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1.
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Entombed - Clandestine (1991) (The evolutionary peak for classic Swedish DM, and about as close to perfection as a death metal album can possibly get. Every song here is an instant classic. In fact, the 'weakest' track is probably the most popular one ["Stranger Aeons"]. That alone should tell you all you need to know about how amazing this record was, and remains to this day.) |
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2.
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Immolation - Here in After (1996) (While it could very much benefit from a remaster, this is definitely Immolation's most innovative and adventurous record. It doesn't quite have the ideal, hellish production values of Close To A World Below, but the songwriting is just fantastic and groundbreaking.) |
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3.
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Adramelech - Psychostasia (1996) (The highest-ranked 'sleeper' on this list. This album hasn't received much recognition for being the classic that it is, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a catchier, more atmospheric album with as many epic, unconventional riffs as this. A happy medium between Demilich and Demigod.) |
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4.
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Pestilence - Consuming Impulse (1989) (This album should be considered 'Death Metal 101'. It's all too fitting that Pestilence began life as a thrash band, because this is basically the perfect gateway album for someone getting into death metal after having spent a few years listening to thrash. Definitely one of the catchiest albums on this list.) |
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5.
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Iniquity - Serenadium (1996) (One of the heaviest records in existence. There are some massive grooves on this album, which are inspired largely by Bolt Thrower and Autopsy, but are heavy enough to satisfy Suffocation fans. Also probably the best use of trills on any album I've ever heard.) |
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6.
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Ripping Corpse - Dreaming With the Dead (1991) (Took me a while to really appreciate this album, largely because of the hardcorish vocals of Scott Ruth. This is actually not nearly as good as the unreleased 1992 album, which, had it been finished, would have been a lock for the top-10 on this list. Nonetheless one of the most rifftastic albums ever. The arrangements are a tad haphazard at times, but there's no question that Shaune Kelley is one of the most genius riff writers in metal history, and he's only gotten better since then.) |
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7.
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Necrophobic - The Nocturnal Silence (1993) (Despite the goofy cover art, this is one of the most unabashedly pro-Satan albums in existence. And unlike Deicide, these guys actually backed their lyrical jabberwocky with quality riffage. Easily one of the best albums ever to come out of Scandinavia's penis.) |
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8.
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Monstrosity - Millennium (1996) (The artwork is horrendous, but goddamn is this album ever important. Whether they know it or not, a good chunk of today's technical death metal bands owe their sound to this record. Far and away Monstrosity's creative peak. It's probably a good idea that they went in a more conventional direction with their songwriting after this, because there's no way they would've been able to top it.) |
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9.
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Gorguts - The Erosion of Sanity (1993) (I must confess, it took me years to finally learn to appreciate this album, but I'm really glad that I did. It's not as infectious as Considered Dead, nor as innovative as Obscura and From Wisdom To Hate, but it features some of Gorguts' finest and most aggressive songwriting, with more progressive tinges than one would expect.) |
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10.
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Carcass - Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious (1991) (Carcass' peak in terms of putting together memorable songs with catchy and effective riffage. Not as filthy as Symphonies of Sickness, but still much more vicious than the highly overrated Heartwork. There are no fewer than six essential classic tracks on this album.) |
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11.
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Possessed - Seven Churches (1985) (The granddaddy of them all. If it weren't for this album... death metal would probably still exist, but it would sound quite different. A few of the songs are less than classic, but it's nonetheless essential listening for anyone wanting to know where the noise all got started. "The Exorcist", "Burning In Hell", "Twisted Minds" and "Death Metal" remain among the most instantly recognizable songs in the genre.) |
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12.
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Demigod - Slumber of Sullen Eyes (1992) (Another Finnish album that was largely overlooked before the internet caught wind of it. I'm beginning to sense a pattern. This is a masterpiece of atmospheric, downtuned, doomy death metal. Not the most challenging listen in the world, but nobody can deny the sheer quality of these songs.) |
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13.
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Sentenced - North From Here (1993) (If you like your death metal blackened and frozen, you'll love this. There's a ton of 2nd generation black metal influence here, and the vocals would probably fit just as well on a Horna record, but its usage of counter-melody is... well... "Epic".) |
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14.
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Bolt Thrower - Warmaster (1991) (The album that saw Bolt Thrower slow down and incorporate more conventional melody is a fucking TANK. Exceptionally heavy and foreboding, this album proves that death metal doesn't need speed to be intense.) |
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15.
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Vader - De Profundis (1995) (Vader hasn't really done much for me in the past decade, but on this album they were definitely firing on all cylinders. It's far and away their most creative and memorable record. "Silent Empire", "Blood of Kingu", "Sothis" and "Reborn In Flames" are probably the four best songs in their entire catalog.) |
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16.
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Death - Scream Bloody Gore (1987) (I had Symbolic in the top 15 on an earlier revision of this list, but decided to remove it because its death metal bona-fides were questionable, even though it was Death's finest hour in terms of composition. There's no doubt that Scream Bloody Gore fits the bill, though. A couple of filler songs here, but mostly it's a gut-slitting romp through the genre's primitive beginnings.) |
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17.
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Edge Of Sanity - The Spectral Sorrows (1993) (There are a couple of tracks on here that definitely aren't death metal ["Sacrificed" is pure Sisters of Mercy worship, and "Blood of My Enemies" is a ManOwaR cover on which Dan Swanö flexes his clean singing muscles], but nine songs out of eleven is close enough. "Dark Day", "The Masque", "On the Other Side" and "Across the Fields of Forever" are four masterpieces, and the rest of the album isn't too shabby either. Variety is the spice of life, and there's plenty of it here.) |
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18.
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Atrocity - Todessehnsucht (1992) (Hallucinations was an album WAAAAAAAY ahead of its time, combining elements of grindcore, jazz and noise rock with death metal for a truly fucked up listening experience way back in nineteen-fucking-ninety[!!!]... but the songwriting wasn't quite good enough to fully complement the experimentation. Todessehnsucht ironed out those flaws in a big way. This album contains some of the most arcane rhythmic structures ever found in a death metal record, and that includes stuff like later Gorguts and Necrophagist.) |
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19.
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Atheist - Piece of Time (1990) (Nowhere near as unique and groundbreaking as Unquestionable Presence, but still almost as good. Atheist's debut is, sadly, the only one to feature the uncanny bass skills of Roger Patterson, and it's also their most aggressive and unquestionably [heh] deathy record. "On They Slay", "Why Bother?", "I Deny", "No Truth" and the title track all rank right up there with anything from UP) |
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20.
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Suffocation - Breeding the Spawn (1993) (People are gonna cry foul because I don't have Effigy of the Forgettable... sorry... Forgotten on this list. But fuck that. If I want Suffo at their most fist-pumpingly brutal, I'll listen to Human Waste. At least that album doesn't sound like a fucking canned ham. And besides, for all the problems with the production, THIS is without question Suffo's most creative and challenging record. It's really a damn shame that they only ever play the title track live anymore, because the riffage on this album is both epic and neck-snappingly complex. That counter-melody section in "Anomalistic Offerings" might just be my favorite part in any Suffocation song ever.) |
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21.
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Amorphis - The Karelian Isthmus (1992) (Three words: EPIC.ANCIENT.MELODIES. Nothing more needs to be said.) |
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22.
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Carcass - Symphonies of Sickness (1989) (Certainly the most appropriately titled album ever. This is where Carcass became listenable. It's a little one-dimensional and starts to wear you down towards the end, plus the riffs could still stand to use a little more definition. But you know what? That's nitpicking of the worst kind. The bottom line is that this is one filthy, brutal slab of grinding death with a surprising amount of sophistication for something so raw.) |
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23.
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Carnage - Dark Recollections (1990) (Forget Impaled, Haemorrhage, General Surgery, and all that overrated crap. THIS is the best Carcass worship in the history of mankind. Primitive, guttural, and uglier than the Elephant Man, this album had Mike Amott pumping out some of the most memorable filth ever, years before he became a Dave Mustaine-worshipping rock star faggot.) |
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24.
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Entombed - Left Hand Path (1990) (The problem with this album is that it peaks too early. The opening track is quite possibly the single greatest extreme metal song of all time. If it weren't for that song, this album wouldn't be on this list. Not that the rest of it isn't good, but most of the songs were written during the band's Nihilist days, before they really reached their full potential [represented by the title track, "Truth Beyond", and the entire Clandestine sessions]. So don't bitch about it not being in the top-25.) |
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25.
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Gorguts - Considered Dead (1991) (This was Gorguts back when their silly Engrish name still made sense. Majorly influenced by Death's Leprosy album, and far and away their most primitive work, Considered Dead still features some exceptionally strong songwriting, and far and away the best solos of the band's career.) |
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26.
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Morbid Angel - Covenant (1993) (A bubbling sludge monster of an album that'll engulf and suffocate you if you give it the chance. The first of three Morbid Angel albums recorded with Trey Azagthoth playing all the guitar tracks and writing all the music, Covenant is also the first album of theirs to really feature some of the technical quirkiness that would later become overbearing [see: Heretic, 2003]. "Angel of Disease" is one of the finest songs in MA's catalog, but sticks out like a sore thumb because of the vocals and the guitars being tuned to Eb.) |
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27.
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Suffocation - Pierced From Within (1995) (The first Suffocation album to receive a truly professional-sounding [albeit still excessively compressed] production that truly did justice to the complexity of their sound. This album peaks at track 5 with "Torn Into Enthrallment" [probably my favorite Suffocation track ever], and then sort of drags until the re-recording of "Breeding the Spawn", which is why it's not higher on the list. Nonetheless, there are no fewer than five indubitable classics on this record.) |
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28.
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Autopsy - Severed Survival (1989) (More song-oriented, but also less memorable than its follow-up. Severed Survival was a lot more rooted in Discharge than Black Sabbath. Nonetheless a classic album and one of the most influential of all time. A good chunk of the death metal world probably wouldn't exist if it hadn't been for this record.) |
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29.
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Incantation - Mortal Throne of Nazarene (1994) (The only Incantation album on this list. The songwriting is much more refined than on Onward to Golgotha [which was mostly re-recorded demo material, anyway]. The production is still dark and muddy as hell, but there's quite a bit more definition than on Onward. The second half of "Demonic Incarnate" is some of the most evil music you'll ever hear.) |
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30.
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Bolt Thrower - ...For Victory (1994) (The best of the 'melodic' Bolt Thrower. The songs move at a much more brisk pace than those on The IVth Crusade, and a good chunk of the harmony leads are just epic.) |
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31.
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Death - Leprosy (1988) (A far more refined effort than Scream Bloody Gore, but without the technical pretense of later albums. Leprosy is held down by the laughable performances of Rick Rozz [and his moustache] and drummer Bill Andrews. Still, the majority of the songs here are indispensable classics. Particularly "Pull the Plug", "Open Casket" and the title track.) |
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32.
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Afflicted - Prodigal Sun (1992) (The Stockholm scene of the early 90s was best known for straightforward, balls-out death metal rooted in the worship of Autopsy, Bolt Thrower and Carcass, but there were also a handful of bands that ventured into more progressive sounds. Afflicted's debut combined the more typical Stockholm sound with an influence from early tech-death acts such as Atrocity and Atheist. It's an unexpected and bizarre sound, but it works really well. "Harbouring the Soul", "Astray", "Rising to the Sun" and "Ivory Tower" are awesome tracks.) |
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33.
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Asphyx - Last One on Earth (1992) (To my ears, a far superior record to The Rack, which gets more attention for some reason. The guitar tone is absolutely massive, and the closing track features one of the most skull-crushingly memorable opening riffs in history.) |
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34.
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Cadaver - ...In Pains (1992) (A definite sleeper here. This band never quite caught on the way a lot of their peers did, despite having been on Earache. Part of it was that they were from Norway, rather than Sweden, and Norway was the hotbed of black metal, where death metal was largely considered passé or worse. Part of it was that they incorporated far more progressive elements [borrowing largely from bands like Voivod and Obliveon] into their music than was considered acceptable at the time. Whatever... this album rules, and contains one of the best song titles ever in "Mr. Tumour's Misery".) |
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35.
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Abramelin - Abramelin (1995) (Things moved a little more slowly in Australia than in the Northern Hemisphere prior to the advent of the internet, for obvious reasons. I mean, Sadistik Execution were pretty much a joke, and their first respectable thrash band was Hobbs Angel of Death, which didn't launch until 1986 [first album: 1988]. But nevertheless, when they finally caught on with death metal, those Aussies delivered some primo shit. This band played a ruthlessly brutal style of old-school death, which combined the abrasive melodicism of Autopsy and middl-era Carcass with the percussive rhythms of Legion-era Deicide. It's not the most unique sound around, but they wrote REALLY great songs to set themselves apart.) |
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36.
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Infester - To the Depths, in Degradation (1994) (Ugliness and filth. This album can only be described as 'sadistic'. The lyrics bear some unfortunate racist overtones, but the music is just hideous, twisted American death metal with some pretty unexpected twists. One of the most evil albums I've ever heard, despite the rather subdued production.) |
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37.
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Convulse - World Without God (1991) (One of the best albums ever to come out of Finland. This is very much in the same style as Slumber of Sullen Eyes. Thick, downtuned death metal with more than a hint of doom influence. Sadly, this has STILL never been released on CD.) |
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38.
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Crypt Of Kerberos - World of Myths (1993) (An unusual band hailing from Stockholm, Crypt of Kerberos were among the first [if not THE first] to play the style now commonly known as 'melodic death metal'. Of course, their version of it was far more aggressive and dark than what we presently associate with that sound. World of Myths is a quirky album with a convincingly epic feel.) |
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39.
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Morgue - Eroded Thoughts (1993) (An intriguing album coming from the largely overlooked Chicago scene. It carries tons of Autopsy influence, but also features some rather unconventional melodies... the very first riff of the album is shades of Demilich. Very underrated stuff.) |
