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The Official Death Metal Recommendations Thread


RelentlessOblivion

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suggestions?

we're gonna get that kid hooked on death metal and his parents will just freak right out which will be hilarious lol
my mum knows most of what i listen to, i have told her about death metal and she thinks it is a strange genre, i dont blame her, i told her about chuck, and she thinks he was intelligent and talented and shouldnt have died so young. Oh and i quite like Dawn Of Eternity by Massacre.
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Re: suggestions?

good call on that one Iceni' date=' very similar to Death, no that there's anything wrong with that[/quote'] Well, they're similar to later period Death, not really anything like their early stuff. I think Dave would dig Morgoth a bit more, as they sound almost identical to early Death, especially Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy. Anyway, I'm only working a half day today, but I'll try to get started on posting some more vids.
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Re: suggestions? Here comes some more death metal:

Mortem - The Devil Speaks in Tongues:

I know that I've mentioned them before, but Mortem are one of the few bands I've heard that perfectly capture the evil death metal feel of early Possessed and Morbid Angel. Great riffs, great atmosphere, and excellent composition.

 

Necrophagia - Season of the Dead:

Necrophagia were another one of those super early death metal bands that never got enough credit. This album was released in 1987, the same year as Death's Scream Bloody Gore, but is almost never mentioned in the same breath. It's probably even more simplistic than Death's debut, but it's a bit darker sounding, with Killjoy's songwriting owing to classic horror film scores. Classic album, though I can't say that I've enjoyed much of their material since this one.

 

Necrophagist - Onset of Putrefaction:

Necrophagist are a tech-death band with some pretty impressive skills. They get a lot of flack from people for being too "wanky", but I disagree, I feel like the technicality is integrated well into the riffs as well as the flashy solos. I could see some people bitching more about the following album, but that's almost more of a progressive metal album with death vocals, not much straight up death metal is left. That album is also good, but I prefer this one, and it is the most death metal of their material.

 

Necrophobic - The Nocturnal Silence:

Necrophobic were a darker variant of the early Swedish death metal sound, with many influences from the burgeoning black metal movement at the time. Starting with their following album, Darkside, they would transition further into black metal, with the black metal eclipsing the death metal in their sound. This, to me, is their best album, and one of the best Swedish death metal albums ever. The riffs and melodies are fantastic, and they had a great ability to create a dark atmosphere.

 

Necrosanct - Desolate:

Necrosanct were easily one of the darkest and most brutal bands from the early UK death metal scene. The riffs have a creepy, chaotic malevolence about them, and the tormented vocals certainly help to paint a pretty disgusting picture. This is dense and vicious stuff, definitely a departure from the typically groovy UK death metal sound.

 

Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked:

Nile are one of the most well known modern death metal bands, and there's good reason why. They're fast, brutal, technical, and they infuse Egyptian flavored melodies, samples, and lyrical themes into their music. One of the things that sets Nile apart from many other modern brutal death metal bands is that they manage to retain memorability in their music, despite the insane onslaught of riffs and relentless drums, as opposed to the many faceless and unoriginal brutal death metal bands around today.

 

Oppressor - Solstice of Oppression:

Oppressor's Solstice of Oppression remains a great statement of Chicago death metal to this day. Low, brutal vocals and delivery, but still with a riff oriented approach, and a heightened sense of technicality over many more simplistic old school death metal bands. These guys did 3 albums, and though I haven't heard the other 2, they did eventually go on to form the nu-metal abortion known as Soil. Unfortunate, considering the talent on display here.

 

Order From Chaos - Stillborn Machine:

 

Order From Chaos were a primitive, raw, and original death metal band. They were savage, punishing, and not really like any other death metal band at the time. They had plenty of early black/thrash in their sound, which is probably what helped set them apart, along with Chuck's unusual guitar lines and Pete's snarling vocal delivery. Definitely a favorite of mine, but understandably not for everyone.

 

Pan.Thy.Monium - Dawn of Dreams:

Pan.Thy.Monium was another of Dan Swano's many projects, this one probably being the weirdest of all. This is very avant-garde death metal, with keyboards, saxophone, and no lyrics, all of the vocals are phonetic sounds. They would continue to progress and get weirder with their next two albums, which are also great, but their debut remains my favorite, and one of my top death metal albums ever.

 

Pestilence - Testimony of the Ancients:

Pestilence were one of the best and most influential death metal bands of the 80's. This gets my vote as their best album, the former being a bit thrashier, but not quite as potent, and the latter being quite progressive, but not as compelling. Patrick took over vocal duties after this album, and I quite prefer Martin's style shown here to his Chuck Schuldiner type style, but Testimony of the Ancients is still a great album. All things considered, the only death metal album that can top this one for me is Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness.

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  • 1 month later...

Possessed - Seven Churches:

Possessed were the true fathers of death metal, despite some people trying to deny this fact by calling them "just another thrash metal band". This is what set the stage for what was to come, the evil atmosphere, fast speeds, tremolo riffs and melodies, guttural vocals, it's all here, and in excellent form. Not only the first death metal band, but one of the best, despite trailing off into less memorable thrash territory on subsequent releases.

 

Pungent Stench - Been Caught Buttering:

Pungent Stench are the most well known Austrian death metal band, with a sick and groovy style that's as fun as it is morbid. They have a sick sense of humor, a great and varied sense of songwriting and pacing, and an original and catchy style that makes them absolutely essential listening in my book. Their first album is similar in style, though not quite as good overall as this album, and their third album is almost completely groove metal, but it's still good in its own way.

 

Purtenance - Member of Eternal Damnation:

Purtenance are not the most well known Finnish death metal band, but are often revered as one of the best by those that have heard them. They were dark, brutal, and doomy, almost sounding like a more savage early Amorphis at times. This is totally crushing stuff, the slow and heavy doomy parts a great contrast to the higher speed sections, with great leads to compliment the whole picture.

 

Repulsion - Horrified:

Repulsion were pretty much the first grindcore band, but I felt that they merited inclusion here for a couple of reasons. Firstly, they were extremely influential to death metal (the song posted here is one of the more death metal sounding songs on the album), secondly, Scott Carlson was once a member of Death, and their sound is not extremely far removed from that of Death's older works, and thirdly, you don't have a grindcore recommendation thread yet (I'm hoping these guys and Terrorizer may change that). Fast, nasty, and punky sounding stuff, but still loaded with riffs.

 

Ripping Corpse - Dreaming with the Dead:

Ripping Corpse were one of the absolute best death/thrash bands ever, with a strange and original sound that I have yet to hear anybody imitate. They're unfortunately best known as the first band of Erik Rutan, who would later join Morbid Angel and start Hate Eternal, but this album is far better than what Erik would go on to do with either band. It sucks that they never managed to produce more than one album, but with how good this album is, the lack of a successor that may have possibly cheapened their legacy is easily excusable.

 

Rites of Thy Degringolade - An Ode to Sin:

Rites of Thy Degringolade are a Canadian blackened death metal band, with a pretty chaotic sound and interesting style. For one thing, it's not usual to hear the drums as one of the focal points in any metal album, but as the drummer writes the music, it makes sense that his parts are at the forefront. They also change pacing and riffs frequently, with some dissonant sounds and strange ideas to spice up the more traditionally brutal sounds. I'm not sure if this one will strike home for you or not, but you did request some more brutal stuff last time, and this will at least be a good representation to see if you like more chaotic black/death stuff.

 

Sadistik Exekution - The Magus:

Sadistik Exekution were the first Australian death metal band, and one of the first ones in the world actually, as this album was recorded in 1986. They have an extremely chaotic style, which is definitely not for everybody, but I thought it would be wrong to make a list without including old school legends from your neck of the woods. This album is far from easy listening, and it's hard to catch everything that's going on all the time, but buried beneath all of the insanity are some awesome songs that just take a little deciphering.

 

Seance - Saltrubbed Eyes:

Moderator's Note: The original video (Soulerosion) is no longer on youtube and has been replaced by the only Seance video which remains.

Seance were not your typical Swedish death metal band, as they don't really sound anything like most of the bands that have defined both the Sunlight Studios sound, nor the more melodic Gothenburg sound. Along with Hypocrisy, they were one of the bands that favored a more American style of aggression and brutality, with lower vocals, faster pacing, and more punishing compositions. This album also sports one of the best and most upfront bass tones I've ever heard on a metal album, it definitely adds more depth to the heaviness of their riffs.

 

Sentenced - North From Here:

Sentenced is best known for being one of the more successful gothic rock/metal bands on Century Media's roster, but they were a death metal band for the first few years of their career. On their demos and debut album, their sound owed a great deal to Death, Bolt Thrower, and Morgoth, but with their second album North From Here, I feel that they really branched out and hit their stride. There's definitely more of a technical presence here, owing something to Atheist and other early tech-death bands, but their approach was less jazzy and more melodic in a different way, it's difficult to describe as I haven't heard much else that compares to this. Unfortunately, they would change course again after this album, making a decent melodeath/rock album called Amok before totally jumping ship to the gothic sound they would later become known for.

 

Sinister - Cross the Styx:

Sinister were the most brutal of the early Dutch death metal bands, and also one of the best. Their sound somewhat parallels early Deicide, in that they were totally relentless, assaulting you with riff after riff with no room left to do anything but suffocate. There's certainly a place for death metal with more atmosphere and melody, many of my favorites are large on both of those elements, but there's also a time when death metal just needs to kick your ass into a senseless stupor, which is exactly what this album is for. Man up for your imminent destruction.

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  • 1 month later...

Cool, I'll go here next. I ended up having to deal with tax stuff today so I didn't get time, but I'll lay some more videos down here soon. I've got some new items I'm hoping to get from eBay sellers and through trades that should give me enough new stuff for some thrash and heavy metal recs too, but I'll have to wait until I get them.

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Re: suggestions? It's just crazy how much is out there, I remember thinking that I had a pretty good death metal collection until a poster on my other forum posted a massive list of old school death metal essential albums. He only went as far as '92 (sucks that he never finished the rest) and there were literally hundreds of albums. When I got started, I only had about 1 out of 6 of the albums on the list, and after a couple of years of collecting I still am only around half way through that fucking list. There's always more out there, and I love getting and giving recommendations. Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

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