JUMPIN' JESUS - The Art Of Crucifying

Artist:  Jumpin’ Jesus
Album:  The Art Of Crucifying
Year:  1991
Genre:  Death Metal

THIS is the reason I still seek out and open my ears to old, unfamiliar music!  I don’t know what it is with me, but even at what now is a slightly advanced age, I continue to look for bands from the past that have never crossed my path with the hopes that I find something that knocks me for a loop.  I look at it as finding undiscovered treasure.  Jumpin’ Jesus only existed for only 2 years and released a demo and one album, so they were easy to miss.  With a relatively stupid name like Jumpin’ Jesus, there may have been a chance I would’ve skipped over them even if I was aware of their existence.  Since I’m so much more open-minded now (ha!) I was very eager to spin this record when it walked through the doors of the record store where I still put in a whole 3 hours a week.  Dumb names don’t even stop me now when an album I’ve never heard of is available to me.  I borrowed this record to take home and spin on my turntable with zero expectations.  The cover art is great.  The guys look pretty cool on the back.  It’s from a superb, relatively uncharted era of death metal.  Oof…but that name!?!  Any apprehension was put to rest within the first minute and a half of the album.  Jumpin’ Jesus is classic, early 90s death metal with a heavy concentration on instrumentation.  Depending which way your fandom sways, you’re going to think of Morbid Angel, Deicide, Immolation, Hellwitch when listening to this German wrecking crew.

This is a pretty technical album for extreme metal standards in 1991.  The playing and the avantgarde nature of the songs really make their mark.  Maybe only Atheist’s debut proceeds this record in the technical category, but the overall styles of the two bands aren’t comparable.  Death wasn’t even doing the overtly tech technical style until the Human album.  So, not only is this album a nice surprise, but it’s also rather innovative.   Jumpin’ Jesus got a whole lot right on The Art Of Crucifying.  The production is raw and unrelenting.  The vocals are very convincing and don’t just stick directly to the typical grunting so prominent in early death metal.  The playing is the right balance of musical and unrelenting brutality.  As I said, there is some flashy stuff happening mixed in with the chaos.  The songs twist in all sorts of directions that aren’t expected and there isn’t a dull moment on the record.  Except for one 7+ minute epic, they keep things shorter and to the point.  I’ll say it, I’m impressed.  Wish I would’ve discovered them years ago.

Listen to "Out Of The Unknown" here.