You may or may not have been surprised when Seth Putnam passed away over the summer – hard living had already put him into a coma years earlier in what many thought to be a suicide attempt – but if you didn't like what he did musically you're probably gay so whatever. I don't think anyone will position The Old Testament as the final word on Putnam's legacy, however; this is a collection of early and unreleased material that has "completists only" written all over it.
A very large chunk of this material has already been collected previously on compilations such as The Early Years: 1988-1991 and Old Stuff Part Two. The majority of it (pretty much everything with the word "demo" in the title) is so lo-fi as to be completely unlistenable, a senseless barrage of noise with no real separation between instruments and vocals. Bottom line: no matter how much you love Everyone Should Be Killed I guarantee you will very rarely play any of this material. There aren't even any fun song titles, for fuck's sake.
1 out of 10
The Old Testament (1988-1991 A.C.) is out now on Relapse.
