Old School Death Metal

Oraculum – Sorcery of the Damned Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on October 28, 2014 in 2014, Chilean Metal, Death Metal, Invictus Productions, Reviews, Death Metal, 6 comments

“I’ll be the first to admit that I truly enjoy the old school death metal (OSDM) revival that seems to have been going on forever in the metal scene. That said, it does have its fair share of problems. Too often bands hopping on the OSDM train will focus on and nail down the cavernous murk that helped define classics like Onward to Golgotha and Diabolical Conquest, but forget that atmosphere was only half the battle…” The OSDM train just keeps chooglin on down the line, but do you still want a ticket to ride?

Rex Shachath – Sepulchral Torment Review

By Alex Franquelli on September 11, 2012 in 2.0, 2012, Death Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, 1 comment

A band with no past is not necessarily a band without a future. But a band which doesn’t look at the future is surely one which lives in the past. With regards to the present, if you title your album Sepulchral Torment and you play old-school death metal, well, there is apparently not much to be said. Rex Shachath is a band with a good hand playing an old game not many people appreciate anymore, but it does it with style and you can’t help but recognise it.

Horrendous – The Chills Review

By Angry Metal Guy on January 2, 2012 in 2012, 3.0, American Metal, Dark Descent Records, Death Metal, Death Metal, 2 comments

In the last few years, old school death metal has seen a resurgence in the underground. Gone are the bands trying to blast their way into oblivion by copying the NYDM sound, no more does every death metal band in the scene want to sound like Origin or Hate Eternal. Instead, Entombed and Death have become the ideal and this revitalization has been welcome to these Angry Metal Ears. I find it distinctly more giving to listen to the crunchy riffs and the cavelike production values than what a lot of modern death metal has become. But as has been noted, like any trend these things start to get too saturated and the listener tends to cool a bit on the new material that’s coming out.

Deus Otiosus – Murderer Review

By Angry Metal Guy on November 9, 2011 in 2011, Danish Metal, Death Metal, FDA Rekotz, Reviews, Death Metal, 4 comments

When you hear the phrase “old-school death metal,” you pretty much know what to expect. You can rattle off the usual list of influences (Death, Entombed, Autopsy, etc.) by heart, and you can envision the sound in your mind without hearing a single note. There’s about 9 thousand bands that are playing this style today, and neither you or I give a fuck about them because it was already done 20 years ago, and better. So when Danish band Deus Otiosus describes their debut full-length, Murderer, as “old-school death metal,” you know what you’re in for, right?

Hail of Bullets – On Divine Wings Review

By Angry Metal Guy on November 8, 2010 in 2010, 4.0, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Metal Blade, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, 2 comments

Ah, war. Apparently metal guys never get sick of writing about it. And since Hail of Bullets has apparently decided to become the History Channel of heavy metal bands, I guess it’s appropriate that the band write a concept record about the Second World War, specifically seeming to focus on the Japanese and the war in the Pacific; which, indeed, is the most largely ignored part of the war because it involved fewer Nazis and a lot more Japanese guys. But lots of war did happen there, casualties were indeed quite high and of course the whole shit ended with probably one of the most inhumane acts in the history of the world which is not without its controversies to this day (such as, did the US bomb Japan because of a translation error?).