Possessed were genuine death metal pioneers, taking an early Slayer influence to another level of rawness and brutality. Their Seven Churches debut features an early death metal style similar to Death's Scream Bloody Gore, another early death classic, though Possessed had formulated the style two years earlier. They managed another album and an EP, but dissolved soon afterward. Some time after their last release (somewhere around 1989), Jeff Becerra was left paralyzed in a shooting accident (this after he and Mike Torrao recorded a new demo). Torrao brought back the Possessed name once again in 1993 with a new lineup which recorded two demos before folding for good. Comparing the three releases, the first two are more death-sounding while the EP owed more to thrash (due to a cleaner production).

Since early 2007 Becerra has been gigging occasionally with several guys from the band Sadistic Intent, under the name Possessed. This doesn't appear to be an official reformation or new version of the band.