Progressive/Technical Death Metal - Listening List
Wanted to share this preliminary list of technical, progressive, 'dissonant' and otherwise 'weird' death metal that I have been listening to recently, and variously enjoyed, as well as, mostly preceding that, some death metal on my growing listening list that I am, for now, quite excited to check out (organised in no particular order). Have focused here on slightly more obscure bands that, I think, deserve more attention than they have hitherto received. Feel free to add any additional recommendations based on what I have already listed here. |
| 80 |  | Labor Intvs
Sunken Crucible
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some devastatingly dark avant-gardistic heavily blackened deathly doomy metal from this Finnish DIY project (sounds like it has a particularly intriguing combination of sounds). |
| 79 |  | Crimson Massacre
The Luster of Pandemonium
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently a hidden gem of avant-gardistic technical death metal, heard it described as the closest one can get to an avant-garde progressive rock tech death fusion (colour me intrigued). |
| 78 |  | Order From Chaos
Stillbirth Machine
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently a hidden gem of old-school death metal (highly rated on this site also) which supposedly has strong blackened inflections and thrash/war metal inclinations. |
| 77 |  | The Levitation Hex
The Levitation Hex
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently a rather strange, possibly avant-gardistic, iteration of progressive death metal with supposedly stoner/psychedelic rock inflections (?) (sounds at least rather intriguing). |
| 76 |  | Uiv
Frigus
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently a new iteration of avant-gardistic blackened technical dissonant death metal with post-metal inflections (which might actually be more blackened than deathly but we will see). |
| 75 |  | Cabinet
Hydrolysated Ordination
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some nasty dissonance-inflected and death-doom tinged death/war metal (whose album title and track list titles strongly suggest one might be in for a good time). |
| 74 |  | Cosmophage
Sidereal Malignancy
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some tightly executed progressively inflected death metal from this quite recently released debut EP by this Brazilian outfit. |
| 73 |  | Harmony in Grotesque
Noumenon
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently rather strange avant-gardistic genre-bending technical doom death metal defined by extended genre-bending (incorporating funeral doom, thrash metal, blackened elements etc.). |
| 72 |  | Exuvial
The Hive Mind Chronicles - Part 1: Parasítica
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently ambitious, strongly progressively inflected technical death metal which, as I understand, belongs more to the Obscura (band, not record) side of the tech-death spectrum. |
| 71 |  | Khthoniik Cerviiks
SeroLogiikal Scars (Vertex of Dementiia)
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some vicious dissonance-inflected death/black metal from outer space, or the dark depths below, with progressive leanings (seen comparisons to Voivod as well). |
| 70 |  | Zvylpwkua
The Outlying Entities
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some fairly avant-gardistic blackened dissonant technical death metal with elements of jazzy free improvisation and, even, death doom inflections (?). |
| 69 |  | Vitriol (DEU)
Chrysalis
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some technical/dissonant death metal inflected with progressive, avant-gardistic inflections (same name as a thoroughly impressive American death metal band: also recommended).
P.S. Clearly the start of something (possibly better): poorly mixed/produced debut EP with a far too quiet muffled drum sound, not particularly competently performed vocal lines, and a fairly weak guitar tone: mildly enjoyed some of the jagged dissonance-inflected blackened death metal riffs, but these were sporadic. Quieter moments, including, especially, the extended kinda noisy, then largely acoustic, intro starting the second (and final) track, gratingly drag and add very little (~2.0). |
| 68 |  | SouphL
SouphL
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some experimental/avant-gardistic nasty technical death metal from, of course, Québec (which, if anything, is a rather positive sign: if you know, you know). |
| 67 |  | Shavasana
Shavasana
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some avant-gardistic dissonant technical brutal death metal from outer space (supposedly fusing most of my favourite death metal aesthetics into one: colour me intrigued).
P.S. After listening all the way through this 30-minute debut (3 times) I think I can say that this is a decidedly promising iteration of progressive/avant-gardistic technical dissonance-inflected spacious death metal which is at its strongest when it leans into these angular, jagged, intense bursts of structurally dense neck-bendingly groovy (blackened) tech-death flurries, but drags a little when it ventures into its quieter intermezzos and sometimes has a habit of flattening out its slow-moving heavier sections with smidgens of over-repetition. Tone/production amazing, bass work noteworthy (sound is incredible). Much potential (3.5+). |
| 66 |  | Ur Draugr
With Hunger Undying
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some progressive genre-bending death/black metal fusion (which could have just as easily ended up on the black metal list I have recently created); supposedly Opethian (?). |
| 65 |  | Polyptych
Defying the Metastasis
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some technical death metal with a strong blackened inflection and even some doom metal influences (wonderful artwork by the way). |
| 64 |  | Anabyss
Dehabilitation
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some rather proficient and refined progressive death metal, supposedly with some blackened inflections, from this particularly obscure New Zealand outfit (whose single record I had to add to the site myself when expanding this list). |
| 63 |  | Uzumaki (USA)
Knowledge of a Language One Has Never Learned
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some rather nasty avant-gardistic dissonant technical death metal fused with free improvisation, accopmanied by rather raw production (sounds right up my alley). |
| 62 |  | Once Them Edens
The Year Is One
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently another instantiation of proggy avant-gardistic (technical) death metal also including, so I have heard, black metal inflections and post-rock tinges. |
| 61 |  | Abhorrent Expanse
Gateways To Resplendence
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently a rare instantiation of a radical avant-gardistic fusion of technical death metal and avant-garde/free-form jazz (hence combining two of my favourite musical styles: colour my intrigued). |
| 60 |  | Growth (AUS)
Under the Under
Not listened to yet (new addition): this band's debut record absolutely blew me away, taking a particularly jagged, angular, and unrelentingly structurally dense approach to Ulcerate/Gorguts-inspired progressive dissonant death metal with, I am inclined to say, mathcore-esque edges, combining most of my favourite death-metal based sounds into a single release; even if this sophomore cannot live up to that debut I am sure it will probably hit a similar aesthetic and musical sweet spot. |
| 59 |  | Tetragrammacide
Primal Incinerators of Moral Matrix
Just finished a first listen to this debut full length from this Indian blackened noise death/war metal band: absolutely pummelling, immensely intense, impenetrably dense, extremely narly blackened deathly noise spirals that do blend together a little by the end (3.0+ nearing a 3.5). Will be checking the sophomore.
P.S. sophomore is even better: more technically and compositionally refined, even more death-metal oriented, just as unrelentingly devastating as the debut (3.5+). |
| 58 |  | Cranial Incisored
Rebuild: The Unfinished Interpretation of Irration
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some absolutely wild mathy, technical, brutal, dissonant deathgrind (great album title by the way). |
| 57 |  | Blasphemer
On the Inexistence of God
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some intense technical brutal death metal on this Italian band's debut record. |
| 56 |  | Exuviate
Exuviate
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently a hidden gem of mathy avant-gardistic technical brutal death metal constituting this obscure Holbrook-based outfit's only release. |
| 55 |  | Monochromatic Residua
Eternal Mountain
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently a rare instance of microtonal technical death metal from this Pittsburgh-based group's debut EP. |
| 54 |  | Thunraz
Incineration Day
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently a one-man sludgy/industrial death metal project. |
| 53 |  | Nucleus (USA-IL)
Entity
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some high-quality techy death metal from 'outer space.' |
| 52 |  | Vengeful
The Omnipresent Curse
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some intense technical death metal concluding with a 20+ minute closer featuring Luc Lemay (of Gorguts) on vocals: sounds right up my alley. |
| 51 |  | Aeon Of Horus
The Embodiment of Darkness and Light
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some very proggy (keys included) technical death metal. |
| 50 |  | Azooma
The Act of Eye
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some proggressive technical death metal from this Iranian outfit's only (full length) release. |
| 49 |  | Cambion
Conflagrate the Celestial Refugium
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some high-quality vicious technical death metal. |
| 48 |  | Aethyrvorous
Akephalic Palingenesis
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some dense, dark, dissonant (?) blackened death metal. |
| 47 |  | Chaos Inception
Vengeance Evangel
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently viciously intense blackened Morbid-angel-esque death metal. |
| 46 |  | Discordant Meditation
Tragic Creature
Not listened to yet (new addition): apparently some intensely vicious technical dissonant death metal (the band calls their sound 'psychotic death metal' on their Bandcamp page: colour me intrigued). |
| 45 |  | A'sh
לא שם
Not listened to yet (new addition which I had to add to the site myself): apparently some angular blackened dissonant death metal with sludgy inflections on this debut EP by Haifa-based outfit A'sh titled 'Not There'. |
| 44 |  | Ages Gone
Ages Gone
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently some avant-garde death metal from this obscure German band (their only full length release). |
| 43 |  | Bloody Sign
Chaos Echoes
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently some pretty avant-garde/strange (blackened) death metal. |
| 42 |  | Unbinarize
Nameless I Stand
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently some blackened dissonant death metal (with great bandname articulating a philosophical sentiment that I can fully get behind). |
| 41 |  | Psionic Madness
Warhead Crucifix
Not yet listened to (new addition which I had to add to the site myself): apparently some very filthy, very nasty, dissonant (brutal) death metal. |
| 40 |  | Abstractyss
Omnipresent Misanthropy
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently some very obscure dissonant death metal (but it has Total Dissonance Worship's sign of approval so colour me intrigued). |
| 39 |  | Okazaki Fragments
Abandoned
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently some very jagged, mathy technical deathgrind. |
| 38 |  | Last Sacrament
Enantiodromia
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently some techy microtonal death metal (colour me intrigued)!. |
| 37 |  | Luminosity
Nebulae
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently some pretty avant-garde technical brutal death metal. |
| 36 |  | Karnarium
Otapamo Pralaja
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently some high quality 'old school' Swedish death metal with dissonant inflections (?). |
| 35 |  | Hebephrenique
Decathexis
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently some pretty intense dissonant blackened death metal. |
| 34 |  | Daemogog
Yawning Expanse Yearning
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently some pretty great technical dissonant death metal. |
| 33 |  | Charnel Grounds
Molecular Entropy Examined in the Bowels of a Grea
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently some pretty great technical dissonant death metal also. |
| 32 |  | Barbed Wire Maggots
Aural Leprosy
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently another weird instantiation of technical brutal death metal. |
| 31 |  | Infamia
Infamia
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently almost like a free/avant jazz tech death fusion (colour me intrigued)! |
| 30 |  | Violent Dirge
Elapse
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently a hidden gem of 1990s Polish (proggy) tech death. |
| 29 |  | Virulence
A Conflict Scenario
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently a hidden gem of mathy, experimental (tech-)deathgrind. |
| 28 |  | Super Massive Black Holes
Calculations of the Ancients
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently another heavily jazz-influenced tech death record. |
| 27 |  | Fractal Point
The Bizarre Machinery Of Universe
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently a hidden gem of (strongly) jazz-fusion infused tech death. |
| 26 |  | Fields Of Elysium
In Ancient Contemplation
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently pretty straightforward (but pretty good) technical death metal. |
| 25 |  | Ferocity (GER)
Puzzled Into Various Spaces
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently a 1997 promotional demo from this obscure German outfit containing weird (jazz influenced?) proggy technical death metal. |
| 24 |  | Kuujeojabenojujanomiashikushija
The Hunting Boar! The Hunting Tyrant!
Not yet listened to (new addition: actually had to add this one to the site myself and, yes, that is the actual name of this band): apparently a really weird one-man avant-garde death metal project. |
| 23 |  | Quasidiploid
Deconstruction
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently a hidden gem of weird technical brutal death metal (also a possible Derrida reference? Sign me up). |
| 22 |  | Oksennus
Sokea idiootti
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently a hidden gem of weird experimental disso-death. |
| 21 |  | Karnak
Perverted
Not yet listened to (new addition): apparently a hidden gem of avant-garde technical death metal. |
| 20 |  | Protrusion
The Last Suppuration
Not yet listened to: apparently a particularly good contemporary reiteration of 'old school' death metal.
P.S. Very well-produced old-school death metal with some very appreciable guitar and bass tones and some occassionally nifty grooves. Other than that, however, it remains fairly by-the-numbers death metal whose bog standard DM-riffs/grooves often overstay their welcome and whose dynamic range remains rather limited to the same repeating set of mid-tempo grooves, accelerated blasts, and grimey doom-tinged passages, occasionally interspersed with variations of that cliché wailing DM guitar solo one has heard a thousand times over. Vapid (~2.5). |
| 19 |  | Alienation Mental
Ball Spouter
Not yet listened to: apparently another hidden gem of extremely strange techy death-grind.
P.S. On first listen: very exciting, absolutely unrelenting, jagged, wacky, incessantly structurally dense, hyper-dynamic technical brutal deathgrind whose quixotic forays into absurd genre-bending are perphaps its least appealling elements insofar as its primary strength lies in these impenetrably intense yet complexly layered techy grindy blasts, which, by the end, do start to blend together ever so slightly (a solid 3.5+). |
| 18 |  | Urushiol
Pools of Green Fire
Not yet listened to: apparently weird avant-garde/technical death metal debut record from this obscure New York outfit.
P.S. After listening: I can appreciate this record's willigness to transgress established genre conventions and go in a different sonic direction with its continual use of these hard-to-describe wailing guitar noises. Other than that however, and on account of the dreadful production/mixing (with the fairly standard death metal drumwork and harsh vocals pushed into a largely unintelligible thin mush), there is not much that I find particularly appealing about this record: indeed, even its utilisation of strange guitar noises eventually comes across as repetitive. The novelty wears off quickly and what is left beyond that is, it appears, fairly by-the-numbers, messy, dreadfully produced DM (~2.0). |
| 17 |  | Vuvr
Pilgrimage
Not yet listened to: apparently a hidden gem of heavily 'jazz' influenced (?) technical death metal from Czechia.
P.S. On first listen this sounds like a less developed, less intense version of Atheist's titular proggy jazz fusion approach to technical death metal: some intriguing nuggets of musical complexity and compositional unpredictability, though the contrasting worlds of quirkiness and metallic aggresion are not always fused as effectively as they could be in my view (approximately a 3.0). |
| 16 |  | Florid Ekstasis
Trepanning
Not yet listened to: full debut record of avant-garde/technical death metal by 'metal music theory professor' Calder Hannan (heard only a few fragments from this but those were incredible).
P.S. Exemplary instantiation of avant-gardistic heavily dissonance-inflected expansive hyper-technical progressive death metal whose extensive explorations of textural complexity and, especially, temporal displacement and advanced metric modification set it apart from much of even the most angular death metal: spacy production provides a cavernous envelopment wherein extremely jagged winding sequences of spiralling metric movements tear apart any sense of temporal grounding. Such disintegrative complexity is complemented by dis/harmonic fragments at times almost approaching an eerie 'beauty' (which if anything, detracts perhaps a little, at times, from the record's ominous textures). Quieter moments can fall flat, indicating unmet potential to extremify further (solid 4.0+). |
| 15 |  | Brute Chant
Killer Each Of You
Not yet listened to: possibly another hidden gem of very 'out there' (groovy) technical death metal.
P.S. Fairly enjoyable, somewhat whacky, at times appeallingly jagged, technical death metal with a (very) strong bass emphasis, a bass played with remarkable technical skill and verve, whose cleaner experimental forays leave a lot to be desired and which, despite its emphasis on complex instrumental interchange falls, at times, prey to over-repetitiveness and structural flatness. Indeed, the guitar, drum, and vocal work are far less impressive than the bass, here, which cannot alone carry this otherwise quirky techy slab of DM beyond mild enjoyability (~3.0). |
| 14 |  | Neoandertals
Neanderthals Were Master Butchers
Not yet listened to: apparently another hiden gem of very 'out there' grindy/technical brutal death metal.
P.S. Frankly disgusting drum-and-bass brutal death metal filled with intriguingly angular yet barbaric grooves formulated through extremely messy drumming and twisty basslines with the nastied tone I may have ever heard: the minimal instrumentation and shitty production on the drums render this thinner that I would prefer for this style of music (where it is all about the density for me); gurgly vocals are proficiently performed but too low in the mix for my liking. Mildly enjoyable in the end even if it starts to drag at several points (~3.0). |
| 13 |  | Orchidectomy
A Prelate's Attrition
Not yet listened to: apparently hidden gem of (technical and slamming) brutal death metal.
P.S. On first listen: fairly by-the-numbers at most mildly techy (slamming) brutal death metal with that rough muddy sound, unintelligible gurgly vocal style, relentless blasting, violent breakdowns and atonal over-distorted guitar playing: some interesting tempo play and nasty brutal riffage, but not much more than that - bit of a one trick pony (~2.5). Might nonetheless return to re-evaluate. |
| 12 |  | Humanity Falls
Ordaining the Apocalypse
Not yet listened to: obscure (but apparently quite highly rated elsewhere) technical/brutal/death-grind record.
P.S. After my first listen: very exciting unrelentingly intense technical deathgrind with immense (if sometimes poorly recorded) drumming (unfortunately not helped by the strangly muffled kickdrum sound) that tears the listener all over the place, never sits still, and satisfyingly pushes the extremity of structural density (3.5+). |
| 11 |  | Appalling Spawn
Freedom, Hope And Fury
Currently listening to, and very much enjoying: grindy, techy, sometimes melodic, progressive death metal from some of Lykathea Aflame's former members. Unrelentingly intense.
P.S. Yes, this is some of the better metal I've listened to recently. Weird, twisty, unrelenting, diverse and unpredictable, powerfully dynamic: everything I look for in my death metal (for now at least 3.5++). |
| 10 |  | Eschaton (USA)
Techtalitarian
The album's title in many ways speaks for itself: particularly competent if aesthetically fairly standard/by-the-numbers technical death metal of the shreddy, darkly sci-fi inspired kind (~3.0). |
| 9 |  | Ecchymosis
Ritualistic Intercourse Within Abject Surrealism
In many ways fairly standard if well-executed (technical) brutal death metal, of the unrelentingly structurally dense type where the compositions and their notes feel like they are constantly disintegrating (~3.0). |
| 8 |  | Hexrot
Formless Ruin of Oblivion
Impenetrably dense, incessantly dark, unrelentingly aggressive, frankly twisted dissonant/techy/proggy death metal debut which holds much promise for the future of this band (3.0+ nearing a 3.5). |
| 7 |  | Waxwolf
Our Love
Avant-garde progressive death metal record whose strangely innovative approach to the genre in many ways defies description, does not always (fully) succeed, but offers up some particularly rivetingly complex musical nuggets (3.0+). |
| 6 |  | Synaptic
Enter the Void
Very techy, very proggy, death metal debut record from a German outfit showing (great) promise in crafting intricately woven, structurally dense, if not altogether innovative, death metal compositions (~3.0). |
| 5 |  | Somnium de Lycoris
In the Failing Hours
Extremely ambitious, grandiosely progressive technical death metal with an eye towards grand expansive soundscapes filled with especially complex instrumental layering and extended guitar shredding (3.0+). |
| 4 |  | Serdce
The Alchemy Of Harmony
For now, I think this is the most accomplished version of this band's grandly progressive, hyper-technical approach to death metal: extended virtuousic instrumental passages winding through unpredictable song structures in which the bass especially shines (3.0 + nearing a 3.5). |
| 3 |  | Zephid
Manifestation of Chaos
A very exciting relentlessly intense technical brutal death metal record with sharply polished production and a well-developed sense of how to reconcile structural complexity with neck-breaking grooves (~3.5). |
| 2 |  | Burning Palace
Elegy
Very exciting relentlessly intense technical/dissonant death metal album which constitutes a massive step up from the band's, in my view, relatively mediocre debut record (3.5+ nearing a 4.0). |
| 1 |  | Aphelion Entity
Aphelion Entity
Narly, bass-heavy technical brutal death metal from New York, excellently produced by Colin Marston, with metal music theory professor Calder Hannan on guitar. Very promising debut EP (3.0+ nearing a 3.5). |
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