| Once Dead | |
| Type: | album |
| Artist: | Vengeance Rising |
| Cover: | Vengeance Rising - Once Dead.jpg |
| Released: | 1990 |
| Recorded: | 1990 California |
| Genre: | Christian metal, thrash metal, speed metal |
| Length: | 54:35 |
| Label: | Intense Records |
| Prev Title: | Human Sacrifice |
| Prev Year: | 1988 |
| Next Title: | Destruction Comes |
| Next Year: | 1991 |
Once Dead is the second studio album by Christian death and thrash metal band Vengeance Rising, released in 1990 on Intense Records and re-released in November 2010 on Intense Millennium Records.
According to Allmusic, both the debut and Once Dead "were huge successes in the world of Christian music, making Vengeance Rising one of the few bands in the genre to cross over into the secular music scene".[1] In 2010 HM Magazine ranked Once Dead #45 on Top 100 Christian metal albums of all-time list.[2]
Musically, the album showed an influence of speed metal, with thrash arrangements on some songs, like the cover of Deep Purples' Space Truckin',[3] and "Out Of The Will", which reminded one reviewer of One Bad Pig.[4] In a Cross Rhythms review, the lyrics were called "very Bible based," containing quotes and references accompanied within the lyrics "giving enough material for weeks of Bible studies".[4] The reviewer went to state that the album "leaves most other Christian metal albums well behind in terms of imagination and sheer execution."[4] Doc Godin of Metal Storm said that while most Christian metal is rather safe and predictable, "here's something that actually kinda kicks ass, all ideologies aside."[5] They described the album's style as mostly straightforward thrash similar to that of Slayer and Sodom and compared Roger Martinez's vocals to those of Martin van Drunen.