GMD Poll: Death's Discography Ranked

[Phylactery]

I don't know how you can rank Leprosy way above Scream Bloody Gore. They're very similar. I think Leprosy is better as well, but there's not a lot in it.

I guess the same logic could be used against me with RtL and MoP, but I think Leprosy and SBG are much closer in sound and atmosphere than those two. Leprosy is just slightly more developed.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

I don't know how you can rank Leprosy way above Scream Bloody Gore. They're very similar. I think Leprosy is better as well, but there's not a lot in it.

They're similar in style but Leprosy is much higher in quality stronger. SBG is solid, but there's only a few songs where I'm like "Fuck yeah, I love this track," while most of Leprosy is top tier stuff. "Left to Die," "Pull the Plug," "Open Casket" and "Choke on It" are some of the greatest death metal tracks ever written. Even the tracks I love on SBG don't approach that level of quality. Also, the lyrics on Leprosy are far, far superior. While SBG is mostly horror movie stuff, Leprosy is one of the most chilling and unsettling realist examinations of death I've heard ("Forgotten Past" and "Primitive ways being the exceptions). A lot of these songs vividly describe people dying without either sympathy or malice. It's just a raw description of what awaits us all.

 

[CiG]

Even though I prefer Scream Bloody Gore by quite a bit (I love my death metal sloppy and mindless) I definitely see value in your description of the difference between both albums, especially the latter part.

Leprosy looks at death in such a matter-of-fact way.

 

[Phylactery]

That's fair. I hadn't really considered the difference in lyrics myself. But for me, the best tracks off SBG do rank up with Leprosy's best. Leprosy is just slightly more consistent. Glad to see you mention "Open Casket" as that's always been my fave from the album. Fucking love those double bass sections. I've kinda always wished the song ended at around 4:15, though. After the scream of OPEN CASKETTTARGGGHHHHHH.

But then SBG has this:



I'm not the biggest fan of Chuck's vocals, but he sounds pretty great in this song. DIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#7 The Sound of Perseverance (1998)

Average points per vote: 2.3/7

The Sound Of Perseverance is like a highlight reel of the coolest riffs ever.

The Sound of Perseverance has the potential to infect you with AIDS though.

I'll be sure to wear my rubber while listening.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#6 (T) Spiritual Healing

Average points per vote: 3.81/7

First Place Votes: 3

Spiritual Healing is the definitive Death album IMO.

Spiritual Healing is heavy and sick as hell.

I love the rest of them, except for Spiritual Healing. It's like a dog turd in a rose garden.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#6 (T) Human (1991)

Average points per vote: 3.81/7

Death's album Human is progressive death metal at it's best.

tbh Human made me dislike Death immensely. Before they released Human I was more fond of Death than MA but that all changed then...

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#4 Individual Thought Patterns (1993)

Average points per vote: 3.9/7

First Place Votes: 2

Individual Thought Patterns. Man, what awesome bass...

Steve Digiorgio is god.
I especially liked his work on Death's "Individual Thought Patterns".

Death reached it's peak with Human or Individual Thought Patterns. I think they went from good to great back down to ok.

Individual Thought Patterns is a mess...

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#3 Scream Bloody Gore (1987)

Average points per vote: 4.2/7

First Place Votes: 3

scream bloody gore has that cool song about zombies

Shove your lists up your arse folks! Where the FUCK is Scream Bloody Gore?

1. Death - Scream Bloody Gore

Scream Bloody Gore...

Zombie..... RIT-CHOO-AAAAAALLL!!!!

 

[Baroque]

Drink from goblet, goblet of goooooorrrre!

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#2 Symbolic (1995)

Average points per vote: 4.4/7

First Place Votes: 3

Symbolic single-handedly destroys everything Morbid Angel has ever written.

'95 belongs to Symbolic. that is the only correct answer. 100% fact

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#1 Leprosy (1988)

Average points per vote: 5.6/7

First Place Votes: 5

Leprosy is almost flawless though. It's amazing how Leprosy and Spiritual Healing have so much in common, yet one is completely fresh and inspired, and the other one just a shadow.

Leprosy is to me the height of death metal. Just heavy, groovy and severe. The lyrics are also top notch- just direct, existential confrontations with death, without appealing to shock rock imagery.

 

[Baroque]

Not bad! That Top 3 is hard to disagree with, although TSoP and Human should be 4 and 5.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Definitely the closest poll, though the final results were roughly what I expected. 5 of 7 albums got first place votes and 4 out of 7 got last place votes.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

hah i called it!

 

[Phylactery]

Black Friday said: ↑
Symbolic single-handedly destroys everything Morbid Angel has ever written.

What a terrible opinion. Even Death's best albums don't destroy Altars or Blessed, nevermind one of their weakest efforts.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

I've tried and tried with Morbid Angel. I've listened to their old shit, I've listened to their new shit, and I've seen them live. None of it is very impressive. I can at least appreciate Altars of Madness at this point from a purely technical standpoint, and the solos are almost always good, but I've heard nothing from them that is on par with Death's better works, of which Symbolic is certainly included.

 

[CiG]

Neither band destroys each other, claiming such a thing implies a chasm of quality between both bands and that is just fucking absurd.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Morbid Angel was more creative in terms of riffcraft and arrangement at their best, but was generally much more inconsistent on both a song-by-song basis and an album-by-album basis (and Death was already inconsistent on the latter point). Death was also more significant in pioneering the fundamentals of death metal, whereas Morbid Angel tended to rely more on thrash/Slayer-derived riffs with their significance more spiritual. Overall I'd take Death if just for Leprosy, but both deserve props albeit with large asterisks next to them.

 

[Phylactery]

Not as big as a chasm, but I definitely heavily favour Morbid Angel. My fave Death albums (Leprosy and SBG) are 8-8.5/10 for me whereas Altars and Blessed are 10s. I've been thinking about why this is, and it's the atmosphere I guess. The cosmic horror of Altars and the sophisticated satanism of Blessed appeal to me more than what early Death were going for. MA also have that timeless quality for me and I find them to be far more memorable. I rarely want to listen to Death, but MA is still a semi frequent listen. Also I find David Vincent to be a much more charismatic, convincing and overall better vocalist than Chuck. At least when he was at his best.