Left to Die - Initium Mortis (2026)

Unleashing a collection of early Death/Mantas tracks brought up to modern standards, today we have super group Left to Die with the full-length release “Initium Mortis”. Having seen original Death members Terry Butler and Rick Rozz, alongside Matt Harvey and Gus Rios, from Gruesome fame unleash all her with their live appearances playing Death’s seminal releases “Spiritual Healing” and “Leprosy”, this release takes the band further. If you like that old-school Death Metal vibe, this is one release you can’t miss.

Making an immediate statement with the fierce guitar work of “Legion of Doom”, brings back that old-school DM sound while infusing the Death signature to it. All the tracks in this release are from the Death/Mantas demos and rehearsals, very well put together to create a cohesive release that is not trying to top anything Death did, but rather showcase their earlier cuts. Hence why tracks like “Archangel”, “Power of Darkness”, “Zombie” and “Witch of Hell” hit hard while sounding familiar.

As you can expect, the guitar work is brilliant, showcasing craftiness and precision, particularly on pieces like “Rise of Satan”, the ferocious “Mantas”, and the piercing “Slaughterhouse”. Immediately after listening to this release we found ourselves dusting off our older Death bootleg releases. Closing with the crushing “Death By Metal”, we are left very pleased that Left to Die brought back some deep cuts of the band instead of trying to replicate via new songs, something that would try to sound like Chuck Schuldiner created them.

Rating: 95/100