There is a fair amount of debate now with the Internet generation populating metal forums and other discussion tables around the world, as to the historical importance of the early death metal scene's practitioners. Naturally bands like Possessed instantly come into the picture, who were influential on so many who followed, not to mention they rivaled Slayer in the field of aggressive, vicious thrash metal the very same year that "Hell Awaits" dropped on shelves everywhere. Yet where the genre truly began to manifest itself was the pivotal year of 1988 and subsequently in 1989, when a whole host of bands exploded from the swollen gut of thrash metal, this foul, unholy beast being death metal as it tore its way out of the parental womb and clawing off the faces of curious listeners everywhere.