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.
Cryptopsy - None So Vile
Genre: Brutal/Technical Death Metal
Label: Wrong Again Records
Release Date: 03-07-1996
In 1996, Death Metal slowly started transitioning into the modern age. Oldschool Death Metal was slowly on the way out (to be revived much later), to be replaced by more melodic, groove oriented or brutal metal. None So Vile is the prime example of what the most brutal of Death Metal can be. The album contains a performance so technical, so unleashed that at any point it feels like the musicians might collapse at the spot - and the album with it. Flo Mounier is a beast at the drum kit and finds every little spot to add additional cymbals, fills and rolls for something truly frantic. Guitar and bass work are similarly impressive with a breadth of techniques and instrumental interplay that, to this day, has rarely been matched - if ever. Front and center is the powerhouse performance of Lord Worm (his legal name, I am sure), viewed by some as a deterrant. Worm sounds like he aspires to leave humanity behind, his vocal delivery an assortment of animalistic grunts, screams, squeals and howls.
Many people, especially Death Metal beginners, struggle with None So Vile the first time they encounter it. I noticed that the experience seems to be similar to how a lot of people experience Dissonant Death Metal nowadays. None So Vile is a lot to take in at once and it takes time for it to mentally untangle. I had the same experience when I got into Brutal Death Metal years ago. Nowadays, None So Vile is an album I could not live without. I recommend everybody give albums like these a chance once in a while and to try it again after a while - it is usually worth it.
Devourment - Molesting the Decapitated
Genre: Brutal Death Metal/Slam
Label: United Guttural Records
Release Date: 07-1999
We have entered the territory of actual corpses on album covers and bands breaking up temporarily because their vocalist went to jail. Devourment could be perceived as a band desperately trying to be dangerous, and they certainly have an edgelords attitude. But the music was as deep down the gutter as you could possibly be at the time. The murky, swampy guitar tone supports little but caveman riffs and the vocals are an indecipherable grunt. It is all low and monotone but the hypercommitment to the sound sells it: this is pure barbarism. No real pretense about being anything else, really. "Liege of Inveracity" was the blueprint, but this is the birth of Slam. Slam would later become basically integrated into Deathcore and become scene music. The murky guitar tones would be swapped for percussive crunch and an assortment of vocal theatrics would be added. While I appreciate this version of Slam as well, there is no arguing that it cannot scratch the same itch as the vile pile of songs that is Molesting the Decapitated.
Vader - Litany
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Metal Blade
Release Date: 20-03-2000
The Polish scene is one that didn't birth many big bands of note. While Behemoth goes in and out of the genre and while I could not care less for Hate myself, Vader have made some solid albums over the years, somewhat capitalising on their underdog status. Vader play a forward pushing, meat-and-potatoes style similar to Jungle Rot and are definitely the most simplistic of the Polish bands. Luckily, Vader also always knew not to overcommit to their style. Litany is 30 minutes of good, simple fun. What sells the album is the unusual character of the kick drum. The kick drum is unusually loud and obnoxious and has a certain EDM character which gives the album somewhat of an Industrial feel. It is more common to have a weird sounding and obnoxiously loud snare than it is a kick. Litany's kick is maybe a bit of a curiosity, but nonetheless gives the album a clearcut reason to exist as an unique selling point.
Immolation - Close to a World Below
Genre: New York Death Metal
Label: Metal Blade Records
Release Date: 06-11-2000
This is another one that has been reviewed for the Gatorrr's Put My Hand in The Fire series (found here), I will keep this one relatively short, as well. Immolation have always been unimitated and reigning supreme in their specific verson of Death Metal. At the same time, the stylistic elements are similarly unwavering. Drums pound with unique drum beats, often eschewing blast beats in favor of more lopsided but similarly busy beats while the guitars play riffs so dense they approach texture rather than rhythm. Lead guitar snakes around all of it. There is a percussive quality to the way Immolation play and groove reigns supreme. Immolation feels cruel, yet desperate at the same time and I think the anti-Christian themes of the album go hand in hand with it: This is the sound of apocalypse and all consuming fire. Similarly to a slowly moving wall of fire, Immolation do not need to be fast or even particularly concrete to be aggressive and to destroy all that lies in their path.
Necrophagist - Epitaph
Genre: Technical Death Metal
Label: Relapse Records
Release Date: 08-03-2004
The existence of certain albums proves the butterfly effect: Without Effigy of the Forgotten, there would be no BDM or no Slam. Without None So Vile, there would be no Brutal Tech. And without Necrophagist's Epitaph, the whole Neoclassical Tech Death thing and the modern interpretation of Tech Death would have never happened. None So Vile was technical because the band aimed to push the brutality of it to such extremes that it was necessary to play that well. Epitaph is technical because there is brains behind it. The classical music influence on Epitaph is front and center and it must have certainly been an album that popularised Neoclassical sweeps and shred in general for Death Metal. Opener "Stabwound" has one of the most well known sweep picking sections ever and it is often used as an example of how to learn sweeping and use it effectively. Many modern bands would take this style and run it into the ground, with lots of self-serving wankery. Luckily, Epitaph is more than just wank for its own sake. Even though the band's goal is clearly to push Death Metal to a higher level of technicality, these are actual songs with actual song structures. Again, consider the opener: The famous sweeping motif is what the whole song is written around. The A-B-A form of the song becomes purposeful, as the band uses it for motivic development. Necrophagist are good at Neoclassical Death metal because they take more cues from it than just running through random arpeggios. For that reason, Epitaph is the ideal blueprint for what Tech Death could and should be.
Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Metal Blade Records
Release Date: 11-11-2005
I have reviewedThose Once Loyal on Instagram before and to the dismay of many - as my DM's that day would suggest - I gave it the coveted 10/10. Those Once Loyal is flawless for what it is - simply the apotheosis is groove based Death Metal. Where other groove oriented acts always feel a little sleepy (looking at you, Obituary), Bolt Thrower still feel like they are pushing, marching towards something in every song. Compared to ...For Victory!, which was previously featured in this series, Those Once Loyal doesn't sound as melancholic. As an album that deals with the themes of war, it seems more matter-of-fact about it, less melancholic and emotionally tinged. At the same time, I have philosophised about the meaning that closer "When Cannons Fade" gained retroactively after the Death of their drummer, with the drums relentless pounding into the silence. Maybe as a Death Metal fan, we project the emotions on to it, but it is impossible to not take this context into account.
Those Once Loyal feels like not only the ideal closer to the career of Bolt Thrower but as a capstone for the era of classic Death Metal. Bolt Thrower recorded more material in 2008, but decided against the release of it as they always wanted an album to be at least on par with its predecessor. How could you make an album as good as Those Once Loyal? How could anyone?
Unleashed - Hammer Battalion
Genre: Swedish Death Metal
Label: Steamhammer
Release Date: 06-06-2008
Unleashed are the odd one out of the Swedish Death Metal scene. Maybe this was a conscious decision - Johnny Hedlund can't have been happy after Nihilist broke up only to reform right after as Entombed only to get rid of him as easily as possible. Unleashed particularly have value because they do not sound like other Swedeath acts, be that a conscious choice or not. Unleashed play a very straightforward style, thrash oriented but also with decent groove and swagger but at the same time eschewing the crusty inflections Swedeath usually has, not going for similar melodic tropes and having a vastly different guitar tone. Particularly Hedlund's dirty vocals do a lot to elevate material that otherwise might probably only be average. Hedlund's growls have a theatrical nature to them and the committed delivery of rather corny lyrics is loads of fun and surprisingly catchy. The band can also be credited with being ahead of the viking craze by a few years - Unleashed was probably the first to do it. It is worth noting that Unleashed took quite a while to figure out their sound. The 90s albums of the band I can take or leave and it was in the mid 2000s that the band wrote their best material. The band's rise in quality is often credited to the increased influence of Fredrik Folkare who took over songwriting duties more and more. I am not sure if this is the case - he wrote most of 2002's Hell's Unleashed, which is mostly just okay - but there certainly was a shift in songwriting. Early Unleashed was stronger on the thrash and had less of the triumphant swagger and catchyness of their best period. If you want to get into Unleashed, Hammer Battalion and the surrounding albums are the best place to start.