“California’s Ripped to Shreds ascended to underground prominence on the back of a couple of killer LPs, 2018’s 埋葬, and 2020’s quality follow-up, 亂 (Luan). The brainchild of prolific guitarist/vocalist/composer Andrew Lee (Azath, Houkago Grind Time & a ton of other projects), Ripped to Shreds exhibit old school death metal soul and bloodthirst for carving a path that values the past, yet aims to forge ahead and cleave the opposition.” Shreddy McShredface rides again.
“For better and worse, I am a persistent bastard, so I best stay out of Phil Anselmo’s way. When I laid ears on advance track “Fallow,” from The Silver’s debut album Ward of Roses, I knew I had to have it. It took some extra badgering to snare promo, which the band thankfully provided. Boasting a line-up of Horrendous brothers Jamie and Matt Knox, along with Crypt Sermon’s Enrique Sagarnaga, and vocalist Nick Duchemin, The Silver is a side project destined to carve their own path.” Silver and gore.
“With heavyweights like Tomb Mold and Blood Incantation drowning in the love of the underground, proggy OSDM has never been so widely celebrated or practiced. If you’re a player in the death metal underground, that makes it an ideal time to switch focus from your nasty death metal band to your proggy death metal band and release your inscrutably titled debut album.” Void where prohibited.
“Blood Incantation’s 2016 debut, Starspawn, catapulted the sci-fi loving Denver crew into underground stardom. The album’s ambitious fusion of progressive and psychedelic elements into a beefy old school death core was incredibly well executed, smartly written, and addictive to boot, marking Blood Incantation as kindred spirits with legends Morbid Angel and Demilich, along with modern trailblazers like Horrendous. Some three years later Blood Incantation’s sophomore LP comes with a magnitude of hype and anticipation. Bottom line, Blood Incantation are considered a big fucking deal.” Mars needs metal.
![The Ridiculous Year o’ Death Metal Round-up, Part 2 [Things You Might Have Missed 2018]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/dmwm-list2-facebooksplash-768x403.png)
“2018 has been undeniably kind to death metal. So kind that it became impossible to pay the necessary attention to every release worthy of note. So, possessed of tyrannical temperament and iron resolve, Kronos and I have enlisted the help of the staff to cover those bands that went so unjustly overlooked.” – Even MORE death metal we missed!? Wow, we’re bad at this job.
We write about music all the time, so why shouldn’t we comment on the album art too? And so we proudly present GardensTale‘s Top Ten Album Covers of 2018! Bask in the high culture.
More lists for the list machine! The men who unwisely go by their real names, Mark Z. and L. Saunders boldly proclaim their best albums of 2018.
“So where does Horrendous go from here? And where do I go after recklessly hurling superlatives over their past two albums with the salivating enthusiasm of a heavy set man at a hot dog eating contest. One thing’s certain, expectations from the band’s bloated fan-base will be sky high after the three-year wait following Anareta.” Worship at this Horrendous Idol.
“Californian upstarts Skeletal Remains is a solid exponent of old school death, worshiping early ’90s (mostly) American death like Christians cherish the Bible.” Remains of the death day.
“Horrified is in a bit of an odd place. Parallels to Philadelphia death outfit Horrendous are apt, with Horrified’s first two albums delivering exactly the slabs of modernized Swedeath you might expect. Though 2016’s magnificent Of Despair put the band on the map, Horrified mastermind Dan Alderson himself immediately touted their next album as ‘something with an even larger and dynamic range of influences… more original and diverse than the material presented on Of Despair.'” Big words. Big album.
