Only death is real: the top ten of death metal

Immolation (early years); copyright (c) Immolation

As a genre, death metal is a lot more diverse than black metal tends to be, although together, death and black metal represent two sides of the same coin.  Many recognize death metal for elements such as down-tuned guitars, a guttural vocal style, blast beats, and complex, interstitial songwriting featuring technical riffing and unique instrumental performances.  As vocalist Martin van Drunen of Pestilence / Asphyx fame proves, however, death metal vocals are just as effective in the higher ranges, and just as well, bands like Skepticism and Winter display that death metal need not be played at high tempi.  Furthermore, death metal seems to work just as well when interbred with other genres of music: Atheist and Cynic injected jazz fusion into their technical death metal while Finno-Swedish bands like Amorphis and Unleashed injected a healthy dose of European folk sensibility into their brand of melodic death metal.

It seems the only way to effectively describe the totality that is death metal is to look into its past.  Early death metal bands included Possessed, Slaughter (the one from Canada), Master, Mantas / Death, Sepultura, and Celtic Frost.  To put it simply, the music created by these groups was an extreme consequence of the speed metal and hardcore punk music that predated them, the result of slightly more experienced metal musicians pushing the genre further and further beyond anything acceptable by mainstream society.  Grotesque lyrics objectively describe the human condition in all its absurdity and potential horror, and the music itself, unlike the mechanistic speed metal of the 1980's, takes on a more organic, although rotting, essence.  Death metal is not as ideologically driven as black metal, nor as theatric outside of the music.  The following ten albums cannot possibly give the listener a full tour of the genre, and some real great stuff had to be left out.  Regardless, the top ten of death metal are as follows (click the album covers to buy):

Seven Churches (1985)

A universal favorite, Possessed's "Seven Churches" was actually the first death metal album ever.  Recorded during the band's Easter break (they were still in high school), it reeks of juvenile energy and aggression.  The music here is built from simple speed metal augmented by the kind of weird, off-time riffs you only hear in death metal.  Vocals are youthful and vicious; solos are noisy and generally incomprehensible.  The relatively complex songwriting, slightly ahead of its time, is what makes this a winner.  I like to think of it as a midway point between Slayer and Morbid Angel.  Speaking of which...

Blessed Are the Sick (1991)

This list is not meant to be ranked, but if there's a top album here, it's Morbid Angel's "Blessed Are the Sick."  Simply put, it's a masterpiece.  Death metal does not get better than this: it's heavy, dark, unique, highly artistic and perfectly executed.  Structurally, the album unveils it's demonic subject matter through a musical narrative composed of writhing, sludgy death metal songs interspersed with short neoclassical pieces.  Assertive vocals on the part of bassist David Vincent and Trey Azagthoth's characteristic off-the-wall guitar solos form the icing on this cake.  If you want to understand death metal's potential as art, get this.

Legion (1992)

The first time I heard this album was the most intense twenty-nine minutes of my music-listening career.  Deicide's "Legion" is a short but poignant blast of energetic technical metal that hits hard and fast and leaves you wanting for a repeat listen.  The music is highly technical, almost mathy, and the lyrics make interesting use of archaic Latin root-words and occult terminology.  Vocalist / bassist Glen Benton, not quite a caricature of himself just yet, covers high and low ends in blasphemy, and searing atonal guitar solos complement off-time chromatic riffs to form tightly structured symmetrical death metal songs.

Dawn of Possession (1991)

Immolation created their own brand of rushing death metal blasphemy with their 1991 debut epic, "Dawn of Possession."  This album has a living, organic character, much akin to fellow New Yorkers Incantation (whose album "Onward to Golgotha" almost made this list).  The subject matter is infernal and scathing in its condemnification of mainstream religion, and the roaring guitars, oscillating between cruising tremolo riffs and pounding grooves, recreate visions of Pandemonium as described in John Milton's "Paradise Lost" or the fiery circles of Hell in Dante's "Inferno."

Pierced From Within (1995)

Possibly the most copied death metal band ever, Suffocation practically invented (and perfected) the genre today known as "brutal death metal."  Their debut is excellent, but 1995's "Pierced From Within" is probably the greatest musical statement from this band (the only thing missing are the complex, thesaurus-abusing lyrics).  Extremely guttural vocals expound descriptions of torture and depravity atop highly frenetic and demanding instrumental performances.  Unlike most of their followers, Suffocation do not abandon their speed metal roots and create a high-energy atonal death metal album that's exciting from start to finish.

The Rack (1991)

A personal favorite, "The Rack" by Asphyx is crushing old school death metal.  Asphyx prove that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" by playing rudimentary riffs in songs that end up being complex and unique.  The band somehow found a way to mix threshing speed metal and epic doom into their songwriting and, like early Burzum, maintain a kind of continuity that is independent of style.  Emotive guitar leads and the intense vocal performances of the aformentioned Martin van Drunen only add to the solidity of this work.

The Nocturnal Silence (1994)

Necrophobic's "The Nocturnal Silence" is a blackened death metal masterpiece featuring powerful vocals, superior songwriting, and an advanced sense of harmony (for a death metal band, at least).  These dark, harmonic minor compositions emanate passion and intelligence, not to mention an evil aura unheard of since Slayer's "Hell Awaits."  If you like this album, you might also like their recent demo compilation, "Satanic Blasphemies."  Another OOP classic, unfortunately.

The Red in the Sky is Ours (1992)

Another artistic high-point for death metal is At the Gates.  Atypical for a Swedish band, their music was melodic yet angular, sounding much like stripped modern classical music for guitars, bass, and drums.  Indeed, on 1992's "The Red in the Sky is Ours," At the Gates pioneered the use of the violin in death metal and wrote musically advanced, beautiful pieces that are mournful, poetic, and exhilarating all at once.  The lyrics here are more introspective and the vocal performances are consequently full of anguish.  Even if you don't like metal, this should be an interesting listen.

Nespithe (1993)

One of the weirdest albums ever (regardless of genre), Demilich's "Nespithe" is an unrecognized classic of technical death metal.  A gurgling belch of a vocalist atop winding, organic death metal riffs like limbs of a tree and drums that alternate between blast and groove are just some of the ingredients to Demilich's unique formula.  The hilariously weird song titles, lyrics, and album art add to the strangeness.  If it weren't out of print, you might find this album in some alien record store on a far-away world, in another dimension.

Final Holocaust (1990)

Last but definitely not least is Massacra.  Their debut full-length, "Final Holocaust," is a timeless slab of highly energetic structural death metal.  Like many Southern European bands, this is slightly reminiscent of what bands from Brazil and other South American nations were doing: it has that primitive rage and masculinity, but also a kind of finesse in riffing and songwriting that could only be created by alienated yet intelligent teens laboring to create meaning in a society focused on the trivial.  In their own words: "[this] must be death metal from hell."