Death Metal is a split album

Split album

A split album is a music album which includes tracks by two or more separate artists. There have been singles and EPs released in the same nature, which can be referred to as split singles and split EPs respectively...

 by the bands Helloween

Helloween

Helloween is a German power metal band founded in the mid 1980s by members of Iron Fist and Powerfool. The band was a pioneering force in the European Power Metal movement and their second and third studio albums, Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt...

, Hellhammer

Hellhammer

Hellhammer was an influential extreme metal band from Switzerland, active during 1982–1984. They are regarded as being one of the first extreme metal bands and are a key influence on later black metal and death metal bands.-Biography:...

, Running Wild

Running Wild (band)

Running Wild is a German heavy metal band, formed in 1976 in Hamburg. They were part of the German heavy/speed/power metal scene to emerge in the early to mid 1980s. The band has carved its niche in the metal world as the first "pirate metal" band, a theme which took off with the release of Under...

 and Dark Avenger. It contains the only recorded material of the German band Dark Avenger.

The album offers an interesting point of view of the ebullience and creativity of the Central European metal scene in the mid-80s. At that time Running Wild had yet to develop their "pirate metal" schtick and considered themselves a black metal

Black metal

Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....

 band. Helloween themselves were more of a thrashy speed metal

Speed metal

Speed metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from NWOBHM and hardcore punk roots. It is described by Allmusic as "extremely fast, abrasive, and technically demanding" music....

 act rather than the melodic power metal

Power metal

Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...

 vehicle they'll develop into. Hellhammer were the darker and heavier band of the foursome and would later be regarded as pioneers and inspirators by generations of European extreme metallers.

The Running Wild tracks were featured in the album Masquerade, the Hellhammer tracks in the album Apocalyptic Raids 1990 A.D.

Apocalyptic Raids 1990 A.D.

Tracks 05 and 06 were originally part of the now out-of-print Death Metal compilation.- Liner notes :Below are the liner notes of Apocalyptic Raids A.D., written on February 1990 by Thomas Gabriel Warrior. They're titled "The Macabre Existence Of Hellhammer".- Credits :* Tom G. Warrior – vocals,...

, and the Helloween tracks in the album Walls of Jericho

Walls of Jericho (album)

Walls of Jericho is the debut full length studio album by German power metal band Helloween, released in 1985 on LP and had an important development in the power metal giving some influences.In 1988 Walls of Jericho was released on CD...

.

Track listing

Running Wild

1. "Iron Heads" - 3:38

2. "Bones to Ashes" - 5:07

Hellhammer

3. "Revelations of Doom" - 2:46

4. "Messiah" - 4:30

Dark Avenger

5. "Black Fairies" - 3:33

6. "Lords of the Night" - 3:47

Helloween

7. "Oernst of Life" - 4:41

8. "Metal Invaders" - 4:27

Credits

Running Wild line-up:

• Rock´n´Rolf Kasparek - Vocals, Guitars
• Gerald "Preacher" Warnecke - Guitars
• Stephan Boriss - Bass
• Wolfgang "Hasche" Hagemann - Drums

Hellhammer line-up:

• Tom "Satanic Slaughter" Warrior
  Thomas Gabriel Fischer
  Thomas Gabriel Fischer , earlier known by his stage name of "Tom Gabriel Warrior", is a Swiss singer and guitarist. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of the death metal style of singing or growling. Together with Bruce Day and Steve Warrior he formed the seminal metal band Hellhammer in...
  
   - Vocals, Guitars
• Martin "Slayed Necros" Ain
  Martin Eric Ain
  Martin Eric Ain is best known for being the former left-handed bassist of the now defunct Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost. According to a recent interview, Ain is, in fact, an alias...
  
   - Bass
• Bruce "Denial Fiend" Day - Drums

Dark Avenger line-up:

• Siegfried Kohmann - Vocals
• Bernd Piontek - Guitars
• Claus Johannson - Guitars
• Uwe Neff - Bass
• Andreas Breindl - Drums

Helloween line-up:

• Kai Hansen
  Kai Hansen
  Kai Michael Hansen is a power metal guitarist and vocalist.Hansen is the founder, lead guitarist, and vocalist of power metal band Gamma Ray, and the co-founder and former member of German metal band Helloween. He is a prominent figure in power metal, and has sold millions of albums worldwide...
  
   - Vocals, Guitars
• Michael Weikath
  Michael Weikath
  Michael Ingo Joachim Weikath is the guitarist of the German Power metal band Helloween."Weiki" was born in Hamburg, Germany. He is one of the Helloween founding members, along with the musicians Kai Hansen , Markus Grosskopf and Ingo Schwichtenberg . Along with Grosskopf he is the only other...
  
   - Guitars
• Markus Grosskopf
  Markus Grosskopf
  Markus Großkopf, born 21 September 1965 in Hamburg, Germany, is the bass guitarist, and one of only two remaining original members of the German power metal band Helloween...
  
   - Bass
• Ingo Schwichtenberg
  Ingo Schwichtenberg
  Ingo Schwichtenberg was one of the founding members of German power metal band Helloween and was famous for his high-energy drumming....
  
  - Drums