Death

[Thrashman]

THink this would be the order I'd rank the albums in:

Scream Bloody Gore

Symbolic

The Sound Of Perseverance

Individual Thought Patterns

Leprosy

Spiritual Healing

Human

[BlutAusNerd]

THink this would be the order I'd rank the albums in:

Scream Bloody Gore

Symbolic

The Sound Of Perseverance

Individual Thought Patterns

Leprosy

Spiritual Healing

Human

Human at the bottom?

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[FatherAlabaster]

Death is one of those bands whose catalog I'm always rotating through. SOP is Chuck's most impactful vocal performance IMO, and I love the riffs. My favorite period in general is the prog-inflected material from Human and after, and I've often felt that Human is my least favorite of those. And yet here I am, waking up with riffs from Spiritual Healing stuck in my head. I am surprised that Thrashman would rank some of those more thrashy albums lower, though.

[Thrashman]

You hit the nail on the head there - Death are one of the few bands where my taste seems to be forever evolving. even though he died 15 years ago! Guess it does make sense though, given that Death are something of an acquired taste. I never used to like The Sound Of Perseverance much, for example, but now I listen to it a lot. I based my list on the number of tracks I really like on each album, at the moment - from SBG which I enjoy from beginning to end (loving the recent remaster btw), to Human which is the only album I'm yet to really like at all. But that probably has as much to do with the fact it's the only album I don't own as anything else

[FatherAlabaster]

Human should appeal to you more if you give it some time. I've gone through periods of not liking the songwriting, and feeling like it sort of dragged compared to the others, but that hasn't been the case for me recently. And the drums are phenomenal, most of the drummers I know still regard it as a milestone for metal drumming.

[Thrashman]

Will have to revisit it...

[Thrashman]

Proving FatherAlabaster's earlier point, Leprosy has now climbed up my list:

Scream Bloody Gore
Symbolic
Leprosy
The Sound Of Perseverance
Individual Thought Patterns
Spiritual Healing
Human

Picked up the remastered reissue CD, and now like it from beginning to end.

[Requiem]

On 28/07/2016 at 1:01 AM, MacabreEternal said:

Still don't own a Death album.

Me neither.

Some of you might think this sounds unsurprising considering my musical tastes, but for some reason Death seems to be one of the only frontline death metal bands that I don't own at least one album of. Morbid Angel, Carcass, Cannibal Corpse, Entombed, Dismember, Deicide, Obituary, Nile? All present and correct. So where the hell is my Death album(s)?

I really can't explain it either because I absolutely love 'Symbolic', a hell of a lot more than most of the bands listed above, and I enjoy every other Death album to some degree. The irony of my Deathless collection is that I consider Death to be one of the easiest death metal bands to listen to and I generally feel good about them as a band. 

[deathstorm]

I actually own two death albums lerposy three disc reissue from relapse records  and  symbolic reisssue from roadrunner records

[BlutAusNerd]

On 28/07/2016 at 1:01 AM, MacabreEternal said: Still don't own a Death album.

Me neither.

Some of you might think this sounds unsurprising considering my musical tastes, but for some reason Death seems to be one of the only frontline death metal bands that I don't own at least one album of. Morbid Angel, Carcass, Cannibal Corpse, Entombed, Dismember, Deicide, Obituary, Nile? All present and correct. So where the hell is my Death album(s)?

I really can't explain it either because I absolutely love 'Symbolic', a hell of a lot more than most of the bands listed above, and I enjoy every other Death album to some degree. The irony of my Deathless collection is that I consider Death to be one of the easiest death metal bands to listen to and I generally feel good about them as a band. 

 

That is strange, since they're basically THE ubiquitous death metal band. Even fans from outside of death metal love them, especially thrashers clinging to Scream Bloody Gore and power/prog fans geeking out over Symbolic and The Sound of Perseverance. You could just replace your Cannibal Corpse albums with Death albums, your collection would be better for it... ?

 

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[FatherAlabaster]

26 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said:

You could just replace your Morbid Angel, Carcass, Dismember, Entombed, and Nile albums with Death albums, your collection would be better for it... ?

I've offered some suggestions here to improve your mostly accurate post.

[BlutAusNerd]

26 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said: You could just replace your Morbid Angel, Carcass, Dismember, Entombed, and Nile albums with Death albums, your collection would be better for it... ?

I've offered some suggestions here to improve your mostly accurate post. [emoji3]

 

You added all of these but left out Deicide? Nile, perhaps, but for the others, it depends on the album.

 

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[FatherAlabaster]

Just now, BlutAusNerd said:

 

You added all of these but left out Deicide? Nile, perhaps, but for the others, it depends on the album.

 

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First three Deicide albums are still pretty much tits IMO. Especially Legion, still an all time favorite. I just lost my taste for most of that other stuff. I'm not even going to say there's anything objectively bad about (most of) it, but whatever it is that flips a switch for me and makes me come around to enjoying an album, the opposite happened for Carcass, Dismember, and Entombed. I used to love them. And Morbid Angel remains a tough listen for me, but that reminds me to do my seven-day listening challenge with Covenant.

[Thrashman]

1 hour ago, FatherAlabaster said:

First three Deicide albums are still pretty much tits IMO. Especially Legion, still an all time favorite. I just lost my taste for most of that other stuff. I'm not even going to say there's anything objectively bad about (most of) it, but whatever it is that flips a switch for me and makes me come around to enjoying an album, the opposite happened for Carcass, Dismember, and Entombed. I used to love them. And Morbid Angel remains a tough listen for me, but that reminds me to do my seven-day listening challenge with Covenant.

Dismember have never appealed to me that much.

And while I like a few of their tracks a lot, and they are/were a killer live band, nor have Morbid Angel.

Left Hand Path is a classic, but don't really like anything else Entombed have done.

And while I did go through a Deicide phase as a kid, I don't listen to them anymore.

Which just leaves Carcass... who I've always liked. Can't say I've been listening to them much lately, but I did play my Surgical Steel CD to death over the course of the year or so after it came out.

Anyway, back to the original subject - Death is the greatest. I'd say they're an acquired taste though, and hype can sometimes muddy the water. It's certainly deserved hype though - can't think of many other albums that can still unfold to you in whole new ways after countless listens... I couldn't stand TSOP for the longest time, now I like it a lot. And I didn't really rate Leprosy that highly until recently, now I bloody love it. Still a few of the albums that I know I'm yet to fully appreciate. Don't recall Symbolic taking more than a few listens to love though. And Scream Bloody Gore hit me pretty hard first listen.

[BlutAusNerd]

Just now, BlutAusNerd said:  

You added all of these but left out Deicide? Nile, perhaps, but for the others, it depends on the album.

 

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First three Deicide albums are still pretty much tits IMO. Especially Legion, still an all time favorite. I just lost my taste for most of that other stuff. I'm not even going to say there's anything objectively bad about (most of) it, but whatever it is that flips a switch for me and makes me come around to enjoying an album, the opposite happened for Carcass, Dismember, and Entombed. I used to love them. And Morbid Angel remains a tough listen for me, but that reminds me to do my seven-day listening challenge with Covenant.

 

You have my agreement on Deicide on Legion, but Once Upon the Cross is pretty vanilla. They lost a lot of that edge and vigor from their first two albums there and just made a by-the-numbers Floridian death metal album with that one. I love those first two Deicide albums, but not as much as Death, whereas the best albums from the other bands (aside from Nile, as I mentioned) can contend with or outdo the best of Death for me.

 

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[Ecthelion]

On 9/10/2016 at 4:51 AM, FatherAlabaster said:

Human should appeal to you more if you give it some time. I've gone through periods of not liking the songwriting, and feeling like it sort of dragged compared to the others, but that hasn't been the case for me recently. And the drums are phenomenal, most of the drummers I know still regard it as a milestone for metal drumming.

That's always been my opinion of The Sound of Perseverance than any other album in Death's discography.

1 hour ago, Thrashman said:

Left Hand Path is a classic, but don't really like anything else Entombed have done.

I like Clandestine as well but Entombed have never done much for me either. 

1 hour ago, Thrashman said:

Which just leaves Carcass... who I've always liked. Can't say I've been listening to them much lately, but I did play my Surgical Steel CD to death over the course of the year or so after it came out.

In my opinion, Carcass have always belonged to my own personal triumvirate of disappointment where a renowned melodic death metal band releases some of the most forward-thinking and well-conceived work of their careers that goes on to define the genre along with At the Gates and In Flames, only to go on to create work that generates a ton of mainstream success but proves to sound utterly pedestrian when compared to their previous work.

[FatherAlabaster]

6 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said:

 

You have my agreement on Deicide on Legion, but Once Upon the Cross is pretty vanilla. They lost a lot of that edge and vigor from their first two albums there and just made a by-the-numbers Floridian death metal album with that one. I love those first two Deicide albums, but not as much as Death, whereas the best albums from the other bands (aside from Nile, as I mentioned) can contend with or outdo the best of Death for me.

 

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I know what you mean about Once Upon The Cross, and objectively I agree - it marked a shift to more accessible songwriting and the beginning of a downturn that I don't think they ever quite recovered from. It's got a significant nostalgic appeal for me, so I still enjoy it a ton on the rare occasions I listen to it. I also think it's Benton's best vocal recording. I'm surprised that you'd rate the Swedeath stuff that highly. Personally, I'd take any of Death's last five albums over anything either of those bands produced. As much as I love early Grave, I'd even say the best Death beats them out. Different strokes and all that.

[BlutAusNerd]

6 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said:  

You have my agreement on Deicide on Legion, but Once Upon the Cross is pretty vanilla. They lost a lot of that edge and vigor from their first two albums there and just made a by-the-numbers Floridian death metal album with that one. I love those first two Deicide albums, but not as much as Death, whereas the best albums from the other bands (aside from Nile, as I mentioned) can contend with or outdo the best of Death for me.

 

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I know what you mean about Once Upon The Cross, and objectively I agree - it marked a shift to more accessible songwriting and the beginning of a downturn that I don't think they ever quite recovered from. It's got a significant nostalgic appeal for me, so I still enjoy it a ton on the rare occasions I listen to it. I also think it's Benton's best vocal recording. I'm surprised that you'd rate the Swedeath stuff that highly. Personally, I'd take any of Death's last five albums over anything either of those bands produced. As much as I love early Grave, I'd even say the best Death beats them out. Different strokes and all that.

 

The nostalgia appeal makes sense. It makes us hard to be objective when we have memories tied to it from an earlier time, but you see what I mean. I have albums that hold the same appeal for me too, even though I know that they're objectively weak or weaker than what I would find acceptable if I was hearing it for the first time now. You're surprised about the Swedeath? Like An Everflowing Stream and Indecent and Obscene are masterpieces IMO, some of the best of the Swedish scene, and Left Hand Path has grown on me to nearly the same status. Human is a worthy contender for those albums, and maybe Individual Thought Patterns and Symbolic, but the other Death albums are pretty easily crushed by these elite Swedish albums IMO.

 

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[FatherAlabaster]

19 minutes ago, Ecthelion said:

That's always been my opinion of The Sound of Perseverance than any other album in Death's discography.

I like Clandestine as well but Entombed have never done much for me either. 

In my opinion, Carcass have always belonged to my own personal triumvirate of disappointment where a renowned melodic death metal band releases some of the most forward-thinking and well-conceived work of their careers that goes on to define the genre along with At the Gates and In Flames, only to go on to create work that generates a ton of mainstream success but proves to sound utterly pedestrian when compared to their previous work.

Regarding TSOP, I can totally understand that based on the song structures, but I've never felt that way when I listen to it. That one spends a lot of time at the top of my list. Chuck's scream is so pained on that album - it's my favorite performance of his.

I can tolerate Left Hand Path on occasion, but the vocals on Clandestine annoy the shit out of me.

I agree about Carcass, and I hate to say it but my growing distaste for Heartwork also ruined my appreciation for Necroticism. The songwriting sounds haphazard and the leads just get on my nerves. I love Jeff's voice, and some of the catchy parts still get me nodding along, but I don't really dig on it as a whole. I think that's a shame, because I used to love that album.

[Requiem]

4 hours ago, BlutAusNerd said:

 

That is strange, since they're basically THE ubiquitous death metal band. Even fans from outside of death metal love them, especially thrashers clinging to Scream Bloody Gore and power/prog fans geeking out over Symbolic and The Sound of Perseverance. You could just replace your Cannibal Corpse albums with Death albums, your collection would be better for it... ?

 

I agree with you 100% regarding the Cannibal Corpse comment. I'd rather have 'Symbolic' in my collection than nearly any of those bands that I named. Just a great album. But yeah, I could take any Death album over any Cannibal Corpse album, even Death's very proggy material which wouldn't be my first choice from them. 

No one's really rating Nile around here, and I accept this because they have a lot of albums out that really go nowhere and feel bogged down, but I really love a couple of those Egyptian themed albums. Chuck a theme on an album and I'm in, basically. 

I really like Dismember a lot, especially 'Like an Ever Flowing Stream' and 'Massive Killing Capacity', the latter of which is basically a melodeath album, if I'm using that term correctly. You never know around here. Entombed I can take or leave. Carcass I love, especially 'Surgical Steel'. Morbid Angel I love, mostly. Obituary are all right but a bit daft. Deicide have never done anything for me unfortunately and I find their music basically devoid of melody. My interest in music is inversely proportional to the lack of melody in any given release. Am I saying that right? I really like the first and last tracks on Deicide's 'The Stench of Redemption' album, but those tracks obviously aren't really typical of the band. 

The thing about death metal in general is that I always found it lacking in meaning for me personally. I just can't really plug into straight gore lyrics, and the concept of brutality for brutality's sake doesn't really turn me on either. Obviously it does for some people as death metal is a huge genre.

I like to flirt with it in the office but I wouldn't ask it out on a proper date. 

[Ecthelion]

22 minutes ago, Requiem said:

I agree with you 100% regarding the Cannibal Corpse comment. I'd rather have 'Symbolic' in my collection than nearly any of those bands that I named. Just a great album. But yeah, I could take any Death album over any Cannibal Corpse album, even Death's very proggy material which wouldn't be my first choice from them. 

Cannibal Corpse has always been one of the most banal death metal acts ever for me, even when I was first getting into death/thrash/black metal so it is hardly surprising when I see someone justifiably consider them unimpressive. 

22 minutes ago, Requiem said:

I really like Dismember a lot, especially 'Like an Ever Flowing Stream' and 'Massive Killing Capacity', the latter of which is basically a melodeath album, if I'm using that term correctly. You never know around here. Entombed I can take or leave. Carcass I love, especially 'Surgical Steel'. Morbid Angel I love, mostly. Obituary are all right but a bit daft. Deicide have never done anything for me unfortunately and I find their music basically devoid of melody. My interest in music is inversely proportional to the lack of melody in any given release. Am I saying that right? I really like the first and last tracks on Deicide's 'The Stench of Redemption' album, but those tracks obviously aren't really typical of the band.

Yeah, Deicide was always another one of "those bands" for me. Honestly, when it always came to death metal, I found myself gravitating to death/thrash, death/doom or early melodic death metal due to bands like CC and Deicide. I never really got into full-on death metal until I ran into Death's entire discography, The Chasm, Nocturnus, Morbid Angel, Bolt Thrower, Immolation, etc. A lot of stuff like brutal death metal and slam are still no-gos for me due to the the problems I had with bands that kept me from enjoying death metal. 

22 minutes ago, Requiem said:

The thing about death metal in general is that I always found it lacking in meaning for me personally. I just can't really plug into straight gore lyrics, and the concept of brutality for brutality's sake doesn't really turn me on either. Obviously it does for some people as death metal is a huge genre.

The thing is about every music genre is that the best albums will always be the ones that have something "more" to them. Some level of depth or substance that others do not and frankly, death metal is no exception to that.

[Requiem]

1 hour ago, Ecthelion said:

 

The thing is about every music genre is that the best albums will always be the ones that have something "more" to them. Some level of depth or substance that others do not and frankly, death metal is no exception to that.

No doubt you're right about this. People worship the classics of this genre just as much as, say, a 'Rust in Peace', 'Powerslave' or a 'De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas' are respected within their own genres.

[BlutAusNerd]

4 hours ago, BlutAusNerd said:  

That is strange, since they're basically THE ubiquitous death metal band. Even fans from outside of death metal love them, especially thrashers clinging to Scream Bloody Gore and power/prog fans geeking out over Symbolic and The Sound of Perseverance. You could just replace your Cannibal Corpse albums with Death albums, your collection would be better for it... ?

 

I agree with you 100% regarding the Cannibal Corpse comment. I'd rather have 'Symbolic' in my collection than nearly any of those bands that I named. Just a great album. But yeah, I could take any Death album over any Cannibal Corpse album, even Death's very proggy material which wouldn't be my first choice from them. 

No one's really rating Nile around here, and I accept this because they have a lot of albums out that really go nowhere and feel bogged down, but I really love a couple of those Egyptian themed albums. Chuck a theme on an album and I'm in, basically. 

I really like Dismember a lot, especially 'Like an Ever Flowing Stream' and 'Massive Killing Capacity', the latter of which is basically a melodeath album, if I'm using that term correctly. You never know around here. Entombed I can take or leave. Carcass I love, especially 'Surgical Steel'. Morbid Angel I love, mostly. Obituary are all right but a bit daft. Deicide have never done anything for me unfortunately and I find their music basically devoid of melody. My interest in music is inversely proportional to the lack of melody in any given release. Am I saying that right? I really like the first and last tracks on Deicide's 'The Stench of Redemption' album, but those tracks obviously aren't really typical of the band. 

The thing about death metal in general is that I always found it lacking in meaning for me personally. I just can't really plug into straight gore lyrics, and the concept of brutality for brutality's sake doesn't really turn me on either. Obviously it does for some people as death metal is a huge genre.

I like to flirt with it in the office but I wouldn't ask it out on a proper date. 

 

I dig Nile, but their discography is a bit spotty. Even at their best though, like Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka, Annihilation of the Wicked, and Those Whom the Gods Detest, they could never outrank most of the classic bands were discussing here (aside from Cannibal Corpse).

 

Like An Everflowing Stream is brilliant, and if you like it, you need to hear Indecent and Obscene as well. Massive Killing Capacity was my first exposure to the band, but I hated it when I got it. I had only heard the band by name and blind purchased it, and I was shocked when death n roll started erupting from my speakers. I took it right back and traded it for something else, and haven't really revisited it since. I suppose it's worth another try at some point. You're right about Deicide being devoid of melody aside from The Stench of Redemption, but that ruthless and menacing sound on their early albums is what drew people to them. I can sympathize about the lyrics not always clicking, but I don't really pay attention to lyrics much anyway, so I'm just focused on the music.

 

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[Requiem]

On 12/07/2017 at 11:41 AM, BlutAusNerd said:

 

I dig Nile, but their discography is a bit spotty. Even at their best though, like Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka, Annihilation of the Wicked, and Those Whom the Gods Detest, they could never outrank most of the classic bands were discussing here (aside from Cannibal Corpse).

 

Like An Everflowing Stream is brilliant, and if you like it, you need to hear Indecent and Obscene as well. Massive Killing Capacity was my first exposure to the band, but I hated it when I got it. I had only heard the band by name and blind purchased it, and I was shocked when death n roll started erupting from my speakers. I took it right back and traded it for something else, and haven't really revisited it since. I suppose it's worth another try at some point. You're right about Deicide being devoid of melody aside from The Stench of Redemption, but that ruthless and menacing sound on their early albums is what drew people to them. I can sympathize about the lyrics not always clicking, but I don't really pay attention to lyrics much anyway, so I'm just focused on the music.

 

I would have thought that a wordsmith such as yourself would be a keen lyrical connoisseur. Lyrics completely anchor whatever I'm listening to into some sort of context which accentuates my enjoyment of the musical component. 

Regarding 'Massive Killing Capacity', I doubt you'll find anything particularly endearing in it, knowing your taste. It's so easy on the ears my dear Aunt Bertha plays it at her backgammon club. Not quite, but you know what I mean...

[BlutAusNerd]

On 12/07/2017 at 11:41 AM, BlutAusNerd said:  

I dig Nile, but their discography is a bit spotty. Even at their best though, like Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka, Annihilation of the Wicked, and Those Whom the Gods Detest, they could never outrank most of the classic bands were discussing here (aside from Cannibal Corpse).

 

Like An Everflowing Stream is brilliant, and if you like it, you need to hear Indecent and Obscene as well. Massive Killing Capacity was my first exposure to the band, but I hated it when I got it. I had only heard the band by name and blind purchased it, and I was shocked when death n roll started erupting from my speakers. I took it right back and traded it for something else, and haven't really revisited it since. I suppose it's worth another try at some point. You're right about Deicide being devoid of melody aside from The Stench of Redemption, but that ruthless and menacing sound on their early albums is what drew people to them. I can sympathize about the lyrics not always clicking, but I don't really pay attention to lyrics much anyway, so I'm just focused on the music.

 

I would have thought that a wordsmith such as yourself would be a keen lyrical connoisseur. Lyrics completely anchor whatever I'm listening to into some sort of context which accentuates my enjoyment of the musical component. 

Regarding 'Massive Killing Capacity', I doubt you'll find anything particularly endearing in it, knowing your taste. It's so easy on the ears my dear Aunt Bertha plays it at her backgammon club. Not quite, but you know what I mean...

 

...me, a "wordsmith"? I don't know about that. I struggle with words a great deal, not so much with understanding them, but using them to express myself. I feel as though there's a disconnect between my brain and my mouth that I cannot reconcile, no matter what I do. Regarding lyrics, I feel that they're often the profaning of the raw emotions and ineffable feelings that the music more accurately and fully conveys, because music transcends words. I know that they can make those feelings more specific, but I guess I prefer those feelings to be somewhat general since they speak to me more clearly that way. I can appreciate good lyrics and can find it enjoyable to pick them out, but I seldom read them from the booklets.

 

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