In Search of Metal pt 2: Killed by Death
You are summoned forthwith to pay homage to the one true king
Death metal has an undistinguished but definite presence in the Best Album brackets, generally qualifying a few albums most years while certain other harsher metal genres got frozen out. That said, I don't see any obvious shoe-ins, this year. There are albums that *should* get in, doubtless, but none I'm 100% confident in. But let's define our terms: what *is* death metal? Does it just mean, "has cookie monster vocals"? Not really. Clean vocals are harder to find nowadays than growled ones, and not every metal band is death metal. That said, the delineations between extreme metal subgenres can be obscure, and are often as dependent on cultural context as musical sound. Death metal is generally agreed to be an outgrowth of thrash metal, taking its extremity and nonconformist leanings much farther out, with blastbeats and a nasty, abrasive timbre. Not every growling vocalist fronts a death metal band, but every death metal band has growled vocals, at least some of the time. Death metal is UGLY, it is BRUTAL. It doesn't (generally) have the soaring neoclassical goings-on thrash sometimes engages in, it doesn't (generally) have the serene sonic landscapes black metal is known for. It's the musical equivalent of punching you in the face, but unlike metalcore, grindcore, it has at least a foot in classic metal style; there are riffs, solos, a detectable throughline from the likes of Accept and Anvil. I went to a death metal show and a black metal show recently, and the differences are enlightening: people were throwing horns and moshing to death metal, the bands were behaving like rock stars (Horrendous is great, by the way). At the black metal show, most everyone just kinda stood appreciatively, and the bands went out of their way to be as harsh or as nonpersonable as possible. Death metal has the same headbanding philosophical logic as nu-metal, black metal is more like edgelord krautrock. There's a lot of variety within death metal, and there's a hilarious number of barely-distinguishable subgenres, so this may be the most extensive installment with the possible exception of alt/nu metal. Let us begin:
The Ultimate Abhorrence by Broken Torso: I'm including this as a demonstration that I'm not too easy a lay. This is a pretty unremarkable record, repetitious and brief, its primary distinguishing point being a rather bass heavy sound (and its 25 minute length). It's very brutal, to the point of muting its own impact. The funny part is this is apparently considered a more melodic example of "brutal death metal"
My score: ☆☆☆
Litany by Vader: Fast and thrashy, this is a solid release by one of those reliably unremarkable metal bands everybody likes more than they love. If you like death metal fast but not overbearingly-brutal, this'll cure what ails
My score: ☆☆☆½
The Haunted Made Me Do It by The Haunted: This is right on the dividing line between thrash and death metal, and I'm putting it here because it's the only thrash album that remotely warrants mention this year, and I gotta put it somewhere. I find The Haunted rather aesthetically drab but I will hand it to them, some bonecrushing stuff here. They sound a lot like Slayer, without the personality.
My score: ☆☆☆½
Black Seeds of Vengeance by Nile: A highly-technical band, Nile take inspiration from Egyptology and Lovecraft to create brutal walls of noise, softened by spurts of folk instrumentation that result in a creepy sepulchral feel. More stimulating than memorable.
My score: ☆☆☆½
Enemy of the Music Business by Napalm Death: Napalm Death will always be in the history books for their debut album Scum, grindcore's foundational document, but since then they've amassed one of extreme metal's most respectable discographies. Enemy of the Music Business is punky and brutal but I confess it's a bit longwinded for this sort of thing at 45 minutes.
My score: ☆☆☆½
Slaughtercult by Exhumed: Exhumed play a grody variety of deathgrind, combining the muscularity of death metal with the ramshackle brutality of grindcore. It all sounds the same but it's pleasingly nasty and only 34 minutes
My score: ☆☆☆½
Clayman by In Flames: Their last album before being branded one of metal's most infamous butt rock sellouts, Clayman sees In Flames take death metal to such a soaring, melodic place that it resembles power metal or melodic metalcore. This isn't my preferred kind of death metal but it's quite fun and if you don't prefer death metal in general this is the release from this year you're most likely to enjoy
My score: ☆☆☆½
Winds of Creation by Decapitated: Intensely brutal, but satisfying. Look it's hard to think of stuff to say about these just trust me on this. Take a gander at that name.
My score: ☆☆☆☆
Contrastic by Contrastic: Contrastic are the closest thing to unclassifiable that I'm placing in the "death metal" category. People consider this "deathgrind" which theoretically means it's not spastic and abrupt enough to be grindcore but is too spastic and abrupt to be death metal. However, there are so many experimental, electronic, progressive, alternative touches on here that it becomes a little of everything. This is one I think even those constitutionally averse to extreme metal should check out. Under 30 minutes, too
My score: ☆☆☆☆
Gateways to Annihilation by Morbid Angel: This kind of chunky midtempo death metal might be my personal favorite variety. Morbid Angel is a band that will always be defined by their debut album bc not many people were doing this in 1989, but their material after that is very strong too. Creative soloing.
My score: ☆☆☆☆
...And Then You'll Beg by Cryptopsy: The tr00 metalheads don't seem very fond of this one, apparently because they don't like the vocalist. He's not the strongest but I dunno, how important are vocals on these anyway? This is very technical to the point of being proggy, though I'm still categorizing it as death metal due to its straightforward brutality. This kind of thing is catnip to my ears, one song oughta tell you whether it's for you
My score: ☆☆☆☆
Destroy the Opposition by Dying Fetus: Often cited as a precursor to "deathcore", the first thing that stands out about Dying Fetus, aside from their name, is their very groove-based sound. They sound a bit like a deathened Lamb of God, or a heavier Pantera. It's a lot of fun, and the lyrics are apparently the good kind of political but good luck deciphering them behind the guttural vocals.
My score: ☆☆☆☆
Deathrace King by The Crown: The Crown play a variety of death metal that's semi-disparagingly referred to as "death n roll", which essentially means it has death metal intensity but riffs and musical ideas audibly taken from classic hard rock and heavy metal (in this case, Motörhead especially). This has pretty strong songwriting for death metal and it doesn't sound quite as cornball as In Flames so give it a go
My score: ☆☆☆☆
But if you only listen to one...
Close to a World Below by Immolation: Immolation have a dissonant, hellish take on death metal, that almost has an industrial flavor in its riffing, sounding like the instruments are breaking in the process of playing them. Sets a despairing but engrossing mood, and I'd pick it as the most artisitcally finished of this crop.
My score: ☆☆☆☆½
Dismissed