Formed in Turnersville, New Jersey, during 1985, Deadly Blessing merged speed and power metal touches—evoking Omen colliding with Exciter—into a generic 1980s metal attack that left the band stuck in underground obscurity. A self-financed EP issued in 1987, later known interchangeably as Salem's Lot or under the group's own name, earned them a contract with leading independent New Renaissance Records, which released their sole full-length album, the evocatively titled Ascend from the Cauldron, the next year. The recording lineup of vocalist Ski, guitarists Tony Kerr and Tom Bach, bassist Nick Mitchell, and drummer Wayne Kellie had already begun to fracture, so a reconfigured Deadly Blessing issued only one further recording, the 1990 demo Psycho Drama, before fading away completely. Bassist Mitchell proved the exception, briefly joining German metal siren Doro for her 1998 LP Love Me in Black.
