25 Death Metal Albums That Had us Cacking our Pants in 2022!
No fuckin' Lorna Shore in here!
Schizophrenia – Recollections Of The Insane [Belgium]
Released: February 15th, 2022 via Redefining Darkness Records
With Schizophrenia’s 2020 EP, Voices, lighting a collective fire up the asses of committed death/thrash fans the world over, it was a joy to hear these Belgian boys back in 2022 with their debut full length, Recollections Of The Insane.
With the ‘death’ in their sound further amplified, Schizophrenia‘s but full length album, Recollections Of The Insane, was an old-school rumble of death-thrashing’ primal rage…. and we loved it from the get-go!
“Cranial Disintegration” was appropriately named as Schizophrenia were 100% intent on relentlessly stomping your soft bits with fierce riffing and a forward momentum that had to be heard to be believed. This shit slayed, no doubt about it. Slayer, Sepultura, Morbid Angel (Altars of Madness-era) and Demolition Hammer proved to be prime inspiration, resulting in a ridiculously consistent, undeniably frantic and satisfyingly technical death/thrash classic in the making.
Suppression – The Sorrow Of Soul Through Flesh [Chile]
Released: 25th April, 2022 via Unspeakable Axe Records
At first glance, new Chilean technical death metal kids on the block Suppression sounded just like every other hopeful death metal band on the market. Sure, they could play and their bassist was worth singling out for his Steve Di Giorgio-esque fretless work…..but where was the hook to reel us in?
Let’s face it, if we want this kind of technical death metal to soundtrack our day, we’re more likely to reach for tried and tested favourites such as Pestilence‘s Testimony Of The Ancients or Atheist‘s Unquestionable Presence. That left Suppression in the unenviable position of tying to pull our attention away from the classics, despite reminding us of said classics throughout The Sorrow Of Soul Through Flesh‘s duration. What a conundrum!
And then, out of the blue, it clicked. This shit is killer. The unhinged Martin Van Drunen-isms of vocalist Alejandro Cruz hit the spot (nice work sir) and the sheer level of speed and number of ideas thrown at this thing finally blew us away. It took a few spins but consider us converted; Suppression are the real fuckin’ deal!
Trenchant – Commandoccult [USA]
Released: March 11th, 2022 via Godz Of War Productions
This first LP of extreme metal precision since they released a fine three-song demo (Martial Chaos) back in 2018, Trenchant’s blackened death metal debut, Commandoccult, was a nine-song excursion into a world of feral metallic intensity and was an inventive and fully-formed opus.
These aren’t new hipster, cavernous-death metal pretenders, Trenchant are the genuine war metal article and their auditory assault can be likened to Australian war metal stalwarts Deströyer 666, Swedish black metal demons Marduk and US death metal legends Angelcorpse.
While Trenchant may have derived their influential arsenal from top tier extreme metal masters, the trio produced an album that’s all of their own, with every element of Commandoccult exuding expertise in the genre as they approached their metallic strike with deadly seriousness.
Undeath – It’s Time… To Rise From The Grave [USA]
Released: April 22nd, 2022 via Prosthetic Records
Popping up in virtually every best death metal of 2022 list we’ve seen, Undeath‘s It’s Time… To Rise From The Grave struck an immediate chord with fervent death metallers the world over!
Taking the Floridian death metal sound of the early 90s and wringing new blood (and rotting flesh) from it, Undeath were under no illusion that this shit had been done a million times before. Instead, they committed to the inherent fun that can be had with this kind of death metal and, if you were also up for fully celebrating 90s death metal with Undeath, It’s Time… To Rise From The Grave was no doubt a 2022 highlight for you too.
With so many old-school death metal bands delivering the goods in 2022 you have to simply doff your cap to Undeath for rising out of the mire (and the grave) and staking their claim as the most vital new death metal band to come out of the good ol’ United States of America in quite some time.
The dead walk again!
Vacuous – Dreams Of Dysphoria [UK]
Released: October 14th, 2022 via Me Saco un Ojo Records
“Atmospheric death metal” – there’s a shit ton of that around, so why should we care about this particular album?
Good question. Glad you asked.
Vacuous‘ debut, Dreams Of Dysphoria, was a dissonant descent into the depths of hell itself (or, at least, the nearest septic tank). Slimy and grimy, Dreams Of Dysphoria often entered into the murky world of both Ulcerate and Worm without quite going full disso-death; meaning moments of old-school stomp hit even harder when they did materialise. For example, “Matriarchal Blood” hit the kind of maddening grooves that’ll have you toppling your Gran’s sideboard over (the one with all the ‘nice’ ornaments on) in a mindless moment of furniture-based violence.
As far as dissonant / atmospheric death metal goes, Vacuous‘ Dreams Of Dysphoria was one of the best releases 2022 had to offer (now go apologise to your Gran)!
Pop your favourite death metal albums of 2022 in the comments section below and we’ll have a civilised natter about ’em!
Also check out our other End Of Year lists:
The 5 Greatest Power Metal Albums of 2022
The 5 Greatest Death / Thrash Albums of 2022
The 5 Greatest Grindcore Albums of 2022
The 5 Greatest German Thrash Albums Of 2022
The 5 Greatest Canadian Thrash Albums of 2022
The 5 Greatest British Thrash Albums of 2022
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