90's Death Metal That Doesn't Suck: Oppressor - Solstice of Oppression [1994]

I think there is something that needs to be said, and if I don't say it then no one will: the vast majority of Death Metal from the 90's sucked, and the genre is way better off now than it was then. I know this automatically qualifies me for "untrve" status, or a "poser" rating. But then again, I have never been one to let fear of internet Metalheads scare me.

Because those are the people who "listen" to bad 90's Death Metal. Internet Metalheads, usually age 12-16 with a Metal-Achieves account and no girlfriends or jobs. How do I know this? History my friends: see most of these beloved 90's Death Metal albums suffered from very poor record label support and saw very limited distribution. It would have been very, very difficult for a small time Death Metal band from Pittsburgh to get their music past state lines circa 1992, if not entirely impossible. Most of these bands formed, recorded albums and broke up in total anonymity.

That was until the Internet came along. Suddenly, every 15 year-old who could figure out P2P services became an expert on obscure-for-a-reason Death Metal. It has become a status symbol, a badge of coolness. And it ignores the facts: most of it sucks. I mean seriously, who can listen to Baphomet/Banished or Jumpin Jesus and say with a straight face that this is the "gold standard" of Death Metal? Cianide somehow found a way to make Death/Doom the most relentlessly boring thing ever, while Master are only relavent because of Paul Speckmann's beard. 15 year old's, lounging in their E-Lairs, decrying the end of Death Metal while listening to second hand mp3's of Panaramic Twilight. It sickens me.

That said, there were many Death Metal albums from the 90's that were truly, truly awesome. And not just the classics: there were some truly brilliant and over-looked classic's from the 90's that most certainly did not suck big fat cock. So in honor of those albums, I will be doing a series of posts about some kick-ass 90's obscure Death Metal that is, ya know, actually good.

I will be starting with Chicago's Oppressor, one of the earlier Technical Death Metal bands. Solstice of Oppression is their first full-length album, and it fucking rules. Technical, brutal riffs, blistering drums and vicious guttural vocals are all on display, but the band is also unafraid of melody and atmosphere. This is pretty much one of the best Death Metal albums I have ever heard, and shits all over anything fucking Jumpin' Jesus ever released.

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Biolich- The Space Between Home and Today EP(2005)

Hey everyone, back to share one of my all time favorite EP's from a short lived but unbelievable band. Biolich were an American Metal band who are basically genre-less: at their most basic, Biolich played an insane mix of Demilich, Wormed and Between the Buried and Me that was loaded to bursting with technical riffs, complex time signatures and inhuman vocals that are as close to the legendary vocals of Antti Boman as you can get.

Some of the sections in these songs sound a lot like Demilich, with spacey and awkward sounding progressions that would have felt right at home on Nespithe. But this is far from a worship band: really beyond the vocals and occasional Demilich like riff, the bands really don't sound that much alike. And the band often head into complex Jazzy slams and even some clean singing sections. There is a techcore element to Biolich: a few breakdowns here and there. If you are a completely closed minded Metal fan who refuses to acknowledge the anything with any breakdowns(sucks to not listen to Suffocation I imagine), then you will probably hate this amazing EP. If you can look past 2 breakdowns scattered throughout 6 songs, then you MUST listen to this. One of the finest pieces of Extreme Metal I have ever heard.

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Cryptopsy - None So Vile [1996]

Another one of the best technical death metal albums ever. Although The Unspoken King might have (quite rightly) garnered quite a few detractors, there is no denying the quality of this. It has extra nostalgic value for me as one of the albums which got me into death metal - the balance of technicalility with songwriting and a subtle sense of melody at times borders on the divine.

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Court In The Act Presents Death Metal: Methodical Demise

Similarly to brutal death, technical death metal is not my favourite subgenre of death metal (and the two often cross over), but there are some parts of it which I like. This is largely formed of stuff which I like, and some which is passable, and including the classics of the genre:

Tracklist:

1. Cryptopsy - Slit Your Guts (from None So Vile)
2. Nile - Lashed To The Slave Stick (from Annihilation Of The Wicked)
3. Demilich - (Within) The Chamber Of Whispering Eyes (from Nespithe)
4. Gorguts - Nostalgia (from Obscura)
5. Nocturnus - Lake Of Fire (from The Key)
6. Origin - Wrath Of Vishnu (from Antithesis)
7. Obscura - Euclidean Elements (from Omnivium)
8. Anata - Dance To The Song Of Apathy (from Under A Stone With No Inscription)
9. Gigan - Suspended In Cubes Of Torment (from Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes)
10. Carcariass - Children Slave (from Hell On Earth)

I refuse to post Brain Drill.

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2009 Re-Visted: Vengeful- The Omnipresent Curse[2009]

Man. 2009 was a great year for me.
Bowerbirds released Upper Air.

Iron and Wine dropped the brilliant compilation album Around the Well.

Neko Case gave us the criminally under-rated Middle Cyclone.

Megafaun released the best album of the year in Gather, Form, Fly.

Bon Iver continued his evolution by handing us the Blood Bank EP.

Indie gods The Antlers released Hospice, of which my opinion is very well known(its the greatest thing ever.)

There is more( a lot more), but I listed off those fucking amazing albums to prove a point: in the year two-thousand and nine, I was flat out uninterested in Metal of any kind. I was fully absorbed in the glory and majesty of true American music: Folk and Country. I still love those styles of music with a burning passion. But early in 2010, I came back to my first, and true, love: Extreme Metal.

Sadly, 2009 was a lost year for me in terms of Extreme Metal. And it is only this year that I have begun to dig back in time and check out all those albums I miss. So for the next few days, my posts will focus on those brilliant 2009 releases I completely missed as I played my banjo and wrote folk songs with my dad(who was a folk musician who never took off.)

One of the first releases I checked out was Vengeful's The Omipresent Curse. A quick tl;dr version: Vengeful are a mix of Odious Mortem and Ulcerate. If that interests you, you can go ahead and stop reading. But as an internet blowhard, I feel obliged to give you a more complete write-up.

The first thing that stands out about this record is the sense of darkness: this is a heavy, heavy record, and is very, very dark. The band is capable of playing fast, but often focus on mid-paced and slower paced technical flourishes ala Ulcerate. But the albums guitar tone, general production and vocal attack sound a lot like Odious Mortem's Cryptic Implosion. Those are two pretty badass bands to be compared to, and for the most part the band lives up to it. This is a solid record, and one I am glad I was able to re-visit.

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Arkhan - M.A.C.H.I.N.E. [2006]

Best album from this incredible technical death metal band, destroying everything from Switzerland for a few years. The aim of the three swiss musicians was to combine their wide background of influences (death, black, thrash and Rock'n Roll) to create a heavy, groovy and powerful music. Uncompromising, brutal, fast but also sometimes old-school influenced, with great guitar solos, ... Arkhan is not pioneering in the genre, but they play what we expect from a death metal band : some headbangable stuff, some destroying riffs, some hoarse vocals, what could we ask after that? Are you ready for some hyper speed drum aggressions, intense and groovy guitar riffs and devilish vocals? Are you ready for the death metal M.A.C.H.I.N.E.? Faultless, brillant!

To buy the album (moreover, it is not very expensive...), mail to arkhanmetal@gmail.com.

MP3, 320kb/s

Mediafire

Nocturnus - The Key [1991]

Heaven forbid I stray from the CITA norm for too long - this is one of the few technical death metal albums I really like, possibly due to the fact that it's more than simply shredding upon shredding upon other forms of fretboard wankery.

Similar artists: Demilich, Atheist, Death

192 kbps

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REVIEW: Ulcerate - The Destroyers Of All [2011]

N.B. This is a guest post from HeySharpshooter.

Ulcerate are a band on a mission. A mission to make the most original, unique sounding death metal of a generation, all while keeping to the tenants of the genre: brutality and darkness. Over their entire discography, Ulcerate have pushed the boundaries of traditional brutal death metal to its very limit, often with mixed results and mixed fanfare. Some are bored and even offended by Ulcerate’s dissonant, atypical sound. Others are enthralled with the bands incredible creativity and hand cramping technicality.

The Destroyers of All, Ulcerate’s most recent release, in unlikely to change anyone’s long standing opinion’s about the band. While more cleanly produced, The Destroyers of All is still avant-garde, dissonant and complex brutal death metal like no one else plays it. It’s an album that will not make an immediate impact for most: it is not catchy, not easy to follow and not something for everyone. Their songs are long, sometimes overly long, and often grind out dozens of riffs in a seven minute span.

When The Destroyers of All works, it’s an amazing listen: the album starts off with a bang with one of its best tracks, “Burning Skies.” Surprisingly accessible for an Ulcerate track while at the same time exemplifying everything their rabid fans love, it’s a highly dissonant and heavy track, shifting effortlessly between tempos and riffs. “The Hollow Idols” is punishing and dark, and once again highly dissonant. It’s also refreshingly short at just over six minutes (short for this album at least). The vocals are one dimensional but brutal and fit the bands sound perfectly.

It’s that dissonance that both makes and breaks The Destroyers of All. Some are never going to like this album because of it. In fact, this album gave my friend a headache. It doesn’t help that the song length is often a hindrance: tracks feel over-stuffed with too many ideas, and it makes casual enjoyment of this album all but impossible. Had the band cut some of these songs up into a few shorter tracks, then it could have been an even stronger album. The final track on the album, “The Destroyers of All” is a ten minute borefest as well, hurting this album on the exit.

It’s been said a lot, but its and important point: The Destroyers of All is not for everyone. Between the bands amoebic song structure, extreme dissonance and punishing song length, some will spend only a few minutes with this album and toss it out the window, disgusted. But for those looking for a truly unique, truly original death metal experience that pushes boundaries like no other, then this album is absolutely perfect for you.

Grade: 8/10



Download here.

Prostitute Disfigurement - Deeds Of Derangement [2003]

This is the sort of brutal death metal that I am most likely to enjoy. It is not slamming, rather, it is rather technical, and very melodic for BDM. There are also *hooks* in the songs, and even some repeated motifs that could be called choruses. Nonetheless, it's a quality album, although it's far from my favourite.

Similar artists: Gorgasm, Origin, Hour Of Penance

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Demilich - Nespithe [1993]

This is how technical death metal ought to be done, rather than blastathons and wankery. Unique, both in riffing and in what are quite possibly the deepest death growls around (courtesy of Antti Boman), this is semi-essential.

~235 kbps VBR

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Gorguts - Obscura [1998]

This is Gorguts' best album, provided you like having your mind fucked by some crazy time signatures and odd yet catchy melodies. Although some may come to this album via the Necrophagist-worship band of the same name, the two are incomparable - the album reigns supreme.

~230 kbps VBR

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Ulcerate - The Destroyers Of All [2011]

This is another excellent brutal death metal band, and probably the best band from New Zealand ever. Personally, this is my album of 2011 so far, continuing from 2009's excellent 'Everything Is Fire'. Simply brilliant.

320 kbps (and it really helps)

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Lykathea Aflame - Elvenefris [2000]

Go over to the Metal Archives forums and mention this album, and a thousand metal nerds will simultaneously jizz. I'm one of them. This is, quite simply, the best brutal death metal album ever, even ahead of 'Pierced From Within'! This is largely due to the implementation of strong influences from other genres, keeping it interesting.

192 kbps

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Nile - Black Seeds Of Vengeance [2000]

Karl Sanders was a large fan of death metal from the moment he knew of it, sharing a house with Morbid Angel at one point, and after starting out in thrash band Morriah, he started tech-death band Nile, who typically used Egyptian scales and had Egypt-based lyrics. Being one of the most technically proficient guitarists in the world, Sanders' compositions are for the large part unbelievably complex without ever becoming tech wank.

128 kbps (sorry!)

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Immolation - Dawn Of Possession [1991]

Along with Incantation's 'Onward To Golgotha' and Suffocation's 'Effigy Of The Forgotten', this was one of the pioneering albums of the New York death metal sound, which mixed the grooves of Swedish death with the brutality of New York hardcore, all with an underlying sense of melody.

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