Death Metal

[CiG]

Pretty crazy how simply changing the vocal structure makes it sound like a totally different track.

 

[CiG]

Estonian brutal/technical death metal, pretty much Suffocation-worship. Found them through reading an interview with Rain from Neoandertals where he links a website archiving all Estonian metal. Unfortunately only one non-live MP3 still existed so I downloaded it and put it on Youtube myself.

This is fucking crushing shit, I hope the other promo track resurfaces somewhere soon.

 

[CiG]

So I was checking out some Devilyn and discovered that they used to be this band and in '94 recorded a really killer demo heavy on the bass guitar and some killer adventurous drumming. Good classic Polish death metal.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Anyone want a redeemable code for last years Skinless album?

 

[jimmy101]

Pretty crazy how simply changing the vocal structure makes it sound like a totally different track.

Gotta get around to listening to Created to Kill.

 

[CiG]

It's good shit man, pretty short too.

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

Man, Incantation gets me all kinds of excited
Missing a few. Gonna make a Relapse order on Friday

 

[morguelord]

NOTE: I'll be doing this in two or three posts probably. Has anyone else noticed an incredible renaissance of sick old school death lately? I feel as though the tides have officially turned from echoing black/death, caverncore, Incantation clones, and weak Swedeath ripoffs back to valuing true sickness, actual OLD SCHOOL sounding death metal with riffs and shit. The main locus of this event seems, to me, to be the American West Coast, specifically California, Oregon, and Washington. Let's break this down a bit. Cali has always had a big scene, boasting probably the highest amount of death metal bands of any state, going all the way back to Autopsy up to the Golden Age of Brutal death, spearheaded by Cali bands like Disgorge, Decrepit Birth, Severed Savior, etc., but what history really interests me is that of OR and WA. Washington's two classicks to me would be Drawn and Quartered:



and Infester, arguably one of the most absolutely foul albums in existence.



Oregon's biggest contributions to what I'm seeing today would probably be the Body Bag demos (which I've definitely posted here before), a string of ultra-nasty, borderline 90s brutal death shitz:



and Murdergod's '96 demo God Destroyer, an unbelievably filthy little excursion into hell.



I'm not even certain if any of these releases had any effect on the present sickness coming out, but I can't help but view them as some sort of spiritual ancestors to what is currently happening. There were obviously a lot of bands I didn't mention that were probably integral to the development of the scenes there (Victims of Internal Decay being a big one in OR) but I feel like the auditory connection is the more important takeaway here. The next post will be highlighting the resurgence of the incredible scene in the pacific northwest.

 

[morguelord]

In the past half-decade or so, the PNW scene has fucking EXPLODED with a lot of sick bands. Now, there was an influx of a few bands a little bit before that, but it was a totally different sound. In this instance, I'm referring to bands like Triumvir Foul, Ritual Necromancy, Shroud of the Heretic, Sempiternal Dusk etc.; good stuff, of course, but it was a different style, and hadn't full grown yet into the blistering beast it is today. Instead of focusing on slightly doomy, Incantation-based death metal, there's a common thread of focusing much more on RIFFS and being stylistically much more openly barbaric, less atmospheric. Here's a sample of what the scene is putting out, I'm certain you've all heard at least some of these. Sorry for the ultra post, I've just been really hype about this scene lately. I've put an asterisk next to my favorite ones. Let's take it state by state, starting with Oregon:

Ossuarium


*Torture Rack


Thanamagus


Grave Dust


Petrification


Autophagy


*Coffin Rot


Disembowel (whose full length is coming out this year on Maggot Stomp and looks SICK)
https://wearedisembowel.bandcamp.com/releases

Extraneous


*Fetid


Gash


Now for Washington, let's start with *Burn Pile
https://burnpile.bandcamp.com/

*Cerebral Rot


Cavurn


Mortiferum


Cauterized


Onto California, starting with Skulls
https://skulls666.bandcamp.com/

*Mortal Wound


*Calcemia (who stylistically is much less overall barbaric, more intelligent and technical, but still super old school; but like Gorguts, Brutality type shit; plus they play tons of shows with all these other bands, so I lump them together. Guitarist also plays in Zealotry)


Ensepulcher


Crematory Stench (same guitarist from Calcemia that's also in Zealotry)


*Encoffinized


Malignant


FUCK that was a lot. I told you there was a shit ton and I'm sure I'm leaving out a bunch. Part 3 coming shortly.

 

[morguelord]

I think one scene that has really helped this wave of especially rotten-sounding death metal is the Danish scene, and all-too-often forgotten and ignored community; in particular, one band: Undergang. Undergang has been around for a while but with how much they've been touring the States and the lineups they've been on (especially with ultra hyped bands like Spectral Voice and Blood Incantation, but that's a conversation for another day), I think they've really gained a lot of traction, and they certainly exemplify overly-putrid OSDM. Maniac frontman David Mikkelsen has his bloodsoaked fingers in every possible orifice of the scene as well: running Extremely Rotten Productions, helping organize Killtown DeathFest, doing artwork and logos for bands, the guy's a fuckin' madman. If there's any one person responsible-ish for propagating this "movement" (I guess), it'd be that fuckin' guy.

Overall, Denmark has always produced bands that tend to favor raunchy, swaggering mid-paced riffing, and impressively deep vocals, which while I can't really verify that it's had any kind of influence on the current state of things happening, I can't help but find parallels, so let's dig into Denmark's history a bit. Everyone knows the mighty Iniquity and their masterpiece, Serenadium...


...but how many people know the sorta-side-project, Swollen? Incredible riff structures here, top notch song writing.


Members of Iniquity have played in about ever other Danish band in existence (they were like a Danish Sinister for a while hahaha), including but not limited to Thorium:


Eciton (huuuuuuge, swaying grooves here too)


Corpus Mortale


Konkhra


Some other really notable bands from Denmark's past include Illdisposed


Usipian (this is an all around incredibly tight album, fans of Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Immolation, stand up and be counted)


I could go on and on, Detest, Ferocity, Lustration, The Cleansing, Dreadlord, Dominus, Infernal Torment, Feticide, Panzerchrist, etc., you get the point, it's always been sick. What really kinda brings this full circle is the fact that the Danish scene is rearing its ugly, deformed head once more, experiencing its own resurgence. Compared to the Pacific Northwest, however, this one eschews quantity for quality; they may not have as many bands, but I KNOW these are names you'll know, very talked about albums for their own respective years. Such as Phrenelith, who also feature David Mikkelsen:



Hyperdontia (technically half of the band is turkish, members of Burial Invocation, Decaying Purity, Engulfed. another Mikkelsen project)


the aforementioned Undergang


Wormridden (yet ANOTHER DM band, this time he paired up with the guy from Anatomia in Japan)


Mold (last Mikkelsen band, I promise)


Sulphurous


Taphos


Stylistically, a little more varied, but definitely a scene on the upswing, and like I said, some definite similarities to be found. Conclusion next.

 

[morguelord]

Lastly, this definitely isn't a movement limited to Denmark and the west coast of America, there's bands all over typifying this type of shit. I would be absolutely remiss if I didn't mention the magnanimous efforts of Maggot Stomp records, a label putting out a ton of sick stuff, including Encoffinized, Mortal Wound, Malignant, and Disembowel from the previous posts, as well as Gutless from Australia (HIGHLY recommended):



A re-release of the recent Malignant Altar demo, which is some super nasty shit as well, described by the band as "downtuned mid-era Morbid Angel" or "MA meets Scattered Remnants", which is a wild description


and Rotted from Chicago, whose album Pestilent Tomb you may remember; they've switched over to MS since then.


One thing I love about some of the shit coming out as a result of this trend is the combination of filthy old school death metal with almost-brutal death, like 90s demos and stuff, especially seeing as how that specific style is what my own band attempts to replicate. One such band is Australia's Vile Apparition, from members of Sewercide and the aforementioned Gutless.


I've already mentioned Torso from Finland in this thread previously, but they certainly fit in with the style I'm talking about.


OK well there's my shpiel. I guess that's enough for today. I hope I was able to highlight the changes and trends I've noticed in death metal accurately, as well as maybe show you guys some new bands.

 

[CiG]

Killer posts man, spent the good part of my morning blasting the links I didn't know already. Murdergod, Ossuarium, Thanamagus, Grave Dust, Extraneous, Burn Pile, Cavurn, Thorium, Eciton, Corpus Mortale, Konkhra, Usipian, Sulphurous... all new shit to my ears.

Great job at fucking pulling this narrative together too, because I absolutely hear the similarities between these bands and the Dutch influence on this new PNW movement of riff-obsessed shit.

I need to give that whole Ossuarium album a listen now, since it's out, and it absolutely crushed me based on the first few tracks I listened to. I'm not a huge fan of death/doom or just slow paced death metal mostly because it just plods along uninterestingly most of the time and lazily shits out bloated riffs that suck balls, but Ossuarium has fucking RIFFS.

 

[Krow]

I bought that Ossuarium album along with some other 20BS stuff and yeah it kicks ass for sure. Was playing it in my car this morning and evening on my way home.

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

Even my dumbass likes that Ossuarium album
I need to buy it

 

[Anom@nder Rake]

Those Body Bag and Murdergod tracks were good stuff. I've been listening to a lot of Suffocation and Cryptopsy lately and those tracks were exactly the type of death metal I've been looking for

 

[morguelord]

Thanks, I'm really stoked you guys dug it. Feel free to offer more feedback, the whole reason I posted all that bullshit was to spur discussion.

AR if you're looking for more shit like Cryptopsy, check out this Canadian album as well.

 

[Phylactery]

Those Body Bag and Murdergod tracks were good stuff. I've been listening to a lot of Suffocation and Cryptopsy lately and those tracks were exactly the type of death metal I've been looking for

The Murdergod sounds a bit too much like Suffocation don’t you think? That track sounds a lot like Liege of Inveracity to me, with a filthy production.

 

[morguelord]

I found another super sick Oregon band from the 90s yesterday that I feel is worth adding. Check out Thrombus if you want a little more history.

 

[CiG]

Digging around and came across a Portland band myself that sounds kinda like Dying Fetus and Pyrexia. Drugs, violence and death metal.

 

[morguelord]

I knew that was gonna be Bunk Dope before the preview loaded, just on the description lol. The only reason I didn't include them was because they didn't release an album until 2000. I have the other album besides the one you posted and it's super sick too.