Goreaphobia, formed in 1988, is the first death metal

Death metal

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....

 band from Philadelphia and one of the first to emerge from the east coast scene. They never released a full length record until after breaking up and reforming, only a demo cassette

Compact Cassette

The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...

 and 2 7" EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

's. Due to this fact, and their influence on later bands, Goreaphobia has reached a cult status in the underground, with demand for their merchandise still very high. The band played many shows in the early 1990s, and toured with Immolation

Immolation (band)

-History:The band formed in May 1986 by Andrew Sakowicz and Dave Wilkinson under the name Rigor Mortis . The name was changed to Immolation in April 1988, after the Warriors of Doom demo which was recorded as Rigor Mortis and Demo I which was recorded as Immolation...

 on their 1992 "tour of possession".

After Goreaphobia's breakup, drummer Craig Smilowski joined Immolation, and Chris Gamble went on to form Blood Storm. Guitarist Alex Bouks joined Incantation

Incantation (band)

Incantation is an American death metal band that was formed by John McEntee and Paul Ledney in 1989. They are one of the leaders in the New York Death Metal scene along with fellow bands Suffocation and Immolation, even though the band is currently located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.The band has...

.

The band re-united after 15 years of separation in 2007. After reforming they released their debut release "Mortal Repulsion" in 2009.

Members

• Chris Gamble - Bass / Vocals (Blood Storm,Absu)
• Alex Bouks - Guitar (Incantation,Master)
• Jim Roe - Drums(Incantation
  Incantation (band)
  Incantation is an American death metal band that was formed by John McEntee and Paul Ledney in 1989. They are one of the leaders in the New York Death Metal scene along with fellow bands Suffocation and Immolation, even though the band is currently located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.The band has...
  
  )

Former members

Drums:

• Craig Smilowski RELLIK(www.rellik.us),(Immolation
  Immolation (band)
  -History:The band formed in May 1986 by Andrew Sakowicz and Dave Wilkinson under the name Rigor Mortis . The name was changed to Immolation in April 1988, after the Warriors of Doom demo which was recorded as Rigor Mortis and Demo I which was recorded as Immolation...
  
  ),
• "Big" Mike
• Ken Masteller

Vocals:

• Kevin Brennan
• Jack Gannon
• Craig Pillard (Incantation
  Incantation (band)
  Incantation is an American death metal band that was formed by John McEntee and Paul Ledney in 1989. They are one of the leaders in the New York Death Metal scene along with fellow bands Suffocation and Immolation, even though the band is currently located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.The band has...
  
  )

Bass:

• Jay Lawrence
• Gary Gahndi
• Julian Lawrence

Guitar:

• Henry Piotrowski
• John Litchko
• John Arcucci
• Spencer Murphy
• John McEntee - Guitar (Incantation
  Incantation (band)
  Incantation is an American death metal band that was formed by John McEntee and Paul Ledney in 1989. They are one of the leaders in the New York Death Metal scene along with fellow bands Suffocation and Immolation, even though the band is currently located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.The band has...
  
  )

Releases

• Morbidious Pathology (1990) (demo tape - self released)
• Morbidious Pathology (1990) (7" EP on Seraphic Decay Records)
• Omen of Masochism (1992) (7" EP on Relapse Records)
• Vile Beast of Abomination (2006) (Necroharmonic)
• Mortal Repulsion (2009) (Ibex Moon)
• Apocalyptic Necromancy (2011)