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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 19 |  | Alienation Mental
Ball Spouter
Not yet listened to: apparently another hidden gem of extremely strange techy death-grind. |
| 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. |
| 17 |  | Vuvr
Pilgrimage
Not yet listened to: apparently a hidden gem of heavily 'jazz' influenced (?) technical death metal from Czechia. |
| 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). |
| 15 |  | Brute Chant
Killer Each Of You
Not yet listened to: possibly another hidden gem of very 'out there' (groovy) technical death metal. |
| 14 |  | Neoandertals
Neanderthals Were Master Butchers
Not yet listened to: apparently another hiden gem of very 'out there' grindy/technical brutal death metal. |
| 13 |  | Orchidectomy
A Prelate's Attrition
Not yet listened to: apparently hidden gem of (technical and slamming) brutal death metal. |
| 12 |  | Humanity Falls
Ordaining the Apocalypse
Not yet listened to: obscure (but apparently quite highly rated elsewhere) technical/brutal/death-grind record. |
| 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++). Excited to finally check out Lykathea Aflame as well (probably long overdue). |
| 10 |  | Eschaton (USA)
Techtalitarian
The album's title in many ways speaks for itself: particulary 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 particulary 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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