Well, hard to believe but this album has not been (officially) re-issued since the Def Records version was out back in 1995.
Every time I happened to interview Peter, I tried to convince him to get this stuff re-released and every time he said no. In his view, this album was not good enough to be re-released, imagine?
However, in 2016, when working on “Heaven Bled,” Hobbs decided to re-record one song from “Inheritance” (“Final Feast”).
I must confess that it definitely hurts that such an amazing album is getting slowly forgotten.
These songs still hold up, they are lethal to the bone. Sure, “Inheritance” is not like HOBBS` self-titled debut album but hey, songs like “Skeptic,” “Depopulation,” “Tutankhamen” or “Revenge” are awesome.
Take this “Revenge,” for instance. It doesn’t start too well, but with time it definitely gains speed.
The main riff in this track kills as fuck. And other songs are equally awesome, in my opinion. Ok, sure, the debut album`s content is more “meaty,” so to say.
And “Inheritance” sounds different, that’s for certain.
But the “Inheritance” songs hold up really well.
This is definitely a very long album as it clocks in at 71 minutes but hey, you cannot get bored with it. Usually, long albums like this one are enough to be enjoyed once or twice, but this one you want to blast again and again. Peter never denied his love for SLAYER and this adoration is easily hearable on HOBBS` both albums.
When it comes to “Inheritance”, yet, here, this adoration seems less intense, if compared to HOBBS` debut album where strong influences from SLAYER/SODOM are still quite noticeable. That’s for sure. “Inheritance” seems more technically complex, maybe the snare sound is a bit too sterile, but it is still acceptable, in my opinion.
Interestingly, this album has some death metal influences too, hearable here and there, yet of course this is a thrash metal album all along.
This is not surprising since the times in which this album was created, death and thrash metal genres were already, quite naturally, mixing and merging with each other to various degrees and at different levels.
One can tell that HOBBS` music evolved considerably when compared against the debut album. Song structures are much more complex, riffs are more powerful. This stuff is indeed very dark and obscure.
And maybe that’s the reason why HOBBS ANGEL OF DEATH is so alluring?
Yes, this music is very addictive, it is hard to break its spell. “Inheritance” is an excellent listen even though this stuff was released almost 30 years ago.
And this very 30th anniversary ought to be a good reason for some label to get to re-issue it, on vinyl too, if possible.
It would of course have to require a DLP edition, due to its considerable length (71 minutes), but I am 100% sure many maniacs would be very happy to have this album in their collection.
So, summing up, you guys don’t forget about this album, “Inheritance” stands for metal music history; and albums like this one shall never be forgotten!
Necronosferatus
