Betrayel - Death Shall Overcome

2018 collection from the thrash metal band. Finally, almost three decades after the fact, Divebomb Records is proud to grant Betrayel's recordings a long overdue discography collection: Death Shall Overcome. The 20-song CD includes tracks from the Helpless Souls and Death Shall Overcome demos, the Raging Death and Metal Massacre Ten compilations, plus eight previously unreleased live cuts recorded in 1988. Fully remastered by Jamie King at The Basement Recording, the disc is housed alongside an extensive booklet loaded with archival photos/flyers and a retrospective interview with the band. Betrayel formed in Fresno, CA in 1985 with Chris Campise on bass/vocals, guitarists James Carter and James Johnson, and Arlie Patton on drums. Influenced by the burgeoning sounds of Metallica, Exodus, and Slayer, Betrayel quickly announced their primal thrash metal fury by opening their debut demo-1986's Helpless Souls-with a bold mission statement: "Attention posers: prepare to die!" The following year found the group appearing on Godly Records' Raging Death compilation alongside early incarnations of future greats Atheist (as R.A.V.A.G.E.) and Obituary (as Xecutioner), before work ensued on a second demo: Death Shall Overcome. Betrayel then secured it's highest-profile appearance to date in 1990 with the opening track on Metal Blade's Metal Massacre Ten compilation, all the while respectfully maintaining their singular focus on intense, raging thrash. Even early on, Betrayel had opened for names such as Anthrax, Death Angel, Overkill, etc.; and would go on to share the stage with a huge number of impressive acts such as Autopsy, Dark Angel, Kreator, Lääz Rockit, and Voivod. Having amassed an impressive cache of songs that had yet to be recorded, the band was prepping to sign with Mechanic Records, before management issues saw Betrayel passed over for Vio-Lence instead. By the end of 1990, Betrayel was finished.