|
User
Reviews 123
Approval 96%
Soundoffs 103
News Articles 20
Band Edits + Tags 14
Album Edits 26
Album Ratings 1245
Objectivity 73%
Last Active 04-17-22 12:08 pm
Joined 01-02-11
Review Comments 3,142
| My 10 formative death metal albums
10 albums that got me into death metal. Think all of them are still great, even if they're not my favourites anymore | | 1 |  | Morbid Angel
Altars of Madness
Guess this one is probably very obvious and a common "first dm album" sorta thing, but Altars of Madness had the amazing mix of catchy riffing and the trademark sinister Morbid Angel feeling. Fairly wild, but not so dissimilar from Slayer or other heavier thrash, so an easy entry point. | | 2 |  | Suffocation
Pierced from Within
Used to listen to this one near religiously. It's still the best brutal death metal album by a pretty wide margin (well, except Effigy I suppose), with the thick, heavy production and intricate riff work. Excellent starting point for tech death and brutal death metal, and even for other lighter forms of dm. | | 3 |  | Malevolent Creation
Retribution
Whilst their members all fit the template of "racist wasteman" pretty well, it is hard to deny that Retribution was a baller record. The riffs are present and they certainly are the riffiest of riffs. Would be nice if the band weren't knobs but alas. | | 4 |  | Resurrection
Embalmed Existence
Whilst a pretty obscure album as these go, I heard Embalmed Existence very early on in my experiences with the genre and it definitely scored a lot of points with me. The main big selling point is the instrumental synergy, with really catchy lead work as a result of very tight intermingling with the drums. The whole feeling of the album is very "neat", with riffs being well complimented by tight, smart drumming from the legendary Alex Marquez. | | 5 |  | Dismember
Like an Ever Flowing Stream
Still one of my favourite albums and probably the one I'd most likely cite as being the best death metal album ever, alongside maybe None So Vile and From Wisdom to Hate. Even this early on, Dismember had a better idea of how to implement more melodic aspects into their somewhat punky, angry swedish death metal template. Really the big factor that elevates this above their contemporaries is the level of professionalism on display; Entombed tried to do similarly epic melodic moments at times, but here they're more tightly executed and better integrated into the songs as a whole. The production, whilst fairly compressed, is also slightly better suited to the more thrashy style of the songs, with the palm mutes having a much greater level of clarity than other hm-2 styled bands. | | 6 |  | Gorguts
From Wisdom to Hate
It took me quite a long time to really ever appreciate the noisiness of albums like Obscura, and I have this album to thank for me getting there in the end. I'd still say this album is somewhat superior, thanks to its more conventional songwriting and better balance of Gorguts' early style with their noisier ambitions.
I would also say Considered Dead sort of shares this spot on the list, as it was one of my first death metal albums and was also really awesome. | | 7 |  | Vader
XXV
Another of my very first dm albums. Very good as entry level death metal, but also an extremely consistent and catchy album with so many great tracks and improved interpretations of older material. Reborn In Flames and Reign-Carrion really benefit from the facelift a lot. | | 8 |  | Decapitated
Winds of Creation
Babby's first tech death, sure, but still a monster of an album. Vicious, catchy, fast, brutal, and stunningly intricate at so many different points. | | 9 |  | Cannibal Corpse
The Bleeding
One of the best examples of a balance of technicality and accessibility. Some odd time signatures and unusual, intricate riffs help to make this interesting whilst the hooky riffs and writing help to make it an excellent entry point. | | 10 |  | Cryptopsy
None So Vile
Yeh sorta goes without saying. Despite being one of the most extreme albums out there, the first time I heard anything from it was when I first heard Phobophile and it instantly clicked. Amazing in almost every way. The production rules, the instrumentation is wild and brutal, the vocals are insane, the songs are all amazing. Still one of the greatest DM albums out there. | |
teamster
06.10.18 | Cool list. I started in the late 80’s. It’s been a while but I can remember owning Entombed, Obituary, Pestilence, Death, Carcass, Bolt Thrower, Napalm Death and many more. Not a huge fan of the genre these days - will revisit once in a while. | Deez
06.10.18 | Good list. Id have to throw Deicide in there. The first 2 records were probably my beginning in DM but quite a few on here also as well as what teams mentioned. Also dont listen much DM any more |
|
