Death Metal?

Black Dragon said:
When Amott mentions "old stuff", I hope he's referring to the pre-Heartwork material.
Heartwork is another one of those albums where it seems to be the norm to dislike. Why, I'll never know. I think it's pretty good myself, it's the follow up (although not that bad an album) that was the let down.
 
Heartwork is amazing, especially the first half (I remember "Buried Dreams" was the first death metal song I ever liked, the guitar solo in that one is sublime). It's probably my favourite death metal album save for Death's The Sound of Perseverance. But then all death metal I'm into leans towards the melodic, technical side of the genre - I never got into grindcore or the "brutal" style.
 
Don't get me wrong, Heartwork is enjoyable and is certainly better than most (if not, all) melo-death nonsense, but it just isn't Carcass. Symphonies of Sickness, now that's the Carcass I know and love. Perhaps it is only because I am an elitist curmudgeon, that I would say something like that. As for the more BR00TL side of death metal, there are a handful of worthy releases and a heap of garbage.

Recommended BR00TALITY:
Incantation - Onward to Golgotha
Baphomet - The Dead Shall Inherit
Morpheus Descends - Ritual of Infinity
Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten
Deeds of Flesh - Reduced to Ashes
Infester - To the Depths...In Degradation
Immolation - Dawn of Possession
Cryptopsy - Blasphemy Made Flesh
 
I'm throwing this in just in case anyone is interested; the top 50 death metal albums of all time as listed by HailMetal.com. Their top ten goes as follows:

1. At the Gates - The Red in the Sky is Ours
2. Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness
3. Amorphis - Tales from the Thousand Lakes
4. Katatonia - Brave Murder Day
5. Death - Spiritual Healing
6. The Chasm - Deathcult for Eternity: The Triumph
7. Therion - Beyond Sanctorum
8. Obituary - Cause of Death
9. Entombed - Left Hand Path
10. Opeth - Morningrise
 
Thanks for the link, Shadow! Interesting to see that the winner is At the Gates The Red in the Sky is Ours

A very progressive kind of death metal album, and in my humble opinion a pretty difficult work to consume, especially during a first listening. Every 5 seconds a tempo and a rhythm change! It almost drives you mad!
Still very important for the scene and the band is definitely one of the most important influences on the whole Gothenburg/Sweden scene. I prefer their album Terminal Spirit Disease. More catchy songs, more melodic, let’s say, easier to consume. ;)

I am a bit surprised that Gorefest’s False is not in this list.

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A damn good death metal album !
 
Carcass reunite!

Reunited CARCASS Confirmed For Next Year's WACKEN OPEN AIR Festival - Oct. 5, 2007 

Reactivated British extreme legends CARCASS have been confirmed for next year's installment of the Wacken Open Air festival, set to take place July 31 - August 2, 2008 in Wacken, Germany. Also scheduled to appear are IRON MAIDEN (headliners), CHILDREN OF BODOM, AVANTASIA, KREATOR and SONATA ARCTICA.

Commented CARCASS bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker: "Well, they said it would never happen. In fact I said it would never happen. Then I noticed no one pays attention to what I say anyway and I sounded like an idiot...

"Summer 2008 will be the twentieth anniversary since the release of CARCASS' first studio album. It will be fourteen years since we last played live.

"We've decided to exhume the old corpse next summer at Wacken. The timing is purely coincidental — it's been a long journey to get to this point where myself, Bill Steer [guitar] and Mike Amott [guitar; also of ARCH ENEMY] have enough common desire again to make it possible. We're finally conceding to the demand that seems to be at an all time high and doesn't appear to be going away any time soon. Any past reasons we may have had for not wanting to do it, or thinking it was impossible, have simply dissipated in the face of overwhelming interest in us performing THOSE riffs for a generation of believers who never had the opportunity back in the day. We could say we're doing it for 'the kids' — but fuck that ! We're doing it 'cos it will be fun again to play the classic CARCASS tunes!!

"Of course, it would seem inappropriate for us to contemplate to do this without Ken Owen [drums], but I assure you he'll be there, and we'll push some sticks in his hands and make him play, plus we'll have a killer drummer to sit in and play HIS parts.

"Myself, Jeff Walker on bass and vocals, 'the semi-legendary' Bill Steer and Mike Amott on lead guitar and Daniel Erlandsson [ARCH ENEMY], filling in for Ken on drums look forwards to mutilating your hearing.

"And if we don't do it? Who else will overshadow the LED ZEPPELIN reunion?

"Ha!

"Prepare to rot and roll."

In a recent interview with MTV.com, Michael Amott stated about the possibility of CARCASS reunion, "It seems like it never goes away — like this ghost that's always hanging over me. It's nice. It's a pleasant ghost, because [CARCASS are] a band I'm proud of, because it was one of the better bands to come out of that style of music at that time. The band itself seems bigger now than when we packed it in [back in 1995]. I can't believe it."

"With [CARCASS], you have four people who have all moved on and do different things now," he said. "For the last few years, I've been quite open about [my desire to reunite CARCASS]. ... It's not a question of, 'Do I want to play this kind of music?,' because I still totally love metal. I would love to do it."

The ex-members of CARCASS hooked up in 2006 to rehearse (as first reported by BLABBERMOUTH.NET on September 18) for the first time in many years.

"We thought, 'Let's just try to get our schedules together, jam a little bit, and see if it's even feasible,' " Amott said. "The question always comes up in interviews, and we kind of all became intrigued ourselves, if it would actually work. So we met up, rehearsed for about a week, and by the end of the week, it sounded amazing."

He added, "The band wouldn't set out to write or record new material, because "the old stuff was just that good. It would just be a blast to go out and play those — dare I say it — classic tunes again, those riffs. It would be fun. Bill's guitar playing was amazing — he was one of my heroes before I joined the band. So yeah, I would love to do it again. I love that band, love the music. We'll see — maybe it would shut people up. Let's hope the CARCASS can come back."
 
As someone who myself recently ventured into the arena of death metal, I can safely say that Opeth is a great place to start.

They have a breadth to their music that makes for a lot of "openings" to get caught up in. I started with Damnation (which is not a metal album, but it wet my appetite), then moved on to Still Life and Morningrise followed by Blackwater Park. Awesome stuff. I actually more or less their entire catalogue. But I think those are probably the most accessible/catchy ones. There's a great balance between melodies, riffs, DM-vocals and clean vocals. Which makes it a lot more accessible than the "pure Death Metal" stuff out there.

It does take a while to get used to the vocals, but by now I'm really loving it.

Here's one of my fave songs, amazing riffs, but sadly a crap recording:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efc-NNx8 ... ed&search=
 
Gorefest played in Moscow, last Saturday!

The setlist was as follows (see video as well!!):

01. The Glorious Dead
02. State of Mind (click for video!)
03. For the Masses
04. When the Dead Walk the Earth
05. Revolt
06. Rise to Ruin
07. Mental Misery
08. You Could Make Me Kill
09. Babylon's Whores
10. Get-a-Life
11. Erase
12. The War on Stupidity
13. Reality / When You Die
Encore:
14. Speak When Spoken To
15. Confessions of a Serial Killer
 
Oh wow, Im shocked not to see Bolt Thrower mentioned at all.
British Death Metal band from Coventry, formed in the late 80s and borrowing their name and some albuim artwork from Warhammer?

Great band and fully worth checking out, especially fans of "standard" metal, like thrash and NWOBHM, as they have some quite melodic qualities to their albums, especially later on when they stopped the grindcore-esque playing.
A good start into Death Metal would be Slayer's Reign in Blood album as they helped influence the genre with this album and it gives you a good idea of what to expect as its in between thrash and death metal in terms of sound and vocals.
 
I like Bolt Thrower. Very characteristic riffs and guitar sound, a bit of chainsaws.

I shouldn't hear too many songs in a row, but a few like this make my day. They rock live as well!
 
May I recommend Dethklok's The Dethalbum, which is admittedly a parody of the genre in many ways, but regardless, is the highest charting death metal album in the USA.
 
These Dutch kids are very young (13 to 16 years old). Perhaps not the best death metal, but I find it cool that they chose such music at such a young age... in a time of Idols and other crap in the media. :)

One Bullet Left
 
LooseCannon said:
May I recommend Dethklok's The Dethalbum, which is admittedly a parody of the genre in many ways, but regardless, is the highest charting death metal album in the USA.

Most AMAZING fake band EVER... E...VER!
 
The album is actually incredibly good, both musically and lyrically.

And the show is hilarious.

"Well, why don't you take the kid back then?"
"That's a terrible thing to say!  Besides, I don't think it's possible, I already tried."
 
"what do you think?"
"The sound is terrible"
"yeah, sounds... analogue"
"you guys can't hear anything can you?'
"nah, our ears have been shot for years"
 
Forostar said:
I like Bolt Thrower. Very characteristic riffs and guitar sound, a bit of chainsaws.

I shouldn't hear too many songs in a row, but a few like this make my day. They rock live as well!

Aye, they can be a tad repetitive sometimes, especially because they copy their own riffs from time to time. (compare the intro to Killchain to their other legenday song, Cenotaph. I think they have a couple of other songs that use this exact same intro too.) However, Im willing to let them get away with it, because they still hit the spot everytime, perfect medicine if you have some pent up frustration.
 
Forostar said:
YO YO MUFUKKIN' DEVOAHMUNT

DEY BE BRINGING DA REAL GROOOOOOOOOOOOVEZ N SLAMZ FUK DAT OLD SKOOL CRAP LIEK INTOOMBED N CARCASS!1! ME WANNA MOSH TO DA PIT RIFFZ N BREAKDOWNZZ!1!1

I BE LAYING OUT 100 HUNDRED SLAM BUCKS TO SEE 'EM LIVE! RIP WAYNE KNUPP!111

slambill.jpg

Oh. My. God.

In all seriousness now, I like the appreciation of Bolt Thrower around these parts. Sure, most of their output is very similar, but it's also very consistent, especially when you consider the amount of great death metal groups that declined in quality after one or two albums (Deicide, Dismember, Amorphis, Therion, Slammification, At the Gates, Disgrace, Vader, the list goes on). How many death metal groups have 8 high quality albums? Not a lot, if any, really. My favourite is probably ...For Victory.
 
Kynisk Sokol said:
Oh. My. God.

In all seriousness now, I like the appreciation of Bolt Thrower around these parts. Sure, most of their output is very similar, but it's also very consistent, especially when you consider the amount of great death metal groups that declined in quality after one or two albums...  Amorphis, Therion,

I disagree. Change in direction by no means means decline in quality. Further more, popularity due to change in direction, and just as a thought better quality, does not make a band "bad" or "sell outs".
 
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