10 essential death metal albums I MUST own!

[SculptedCold]

Songs are devoid of structure and direction.

That's part of the point exactly. They're not making progressive metal or pop music.

Tempo changes are inexplicable, they exist merely for the sake of it.

Again, it's intended and serves a purpose beyond trying to craft some perfectly meaningful and well-flowing framework.

Drumming is the standard blast-fill, sure it's done capably but who really cares?

Of course there's lots of blasting; it's brutal death metal, but overall the performance has a lot more than just that to offer, and isn't as 'standard' as most contemporaries.

 

[Profanity]

You must own some bands from the dominant countries of this genre. Here are some albums I suggest:

SWEDEN
Entombed "Left Hand Path"
Therion "Beyond Sanctorum"
Grave "Into The Grave"

GERMANY
Fleshcrawl "Soulskinner"

USA
Death "Human"
Suffocation "Human Waste"

UK
Carcass "Necroticism"
Carcass "Heartwork"

POLAND
Vader "Litany"
Behemoth "Zos Kia Cultus"

 

[Demiurge]

So I am to assume that amorphous "structures" are pervasive in black, death, thrash, classical, etc. and all other genres and subgenres of music with the exceptions of prog and pop? I don't need to elucidate the idiocy of your statement further, but I will. It's irrelevant that these elements serve some clandestine purpose. They're not aurally pleasing, nor are they thought provoking. Fine, the grating and dissonant novelties are all executed as the artists intended, this hardly makes the music good. Shitting on the ceiling is difficult, unique, etc. but it's not artistically relevant.

Mournier(sp?)'s drumming is heralded as some of the most innovative ever. I don't hear it. It's good but typical nonetheless.

 

[CF87]

Saying Crpyptopsy-None So Vile devoids structure is bullshit. They repeat almost all the riffs acouple times and it does not stray or wander off in anyway and it is nor dissonant,akward or not norm. I think it would have been better if it was less repetitive and devoided normal song structure. It has to much direction I think.

If you want to hear what the band is capable of check out there latest And Then You'll Beg.

 

[no country for old wainds]

I stopped reading when you called them 'Crpyptopsy'.

 

[CF87]

You know what I meant and it was a simple typing error and I do it with bands that have names like that, Meshuggah, etc....

 

[no country for old wainds]

Learn to type better.

 

[CF87]

Oh, I fucked up on a word and last thing I knew you taught english.

GO FUCK YOURSELF

 

[no country for old wainds]

Nah, I was insulting your post about Cryptopsy actually.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

Uh oh. Flame war breeding.

*ducks*

 

[no country for old wainds]

I don't flame. I destroy. :Smug:

 

[anonymousnick2001]

Nice......


hotjump: )

 

[Demiurge]

I think ATYB is worse than NSV, much worse actually.

My argument does not account for personal taste. However, if you think the music is highly structured and not dissonant, you're quite simply wrong.

BTW, consider being more articulate. If you type like a mongoloid with a subsimian vocabulary, people will immediately dismiss your perspective.

 

[CF87]

NSV has your typical song structures like say 1,2,3,2,3,4,solo,2,3,2,3,4,1 etc..... and no the songs are not dissonant or not normal. I was wrong when I said highly structured but they still could be considered highly structured because they repeat a lot and seem compact and do not stray and remain catchy so people considered it to be great songwriting. I have always seen Cryptopsy(early),Morbid Angel,Cannibal Corpse,Deicide to have pop like song structures either because they are lazy, do not want to take time and remember odd song structures or just cant do it and it can bug me at times. I myself like more weird structures and constructed and songs being dissonant and odd in the guitar department and structures when it comes to death metal and I dont want to know what to expect next in the song. I like to be caught off guard and have climax's. Most bands with very repetitive songs I can only listen to 2,3 songs from 1 album sometimes not even a full song especially in death metal.

 

[Demiurge]

When listening to NSV, one will notice numerous piercing treble spikes. These alone qualify the music as dissonant.

Cryptopsy's riffing is comprised of hackneyed tremolo picking; however, there are tons of random, pointless tempo changes. These are puzzling and aurally vexing. There is nothing more to say. These elements are present in the album, but it is impossible for me to empirically prove it to you. Perhaps you should listen again and specifically listen for these things.

 

[SculptedCold]

So I am to assume that amorphous "structures" are pervasive in black, death, thrash, classical, etc. and all other genres and subgenres of music with the exceptions of prog and pop? I don't need to elucidate the idiocy of your statement further, but I will.

Erm.....those were two examples and nothing more....stop stooping to such trivialities to try and prove a point.

It's irrelevant that these elements serve some clandestine purpose. They're not aurally pleasing, nor are they thought provoking. Fine, the grating and dissonant novelties are all executed as the artists intended, this hardly makes the music good. Shitting on the ceiling is difficult, unique, etc. but it's not artistically relevant.

That's fine...it makes sense and I agree with you to some extent, especially if you were to apply this view to the modern visual arts where your statement is all the more relevant and understandable, but first, the fact that I personally find dissonance and chaos aurally pleasing just goes to show that your idea of what is 'good' or what is 'artistically relevant' is founded on your opinion. If you think you're possessed of the objectivity to distinguish artistic relevance or of the perquisite faculties to distinguish it, then just remember that modern so-called academics of the arts form historical canons to try to trace and highlight artistic relevance, and that these canons are forever being altered, disputed, refuted, rejected and embraced by people who think they know what they're talking about. The history of importance people would choose to qualify their opinions with is often little more than a fiction itself.
But even regardless of all that, just bear in mind that works many would consider irrelevant or antithetical to art and/or artistic progression are themselves irreplacable in shaping the progression and history of that art, whether or not any academic would call them a good part, or any part of the art itself.

 

[andrew_plamondon]

Demiurge, I'd be interested to see what you think about Gorguts' Obscura or From Wisdom To Hate, you must HATE these albums so much, or maybe your thoughts on Virus' Carheart.
I'm just curious, I mean, you seem to think it's pointless and contrary to all musical laws, even though 2 guys on FWtH followed courses on classical music, how to write and structure songs, one of them even had some courses on violin. Why would someone, with this musical knowledge, would do albums like these if dissonance was not artistic nor aurally pleasing ?

 

[Demiurge]

Admittedly I could have phrased the pop/prog comment more clearly. I intended to indicate that your post made it seem as though death metal is inherently devoid of structure, that amorphous composition is par for the course. It's not true.

We're discussing an abstract subject, do not postulate empirical substantiation. This is self evident.

It can be assumed that I'm discussing the merits of an album in the present, not its influence unless I specifically indicate otherwise.

Gorguts explores intense, musical tension, but they're far from amorphously structured. The songs are actually cyclic. "FWtH" in particular has a strong, tonal center. I'm reminded of a death metal Rites of Spring more than Cryptopsy.

By 'dissonant' I was referring to sounds of a harsh, earsplitting, grating nature, not tonal tension.

 

[Adis]

Some of this stuff really helps. I just realized I know somebody on here, too.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

in no particular order ....

Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness
Morbid Angel - Blessed Are the Sick
Death - Leprosy
Death - Spiritual Healing
Pestilence - Consuming Impulse
Pestilence - Testimony of the Ancients
Dismember - Like An Ever Flowing Stream
Dismember - Indecent and Obscene
Gorguts - The Erosion of Sanity
Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten
Suffocation - Breeding the Spawn
Carcass - Symphonies of Sickness
Immolation - Here in After
Autopsy - Severed Survival
Autopsy - Mental Funeral
Incantation - Onward to Golgotha
Nile - Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka
Demigod- Slumber of Sullen Eyes
Decapitated - Winds of Creation
Malevolent Creation - The Ten Commandments
Unanimated - Ancient God of Evil
Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade
Vader - De Profundis

Atheist - Unquestionable Presence

sorry, couldn't list just 10.