sentences: "Seven Churches" has been interchangeably described as "connecting the dots between thrash metal and death metal", being "monumental" in developing the death metal style, and as being the "first death metal album", the latter attributed to interviews with (or literature by) musicians including Kam Lee (ex-Mantas/Death, ex-Massacre), the late Ronnie James Dio (ex-Dio, ex-Black Sabbath) and Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Opeth).Former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris said his introduction to metal was Possessed's "Seven Churches" album, a personal recommendation to him by then-guitarist Justin Broadrick.