Death metal’s legacy is inextricably wrapped around the works of Death. Their final release The Sound of Perseverance is now very olde, so let’s reflect on what once was.
Death
Disguised Malignance – Entering the Gateways Review
“I’ve talked at length about my distaste for overly progressive music, and no genre draws my ire for incorporating unnecessary fluff more than death metal. I’d even go a step further and say that I really don’t enjoy much “beauty” or “fun” in my death metal at all; just give me the raw, stinking sewage and keep your melodic and atmospheric death metals. Of course, this is all just personal preference, but I can’t stand when bands like Blood Incantation, Tomb Mold, or even the mighty Death add so much experimentation that the songs cease to exist as songs, becoming instead exercises for demonstrating technical ability and/or progressive sensibility.” Ugly down to the death bone.
Blood Oath – Lost in an Eternal Silence Review
“There was a dark time in the 80 when death metal was unknown to the masses, a mere potentiality. The early output from Possessed and Hellhammer/Celtic Frost helped define its borders, and the ripping intensity of Dark Angel and Slayer filled them with anger and aggression. All these disparate elements pissing in the same ghatly gene pool would eventually birth the abomination we all know and love, which would be spearheaded by Death and pushed outward into progressive vistas. That strange journey from tortured birth to shambling early adulthood is captured quite quaintly on the debut full-length Lost in an Eternal Silence by Chile’s Blood Oath.” Old blood, new death.
Tomb Mold – The Enduring Spirit Review
A stealth Tomb Mold release that caught us off guard requires a double fisted countermeasure. Prepare for twice the number of moldy opinions about The Enduring Spirit.
Yer Metal Is Olde: Cynic – Focus
“Dolph does Focus, who could have seen that coming? Certainly not a ramshackle group of kids in Florida who drank death metal in the wild and jazz fusion in the heat of endless study and rehearsal.” We said FOCUS!
Till the Dirt – Outside the Spiral Review
“Till the Dirt is comprised of Atheist members Shaefer, guitarist Jerry Witunsky, and bassist Yoav Ruiz-Feingold, as well as Soreption guitarist Ian Waye and Fermentor drummer Dylan Marks. With an Atheist-heavy lineup, what can we expect from Till the Dirt? Well, death metal with nu-metal was not on my Bingo card.” Things that should stay buried.
Dripping Decay – Festering Grotesqueries Review
“Imagine taking fecal samples from early days Carcass, Exhumed, and Autopsy and smearing them all on rye toast. The titanic shit sandwich you’d create would be Portland’s own Dripping Decay. Why you would be smearing fecal samples on toast in the first place, I don’t know, but it seems appropriate considering the cesspool that Dripping Decay drips and spews all over their Festering Grotesqueries debut.” Rip and drip.
Horrendous – Ontological Mysterium Review
“Between twenty-twelve and twenty-eighteen, Philadelphia’s Horrendous morphed from a straightforward old school death unit into a sophisticated and elite progressive death metal force, boasting a trio of gripping LPs on the back of a solid debut that hinted at Horrendous’ potential without fully preparing listeners for their stunning evolution.” Victory and mutation.
Crypta – Shades of Sorrow Review
“In 2021, Brazil’s Crypta unexpectedly tripped my radar with rancid debut platter Echoes of the Soul, a ripping slab of thrashy death metal. It ripped so hard, in fact, that shortly after I covered the beast for June 2021’s Filter, AMG The Man, The Myth, The Legend saw fit to award it a Runner Up spot for the Record(s) o’ the Month and later his #9 spot on his Top 10(ish). Two years and two months later, Crypta return with their follow-up, Shades of Sorrow, a record which several of the staff, myself included, highly anticipated.” Rocket from the Crypta!
VoidCeremony – Threads of Unknowing Review
“The ghost of Kronos past summarized on the previous word count abusing outing Entropic Reflections Continuum: Dimensional Unravel that “the parts are all there, but they’re not strung together in a sensible way.” So the real question for VoidCeremony is what’s changed? Certainly, it’s not the adherence to the progressive death metal laid out by our forefathers of late Death, Domination-era Morbid Angel, or Pestilence—though the production here is spacious yet modern, but the sound is as dusty and indulgent as you would assume.” When you noodle into the void…
