5 Incredible DEATH METAL Albums Turning 5 Years Old in 2024
5 years old…. and still on regular rotation!
Presented in alphabetical order as oppose to any kind of ranking….
Blood Incantation – Hidden History of the Human Race [USA]
Released: November 22nd 2019 via Dark Descent Records.
Otherworldly death metallers Blood Incantation had already turned heads with 2016’s practically perfect Starspawn but with Hidden History Of The Human Race they’d elevated themselves to elite status.
No fear of a sophomore slump here as these Colorado death-dealers looked ever further to the stars and allowed Hidden History of the Human Race to take us mere mortals on a transgressive journey to the very edge of the cosmos.
Formed of 4 elaborate sojourns into prog/tech death metal majesty, Blood Incantation perfectly encapsulated the still thrilling potential of death metal when delivered by the finest technicians of their craft. Featuring a perfectly balanced blend of old-school brutality, progressive nuance, fiendish melody and neck-snapping groove, this outstanding album managed to surprise at every turn as these epic songs contorted themselves into ever more otherworldly shapes.
Cerebral Rot – Odious Descent into Decay [USA]
Released: August 16th 2019 via 20 Buck Spin
With Odious Descent Into Decay, these primordial purveyors of time-honoured filth announced their arrival on the OSDM scene with one of the most putrid debuts of 2019.
Slippin’ and slidin’ in the entrails of prime Autopsy, Seattle’s Cerebral Rot took their dense death-doom riffs and wrung every ounce of seeping, oozing malevolence out of every glorious second. Groovy, heavy, savage and stinky, these neanderthal bursts of festering fervour may have been front-loaded(the first 5 tracks notably shit directly into the gawping maw of the following 4 songs) but, as a whole, this was an excreta-soaked collection that was well-worth wading into.
Accusations of Odious Descent Into Decay‘s songs being ‘samey’ and repetitive are fair but that’s exactly what we signed up for! Besides, this mostly mid-paced death metal treat offered up just enough changes in pace (alongside a killer performance from drummer Drew O’Bryant) to keep things endlessly interesting.
Ossuarium – Living Tomb [USA]
Released: February 1st 2019 via 20 Buck Spin (these guys were unearthing fantastic death metal bands at a frightening rate).
Ossuarium seeped out of the very bowels of Portland, Oregon’s underground in order to express their mutual interest in late ’80s and early ’90s American death metal……and we’re fuckin’ glad they did!
This old school excursion into classic death metal (with more than just a smattering of doom) was an instant win for those of us enamoured with the legends of the late 80’s and early 90’s scene. Muddy and wallowing in putrid muck, the production on this dank and septic whore of an album matched the intentions of the band superbly. The perfect album from which to wallow in the grim recesses of a decomposing world.
An outstanding debut that was never followed up with the band sadly splitting in 2021.
Tomb Mold – Planetary Clairvoyance [Canada]
Released: July 19th, 2019 via 20 Buck Spin (yep, them again!)
Canadian death metal quartet Tomb Mold were reaching for the stars with third album Planetary Clairvoyance, a release that proved to be their most expansive and consistently impressive album to date.
Precious few bands are capable of harnessing the molecular ingredients of old school death metal and manipulating them into new, thrilling patterns of depravity as convincingly as Tomb Mold. And ‘convincing’ Planetary Clairvoyance most certainly was!
Hardly a genre renowned for originality, it was Tomb Mold’s canny knack for a shit-kicking riff and a rigid backbone of quality songwriting that made them such a truly impressive proposition in an over-crowded scene.
Unfathomable Ruination – Enraged and Unbound [UK]
Released: November 22nd, 2019 via Willowip Records
UK death metal extremists Unfathomable Ruination released their third full-length album, the aptly titled Enraged and Unbound, in November 2019 and it’s safe to say that it was a fuckin’ colossus!
The was impressive stuff from a band who’d already made quite the name for themselves with 2016’s bloody marvellous Finitude and who, with Enraged and Unbound, upped the ante considerably. Ben Wright’s vocals were a myriad of ghastly voices – running the gamut of screams, growls, shrieks and unholy sounds – but this album arguably belonged to drummer Doug Anderson; a man whose creativity here defied belief and provided the immovable backbone to the chaos that surrounded him. Whether Unfathomable Runation required pummelling breakdowns, an onslaught of blast beats, progressive death experimentation or a more ruminative approach during ‘doomier’ sections, Anderson delivered with aplomb. His, was a stunning performance.
The 6 minute opening track, “An Obsidian Perception”, contained enough face-melting, neck-snapping, sack-slapping riffs to fill any ‘normal’ death metal bands entire new album and that was just for fuckin’ starters! What followed continued down the same twisted, tortured path of inventive riff piled upon inventive riff, wrapped around a formative structure of groove, technicality and a seemingly endless stream of creativity and dark imagination.
There were no weak links here; only a series of tracks which built upon the last in a manner that provided numerous moments of death metal nirvana and if it sounds like we were (and still are) rather enamoured with this album, then you’d be right!
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