1) the chasm - procession to the infraworld
2) dark moor - the hall of the olden dreams
3) krisiun - conquerors of armageddon
4) jacobs dream - s/t
5) griffar - of witches and celts
6) immolation - close to a world below
7) mortem - decomposed by possession
8) nifelheim - servants of darkness
9) hypnosia - extreme hatred
10) lykathea aflame - elvenefris
HMs for moonblood (although heavily derivative of TH-era darkthrone here they always have that special something which separates them, a passion and strangeness), cabal (great post-necrophagia project, highly rec'd if you love that band, early death, paul speckmann stuff etc), quicksand dream (the reissue was a rare blind pre-order from me and it'd be a bonafide classic if i could get into the vocals more), garden of shadows (among the best of those slower paced, evocative proto-melodeath bands from that era), nile, d666, feg, apollo ra (uneven but peaks really high), sorhin, etc
the chasm album is more straightforward than the mighty DEATHCULT and a clear step down, but it's also the closest they got to that style since, and another incredibly tense, wild and vivid adventure into the cosmos, as well as pretty damn consistent. the dark moor is exceptionally fluid, melodically inventive euro cheese with gorgeous vocals, it goes down like honey. the krisiun is tight, fluid, relentless death metal with supreme compositional skill that's criminally overlooked around these parts. jacobs dream is very cool prog-power in the early queensryche tradition. griffar is one of the great forgotten BM demos, very 'melodic' to the point of even evoking sacramentum. immolation possess a singular artistic voice that demands my attention whenever i hear it, amazing presence and potency. mortem are the kings of infernal '80s death metal, spin their albums and you can almost smell the smoke, taste the ash, feel the fires lick at your writhing body as you descend into satan's domain. nifelheim is a tribute to early black-thrash so good it surpasses some of the classics. hypnosia is prime death-thrash that deserves to be mentioned alongside the likes of massacra and merciless. never accuse me of being in-crowd again after that lykathea aflame pick, fuckheads.
