Messiah's third album "Choir of Horrors" from 1991, released on the legendary Noise Records label, represented a quantum leap for the band after the two predecessors "Hymn to Abramelin" and "Extremely cold weather" and also can be considered as a milestone in extreme music in general. The album, which features a cover artwork that is as atmospheric as it is terrifying, starts with monk chants before the death/thrash sounds kick in. Singer Andy Kaina, who sadly passed away last year, impresses with aggressive yet accentuated and intelligible vocals, while the band varies well between different tempos, especially the dragged out parts work well.
All in all, "Choir of horrors" is an almost perfect blend of straightforward death metal and riff-orientated thrash metal parts, which doesn't stay away from incorporating the occasional tricky part, but is of course miles away from any kind of beeing too technical. All that remains for me to say is that Messiah had a clearer orientation towards death metal in the midst of bands that were also active in the death/thrash segment at that time, such as the Americans from Demolition Hammer, Sadus or Solstice. By the way, the song "Weena" features Mille and Ventor from Kreator with some guest screams at the end of this track. If you want to know what Legion of the Damned would possibly sound like if you put them in a time capsule and transported them back a few decades, you should definitely listen to "Choir of Horrors". It only remains to mention that Messiah will unleash a new album on humanity in March 2024, I´m excited.