History & Biography The deathrash metal band R.U. Dead? was active from 1989 to 1992 and again from 1994 to 1998 when the departure of the act's drummer led to a second demise. The founding members were Gero Schmitt and Uli Hildenbrand, the latter formerly of the not unskinny bopping Poison, which itself had a demo called Awakening Of The Dead. The first demo arrived in 1990 and actually featured music from Poison. The band opened for Napalm Death, Asphyx and others. 1991's Individual Horror had Poison kindly assisting with material again. Morbid Records of Berlin issued a 7" single called Hypnos in 1992. The band was negotiating with Tombstone Records of the UK for a full-length, but no agreement was reached. The band split up then when Gero Schmitt defected to Fleshcrawl. Singer Chris ''Crazy'' took off. The band, Germany-based Fleshcrawl and France-based Supuration shared a split actually. R.U. Dead's contribution was the two songs from the 7". Members were in Neither Nor and Virgin Splatters during the break-up. With Chris "Crazy" not being there, Gero Schmitt returned to the fold, but on vocals now, leading to the act getting back together in 1994. Bosnian Guitarist Almir Ibric came and went upon reformation. He had immigration problems in Germany and was later found in Vienna, Austria. New demos were 1995's Nothing Will Be Forgiven and 1996's A Thought Before The Kill.
...Completely Dead was the name for a 2002 compilation. Drummer Rüdiger Messerschmidt succumbed to post-heart surgery complication in 2013. Dead But Alive was a 2015 compilation of recycled material.
Reviews R.U.DEAD? - ...COMPLETELY DEAD. - MAJESTIC UNION
Any underground maven worth his salt knows R.U. Dead? is a dead and buried band from southern Germany which kicked around the underground for most of the nineties. The album at hand is essentially Majestic Union's tribute tothe band comprising demo, vinyl and MCD material from the act. Covering music composed over the span of a decade, ...Completely Dead is decidedly uneven. The closest comparison is probably Deceased or Terrible Certainty-era Kreator with the Germans combing a purée of death, thrash and doom into something sufficiently their own. Several very good riffs stand next to weaker moments, yet the ambience is clearly subterranean throughout. Chalk me down as an ambivalent one: metal historians and underground mavens might be interested; the average casual metal fan though can disregard. By the way, great play on words in the title!
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