While thrash and death metal from California, Florida and New York were pushing the boundaries of extremity in metal, in Kansas City, Missouri three kids were kicking up their own storm and created an album that would influence a new generation of underground game-changers. In the first of our series that looks back at the legacy of albums that changed the face of extreme metal JOHN MINCEMOYER returns to the birth of ‘STILLBIRTH MACHINE’ by ORDER FROM CHAOS.

Stories concerning the early days of the American extreme music scene generally revolve around the then exhilarating sounds originating from the respective coasts. Initially, the West Coast’s speed metal and thrash movement, centring upon the Bay Area, created waves only to be consumed by the uncompromising death metal being churned out on the East Coast.

The United States is a big county. It is roughly 2,900 miles from Tampa, Florida to San Francisco, California and 3,000 miles from New York City to San Francisco (as a counterpoint, it is only 250 miles from Stockholm to Gothenburg, Sweden). Yes, other scenes existed in the US, Texas and the upper Midwest being prime examples, but considering the sheer concentration of bands (and labels) that called the … Read More