The modern metalhead often has prejudice against the best of metal genres - a fact disputed but nonetheless true. "Death March" aims to give beginners an entry to the genre as a whole. Follow this guide and listen to an album a day and soon you will be a camo-shorts wearing poser killer.
Death - Leprosy
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Combat Records
Release Date: 12-08-1988
On this chronological exploration of Death Metal, one could start with Necrophagia, technically the first Death Metal band. The first one to come to mind, though, and the one that solidified what the sound actually meant was Death. Here, the most straightforward choice would be 1987's Scream Bloody Gore, but to get more people into Death Metal, we can't fuck around: Leprosy improves on the sound of the debut in every way. The big snare sound, fast paced tremolo riffs and just enough punk energy make cuts like punk oriented "Born Dead" pop as much as the groovier "Pull the Plug". Beyond the gore and horror, Chuck Schuldiner even reveals some social conscience, criticizing drug abuse during pregnancy on the aforementioned "Pull the Plug". The star, of course, are riffs beyond riffs. Always at the risk of using a bit too much trem but never passing the threshhold, Leprosy is full of them. Synthesizing the energy of thrash with the diabolical heavyness of early heavy metal and doom, with the necessary edge of gore and horror and just a little hint of the progressivism that would later dominate Death's sound (especially in the leads), Leprosy is quintessentially Metal.
Pestilence - Consvming Impvlse
Genre: Death / Thrash Metal
Label: R/C Records
Release Date: 10-1989
On a level of pure enjoyment, I might take the controversial position that Consvming Impvlse is better than Leprosy. The total level of innovation might be less - especially considering that the album is mainly a hypercharged and tighter version of the bands debut - but the performance reaches for higher extremes. While being rooted more strongly in Thrash than Death, the band has a rabid, often desperate style with subtle influences from both dissonant Metal and Prog that give the material a more unhinged bent. This is in no small part for the vocal performance of Martin van Drunen, who would later adorn Asphyx with his painful howls. An album so even paced should usually feel longer than it is, but Consvming Impvlse has so much instrumental inventiveness that it feels like a total breeze.
Atheist - Piece of Time
Genre: Progressive Death Metal / Thrash Metal
Label: Active Records
Release Date: 01-05-1990
Once upon a time, the promise of Progressive Metal seemed exciting and promising. When bands were actually progressive, exploring music their own way and infusing their chosen style with their own instrumental obsessions. Atheist is one of the best examples of this, as mixing jazz and latin influences into the nascent genre of Death Metal probably sounded like an absurd idea. On the contrary, as the latin influences in particular provide the album with the necessary rhythmic framework to remain interesting throughout. Drums, bass and guitars feel free to explore whenever the other elements leave the room for it. The opening track showcases this beautifully, when bass and drums feel free to roam under a repeating guitar riff without ever losing one bit of the necessary structure. The very sharp guitar tone might take some getting used to for some and the disconnected synth cheese that pops up in the last track might seem unnecessary, but I can't help but fall in love with Atheist again and again. They clearly were a big influence on Chuck's later material and often do not get the recognition they deserve.
Autopsy - Mental Funeral
Genre: Death / Doom Metal
Label: Peaceville Records
Release Date: 22-04-1991
An interesting thing about Death Metal is what parts of the brain it aims to stimulate. Depending on who you ask (and which bands you listen to), the answer might differ greatly. Autopsy are as deserving as Atheist on a list like this, but they couldn't be more different. Autopsy's Chris Reifert, who drummed on Scream Bloody Gore and gave that album a more barbaric feel overall, really likes punk, rock and roll and 70s Doom Metal. Autopsy are as close to a Death and Roll band as they could be without actually becoming one. Sloppy riffs that get better by virtue of being so sloppy and the general feeling of being stuck in the gutter make the album work, but it is not particularly high brow. Highlights include the dirty rock soloing on "In the Grip of Winter", the harmonised leads in "Dead" and the Funereal Mid Section of "Dark Crusade". If Atheist are a high brow exploitation film, think Possession or Rosemary's Baby, then Autopsy is Street Trash. Ever saw a movie where hobos drink acidic moonshine and turn into purple sludge?
Entombed - Left Hand Path
Genre: Swedish Death Metal Label: Earache Records
Release Date: 04-06-1990
In the modern age, it seems like Swedeath is the version of Death Metal that is the most imitated. Put a little bit of hardcore into the mix, give it a crunchy production and the Lasagna-OSDM Fans will eat it up. Even though we have heard all of Entombed's material again and again, regurgitated in different ways without much new flavor, there is nothing that compares to the original. Left Hand Path is mindblowingly strong as a debut. The strong punk flavor - crust punk was huge in Sweden - mixed with a for the time unusually dark attitude and even a bit of atmosphere serves to make the album as heavy as it can be. The off-the-chain vocal delivery of L.G. Petrov (rest in power) is as integral to the albums success as is the endless chain of immortal riffs and a guitar tone that, despite how ubiquitous it has become, I can never get enough of.
Nocturnus - The Key
Genre: Progressive/Technical Death Metal
Label: Earache Records
Release Date: 01-08-1990
Mike Browning, formerly the drummer for Morbid Angel, seemed to have some loftier ambitions than what his main band would allow him. Nocturnus is a band with many firsts. The Key is possibly Death Metal's first concept album and it is certainly the first concept album about a cyborg that gets sent back in time to kill baby Jesus. Legend has it that the musicians were in disagreement if they wanted the bands image to be satanic or about science fiction, so they combined the two. The musical style of the band is luckily similarly bonkers. The first Death Metal band to include keyboards, the band mixes incredibly cheesy synth work with technical guitars that, despite their frantic lead work, have a certain traditional metal quality to them. The band's approach predates what the Black Metal scene would do soon after, but Nocturnus do not need atmosphere to smooth over uninteresting writing. The Key is always interesting, engaging and there is nothing quite like it.
Dismember - Like An Everflowing Stream
Genre: Swedish Death Metal
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release Date: 28-05-1991
If there is any album besides Left Hand Path that can be considered part of the Ur-text of Swedeath, it must be Like an Everflowing Stream. In many ways, Dismember show a similar talent for punk inspired, forward moving Death Metal. It is more interesting to highlight the small ways in which they differ, though: Entombed always seemed a bit more wild and rambunctious to me, where Dismember maybe have a slightly more emotional bent to them. This is highlighted by the ways the bands respective careers would take later: The Death 'n' Roll that Entombed would later play is a logical fit for them, as is the (sadly underwhelming) Melodeath of Dismember. I always preferred even Entombed's early material, but a lot of that is due more to taste and the time I was exposed to the bands.