Honorable Mentions
Teitanblood-The Baneful Choir
Anticipation ran high for The Baneful Choir on the heels of 2014’s Death. Time will tell if it has the same reputation in Teitanblood’s discography, but I think it’s at least a worthy follow-up to that great album. Atmospheric, complex, and still unbelievably bestial, The Baneful Choir was worth the wait.
Coffins-Beyond the Circular Demise
Coffins’ fifth album in 25 years sees the band making some slight stylistic adjustments. Beyond the Circular Demise is slightly less punk-influenced than their previous work and contains less d-beat crustiness. Instead, it leans a little more towards sludge with absolutely devastating grooves. Coffins is adept at either approach and Beyond the Circular Demise is a worthy addition to the band’s prolific career.
Minenfeld-The Great Adventure
There’s a seemingly endless sea of Bolt Thrower clones out there and let’s face it, plenty of them are mediocre. On the face of it Minenfeld (German for minefield) is just another rumbling, mid-paced death metal band aping Asphyx and Bolt Thrower, right down to warfare-themed lyrics. But this leans a little more to the raw side, has some slightly blackened elements, and has some seriously pained sounding vocals, all of which serve to elevate Minenfeld in a crowded sub-genre.
Devourment-Obscene Majesty
I’m not a huge fan of slam, but I like to think I know a good slam band when I hear it and Obscene Majesty is one of the finest releases in the genre I’ve ever heard, rivaling the band’s early, genre-defining work. This is one extremely brutal, violent album with relentless drumming, massive slamming riffs, and gut-wrenching vocal performance. In short, it’s everything a good slam album needs to be.
Nocturnus AD-Paradox
2019 was a good year for comeback albums between Festerday and this band. Nocturnus (prior to the name change to Nocturnus A.D.) released a classic of Floridian death metal entitled The Key. Paradox is a worthy successor to that album all these years later and like its predecessor it’s a keyboard-heavy, bizarre slab of death metal. Conceptually it’s a direct sequel as well.
Creeping Death-Wretched Illusions
2019 was a great year for fans of hardcore-infused death metal, seeing new crusty offerings from Bones, Fuming Mouth, Venom Prison, Gatecreeper, and Creeping Death. Wretched Illusions was my favorite of the bunch, although it’s also probably the least hardcore sounding too. It borrows pretty heavily from Swedeath, as is expected considering that subgenre’s hardcore influence, but there is also a fair bit of Jungle Rot/Obituary crude stomping.
Pissgrave-Posthumous Humiliation
The sophomore slump can be a real thing (see the new Gatecreeper) and Pissgrave very narrowly avoids it. Posthumous Humiliation is a good album, but not quite on the level of Suicide Euphoria. It’s still a frenzied, chaotic assault and is definitely a good listen for fans of raw, war-like death metal. That cover art is sure to stick with you for a while too and matches the ugly, depraved music.
Festerday-Iihtallan
It only took 30 years for Finland’s Festerday to release their first album. The band was active from ’89-92, disbanding just as death metal was really exploding in Scandinavia and reunited in 2013. Don’t be fooled by the name (Festerday is a Carcass song) or the fact that the band is from Finland, since Festerday has a lot more in common with Swedeath than either of those. This album has the rawness of early primitive Swedeath, except for the odd closing black metal track which doesn’t sound like it was recorded at the same time as the rest of the album.
Fulci-Tropical Sun
This one combines two things I enjoy: Lucio Fulci’s gorefest horror films and brutal death metal. Tropical Sun also features some samples from Zombi 2 and some synths in the style of Fabio Frizzi for a little added atmosphere, and it makes a big difference. But Tropical Sun also boasts plenty of massive grooves and a crushing rhythm section. Come for the schlocky horror atmosphere but stay for the riffs.
Fetid-Steeping Incorporeal Mess
Yet another of 20 Buck Spin’s seemingly endless number of good death metal releases this year. Fetid features members of Caustic Wound, Cauterized, and Cerebral Rot. As the band and album name may indicate, this is a particularly foul version of death metal that the Pacific Northwest has been producing since at least Infester. It wasn’t my favorite 20 Buck Spin album of the year, but it’s a solid, grimy release in its own right.
Sentient Horror-Morbid Realms
Sentient Horror must be doing something right if Dan Swanö himself mixed and mastered it. Or maybe Swanö did it for nostalgic reasons, since Sentient Horror sure sounds a lot like Edge of Sanity before Swanö became interested in adding progressive elements. Morbid Realms is pretty slick and well-produced compared to a lot of albums on this list, but it has the catchy hooks and crunchy riffs of classic Swedeath down pat.
Vitriol-To Bathe from the Throat of Cowardice
A style change did wonders for the gentlemen in Vitriol. The band used to be a deathcore project called Those who Lie Beneath. And while that band was solid, dropping the deathcore elements made this band so much better. To Bathe from the Throat of Cowardice is a highly aggressive, blast-heavy album sure to please fans of Nile and Hate Eternal.
Disentomb-The Decaying Light
Brutal death metal isn’t a genre I associate with melody too often, so when a band comes along and not only makes melodic dbm, but makes it right, I appreciate it. Australia’s Disentomb is that band, skillfully weaving melody and atmosphere into bludgeoning, techy slam.
Cultic-High Command
This is as stripped down and minimalist as any doom/death I’m familiar with. I don’t think the drums play anything busier than 16th notes on the entire album and the riffs are similarly crude. But High Command has some effective, memorable songwriting that is at times quite catchy. Recommended for fans of early Celtic Frost and Winter.
Vircolac-Masque
Masque is a difficult album to pin down. At its heart it’s a bass-heavy death metal album and if I had to pick a band that they sound like it would be pre-goth Tribulation. But there are a lot of unusual influences or moments that rear their head on Masque that make it odd for an OSDM album, including some Warning type melodic doom, eerie synths, and even a little bit of post metal hypnotism.
Finally let’s take a look at some EPs and demos!
