FRIGHTMARE formed in 2002 and hailed from the then-hot Portland, Oregon death/grind scene, alongside such contemporaries as Engorged, Lord Gore, Splatterhouse, and Blood Freak. Along with sharing members with the first three named at various points, FRIGHTMARE were among the pivotal bands who defined the late/great Razorback Recordings during the label’s early glory years. Most of all, FRIGHTMARE helped bring back the FUN in gory, grinding death metal with their two full-lengths. Released in 2003, Midnight Murder Mania was FRIGHTMARE’s momentous debut album. While the rest of the larger death metal scene was about to begin picking the corpse of Swedeath, the then-quintet picked up the Exhumed torch and spun various variations on Carcass’ early/BEST era of their first two albums – but, most crucially, added a fun & freewheeling aura drawn from ‘80s horror VHS tapes. Gory and grinding, to be sure, FRIGHTMARE’s attack never sought to reinvent the wheel; rather, they honored the past with a reverential, passionate recasting of Reek of Putrefaction and Symphonies of Sickness, and did so with crunching, all-analog aplomb. No triggers, no pose, no canoes!