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Last Active 01-08-23 8:51 am
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04.17.22 Pon's Top 50 ov2k2104.10.22 2021: Rejects ♦
01.21.21 Jac's Top 50 m/ ov2k20 ♦10.08.20 Every Ulcerate Song Ranked (Again)
05.19.20 some classical jamz05.03.20 some metal jamz
05.05.19 For BlushfulHippocrene ♦05.02.19 Recent 2019 jams
04.19.19 Some 2019 Classical ♦04.18.19 Some 2019 m/
01.16.19 Jac's Top 50 m/ ov2018 ♦07.25.18 Hard as Feck Riffs ♦
07.08.18 Classical in 2018 ♦04.23.18 Jac's (late) 1st Quarter 2018 ♦
12.27.17 Jac's Top 30 of 2017 ♦10.20.17 Classical in 2017 ♦
04.01.17 Every Ulcerate Song Ranked ♦03.29.17 Dissonant Tech
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Jac's Fav Metal Of Death

I've been wanting to do this list for a while and a lot of people have asked me over time so I'm finally going to pull my finger out and rank my 20 favourite death metal albumz! Just to be clear, this list is strictly for death metal, so no melodeath or progressive metal masquerading as death metal (Opeth, Cynic) will appear on it, even if I verily enjoy them. I also took a leaf rout of Hyp's book and chose to list just one album per band. So yeah, enjoy.
20Autopsy
Mental Funeral

In a lot of ways, Autopsy are the prototypical OSDM band, which is probably reflected in just how many old school revival acts try to take them off with questionable results. Mental Funeral is filthy, evil, no-frills death metal with riffs in abundance and Reifert's vocals are sick.
19Suffocation
Effigy of The Forgotten

Brutal death metal might carry a bit of a stigma but Effigy of The Forgotten succeeds in being more brutal than pretty much all of Suffocation's immitators in addition to being a riff-fest of the highest degree. This album has one of the thickest lower ends I've ever heard and then of course you have those beautiful Smith beats.
18Antediluvian
Through the Cervix of Hawaah

Overlooked album/band, these guys make some of the filthiest, grimiest blackened DM you'll ever hear, comparisons to Portal, Impetuous Ritual and Mitochondrion are common but even then it doesn't really describe the aural sludge that Antediluvian lay upon you. Their whole discog is littered with gems but their debut full length Through the Cervix of Huaauuueaaheawaaah best exemplifies what they go for as a band.
17Artificial Brain
Labyrinth Constellation

Colin Marston is the best producer in death metal today and this album showcases perfectly why, reverberant, organic and above all, extremely dynamic. But the production is really just the icing on the cake because the instrumentation and song-writing on this is superb and the whole thing sounds like a sci-fi adaptation of Gorguts, Baring Teeth and Demilich.
16Demilich
Nespithe

Speaking of which, again there really isn't a whole lot that can be said about this album that hasn't already been said a thousand times before. Antti Boman is obviously the most unique death metal vocalist of all time and one of the finest in
his own right as well. Furthermore the riffs on this album are probably the most demented you'll ever hear and anyone who says the only reason to listen to this is the vox is an idiot.
15Morbus Chron
Sweven

Recently overtook Labyrinth Constellation as my 2014 AOTY. While it's apparent right away that this album is of the highest calibre, it takes an unusually long time to ~grow~ on you. Just like Labyrinth Constellation, this album is extremely dynamic and the vocals are absolutely maniacal, reminding me of a certain van
Drunen character.
14Death
Human

For the longest time I considered Symbolic to be the best Death but Human just riffs infinitely harder. There's little I can say about this album (and band) that hasn't been said before, but I will say the combination of Reinert, DiGiorgio, Masvidal and of course Chuck is of a quality we will probably never see again.
13Pestilence
Consuming Impulse

Some have gotten close, but to this day nobody has been able to match the psychoticness of Martin van Drunen's vocals on this particular album. There are points where I'm convinced he's not actually saying the lyrics he's just screaming uncontrollably and I wouldn't have it any other way. The riffs are also of the
utmost quality and the riff halfway through "Suspended Animation" is a contender for my favourite metal riff ever.
12Atheist
Piece of Time

One of the very few albums on this list where atmosphere isn't really a deciding factor and instead its place is warranted simply thanks to the sheer quality of the riffs. Atheist were the absolute masters of reeling off riff after riff while still maintaining a sense of direction, and Piece of Time is their crown jewel, though it's
a really close call with Unquestionable Presence.
11diSEMBOWELMENT
Transcendence into the Peripheral

The heaviest album I've ever heard. I'm not sure what these guys did to achieve their sound but I'm thinking that maybe they used bridge cables for guitar strings or something. It's impossible to overstate just how monolithic this album truly sounds, and the clean guitars and various "twangs" and "bongs" give this album and eerie vibe that I sincerely doubt will ever be reproduced.
10Immolation
Close to a World Below

It wasn't really a question of whether Immolation would be on this list but where they'd fit in. Close to a World Below was the ultimate culmination of their sound, the number of riffs per song was reduced slightly but that only accentuated them in a way these guys never quite pulled again. The production actually gives the impression this was recorded in Hell and then there's Dolan's vox and Hernandez'
drumming which adds to the chaos it's all too damn much!
9Obliteration
Black Death Horizon

2013 was such an incredible year for death metal and music in general and this album stood out as one of the absolute finest. Sindre Solem is the best vocalist in modern death metal and conveys a feeling of genuine insanity, the riffs have a strong hardcore punk vibe and rule to no end and so does the drumming. I'm also not usually a solo man but if the solo in The Distant Sun isn't the best solo of the
decade so far I don't know what is.
8Adramelech
Psychostasia

Psychostasia isn't a technical marvel, or a genre-bending masterpiece or even particularly inventive any way, but it just has an intangibly evil atmosphere the likes of which I've rarely if ever heard before. The vocals are like some kind of false chord whispering incantation, the riffs, while incredibly infectious just feel "off", that's the best way I can describe them. Perhaps it's because it's so difficult to pinpoint what is so demented about this is why it works as well as it does, like an uncanny valley of metal.
7Blaspherian
Infernal Warriors of Death

This album does absolutely nothing original, in fact if I didn't know better I'd think it was straight from 1991, but that's precisely why it's so damn good. Hordes of bands come along trying to recapture that bare-bones OSDM sound, and if they don't fail miserably, still don't quite manage to make something as good as their
influences, Blaspherian are an exception. The production on this is as thick as cement, the vocals are deeper than the Hadal zone, and the riffs are absolutely relentless.
6Rippikoulu
Musta Seremonia

One of the best things about Finndeath is you can pick any particular album as your favourite and no one will argue with you, such was the quality of the scene circa 1990-1996. Although "sounds like it was recorded in a cave" is a pretty common description in OSDM, Musta Seremonia is one of the few albums to genuinely deserve it. The riffs and drums resonate with a force that needs to be heard to be believed, and the vocalist sounds like he gorges on the decaying remains of those silly enough to enter his quarters.
5Incantation
Onward to Golgotha

The prototypical caverncore album, which also remains the best 22 years later, every riff on Onward to Golgotha is tainted with a film of grime that no one has been able to recreate and probably never will. Craig Pillard may be a wanker but I'll be damned if these aren't some of the best gutterals in existence, and the drums are fast and complex but also muffled and sonorous and rule really hard. Every element of this album sounds like it has a purposeful place in a dusty cob web of human remains and pure evil, a synergetic amalgamation of things that never meant to see the light of day.
4Gorguts
The Erosion of Sanity

Including only one Gorguts album feels wrong because they've released four that could probably fit happily in my top 20, but Erosion still trumps the rest of their discog. Although it lacks most of the experimentation of Obscura and From Wisdom, Erosion still feels just as psychotic and is also much more comprehensible as a whole. It has probably the hardest riffs in the genre, and also has Luc Lemay's best vocal performance as well. The instrumentation, while grounded, is infused with a touch of that quirkiness which would become the focus of their later work, and so it strikes a balance of sorts.
3Gorement
The Ending Quest

Swedeath is similar to Finndeath in that it's highly atmospheric, but instead of using filth as a means to an end, the Swedes usually perfered a more ethereal approach, of which The Ending Quest is the perfect embodiment. Instrumentally, this album doesn't do anything particularly adventurous, but it has this completely inimitable eeriness that I've seldom heard in any album in any genre before. The drums are quiet and relatively basic, the rhythm guitar is crunchy but not overpowering, the vocals are guttural but unobtrusive and the leads are thin and reverberant. The Ending Quest seems build on stylistic paradoxes, in that everything that could otherwise be seen as a detriment actually helps accentuate an atmosphere that
can be simultaneously endearing as well as unsettling.
2Portal
Outre

Portal are truly one of a kind, although Impetuous Ritual and Grave Upheaval (both of whom share members with these guys) have similarities, nobody nails the dimension twisting atmosphere like Portal. This album feels like the soundtrack to a 1940s horror film if the sound track was death metal, and is one of the most unique and evil sounding experiences the world of metal has to offer. The twisted riffs and drumming fuse into a wall of sound that deliberately eschews dynamics so to be as punishing as possible. Outre feels utterly claustrophobic as a result, and the small moments of respite feel like pockets of fresh air in a dank and dimly lit penitentiary cell. However, Portal are perfectly conscious of human ears' craving for sonic relief, and make sure to keep these hushes as brief as possible, furthering the torment by
making sure you are aware of what you're missing.
1Ulcerate
Everything is Fire

Everybody should've seen this coming, but eh. Everything is Fire is the musical score to the apocalypse, living up to its name by crafting a soundscape of complete chaos and destruction. Although considered a tech death album, there is nothing ostentatious about this, there aren't even any solos. Every single note is as integral and purposeful as the next. I can't help but feel that although Jamie deserves every bit of praise he receives, people seem to forget about Michael Hoggard, who makes all that guitar magic happen. The chemistry that they share is completely invaluable, as all the composition, writing, editing, mixing and mastering is handled by the two of them, meaning they can approach an album with a clear vision and execute it without any interference. Although Vermis and Destroyers are both supreme albums, Everything is Fire towers over them and the rest of death metal as a testament what a handful of musicians can achieve.
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