrosity that never ceases.

Towards the middle of the record sits ‘Zombie,’ a very cool instrumental track from the Mantas days that helps keep the blood of the album pumping. Ghostly clean guitars open the track for an extended period before grinding single-note tremolo takes over and ultimately sets the song into a reckless abandon of melodic phrasing and some of the fastest picking technique of this era of music, exceeding most of their contemporaries by a significant margin, a point made more interesting by the fact that Chuck Schuldiner was left-handed but played a right-handed guitar.

Another heavy hitter from the Mantas era that shows up on Initium Mortis is ‘Rise of Satan,’ a cut that would have been perfect for Scream Blood Gore as it possessed a hint of progressiveness that wouldn’t manifest until later recordings, coupled with blistering lead work over top churning Thrash-style riffing.

‘Death By Metal’ closes the record, having been the title track of the 1984 Mantas demo of the same name. This is perhaps more directly Thrash-oriented than many other cuts on the record, and some of the lead work is simply stellar. It is odd to hear such a clean and clear version of the song, considering what appeared on the 1984 demo was something that would make Slayer blush. It was ahead of its time back then, to an absurd degree. Bringing it back to life, with such crisp note articulation, really brings out the dynamics of the guitar work.

The production on Initium Mortis is modern and polished. This isn’t the analog blizzard of the early ancient days but a clean, nuclear-hot production that really emphasizes guitars, drums, and the lower end of the sonic spectrum. The mix is as solid as iron and really keeps things separate but violently locked in.

Overall, Initium Mortis can accomplish two things: it gives death metal fans something to take seriously in a scene that is grossly oversaturated and it should really encourage listeners to go back and either discover or rediscover the early demo recordings of Death and Mantas. We will never get another “Evil Chuck,” and his life ending at the young age of 34 robbed all of us of his immense talent and prospective future works, but Initium Mortis now stands as a proper retrospective of the earliest days of two founding bands that helped set the stage for some of the most crushing music in human history. This is and will be a heavily hyped record, and for good reason. Every second of this record is paying respect to the wildfire of youth and the burgeoning talents of a group of musicians that went on to create something greater and larger than themselves. At 27 minutes in length, play this one twice.

Label: Relapse Records
Band: Left to Die

AJK