His mind sundered by unimaginable horrors, Richard Benton’s psyche shatters into twenty pieces, each trapped in its own maze of nightmares more surreal than the last…
20. Flesh Megalith – Beneath the Rot (self-release). Slow-motion, crushing waves of filth make Beneath The Rot into one of the most gruelling Death Doom albums of the year. Approaching the intensity of Khanate at times, but rooted in the sounds of Death, Flesh Megalith don’t so much pummel the listener as drown them.
Buy the album here:
https://fleshmegalith.bandcamp.com/album/flesh-megalith
19. The Grifted – Doomsday and Salvation (Personal Records). The Grifted, without question, achieved the best Death Metal look this year, posing in their work canteen like middle-aged salesmen, and they carry that unusual mundanity into their catchy, punk-infused Death Metal. Left Hand Path with a mortgage just sounds even angrier.
Buy the album here:
https://personal-records.bandcamp.com/album/doomsday-salvation
18. Maze of Sothoth – Extirpated Light (Everlasting Spew). On their second full-length for Everlasting Spew, Italian Cthulhu-botherers Maze Of Sothoth blend razor-sharp Tech Death with classic Morbid Angel to create a sound more impactful than most of its sub-genre.
Buy the album here: https://everlastingspewrecords.bandcamp.com/album/extirpated-light
17. Afterbirth – In But Not Of (Willowtip). Of all Death Metal’s subgenres, Brutal/Slam seems the least suited to experimentation, but Afterbirth have proven that impression false for at least two albums now. Firmly in the Ulcerate “We Chose This Name Before We Got Good” school, they drag listeners on a psychedelic, mind-blowing journey into a black hole of abstract sci-fi Death Metal that badly needs a smarter label.
Buy the album here:
https://afterbirthnydeathmetal.bandcamp.com/album/in-but-not-of
16. Incantation – Unholy Deification (Relapse). The first of two old soldiers to make the list, and while Unholy Deification might not have quite the same fire as Cannibal’s latest, it’s clear that Incantation have no need to take a break any time soon. They’ve grown beyond the sheer chaos of Onwards… and Mortal Throne, but have replaced it with a towering grandeur that threatens to block out the sun. And riffs, obviously,
Buy the album here:
https://incantation666.bandcamp.com/album/unholy-deification
15. Cruciamentum – Obsidian Refractions (Profound Lore). Eight years after their harrowing debut Charnel Passages, Cruciamentum finally return, and if they’ve traded some of their intensity for atmospherics, they’ve still got plenty to spare. This is the kind of grisly, occult sounding Death Doom that will have your hand locked into a permanent claw shape for an hour afterwards.
Buy the album here:
https://cruciamentum.bandcamp.com/album/obsidian-refractions
14. Grief Symposium – … In The Absence Of Light (Church Road). Taking their cues from 90’s My Dying Bride, but replacing the gothic meandering with a practised love of skull-crushing, Grief Symposium’s debut is a masterful collection of riff-driven Death Doom that veers effortlessly from reflective to violent. An extended Dark Ambient and spoken voice outro is a surprisingly effective closer to an album that understands that making you think doesn’t detract from kicking your head in.
Buy the album here:
https://griefsymposium.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-absence-of-light
13. Astriferous – Pulsations from the Black Orb (Me Saco Un Ojo). Everyone knows that the best Death Metal albums are the ones that sound like their album covers. Astriferous certainly set themselves with the writhing maelstrom of abominations on the cover of Pulsations From The Black Orb, but their music does a stellar job of living up to it, gut-wrenching vocals circling a miasma of razor-sharp, spiralling guitars and pinpoint blasts.
Buy the album here:
https://mesacounojo.bandcamp.com/album/pulsations-from-the-black-orb
12. Re-Buried – Repulsive Nature (Translation Loss). Rumbling like a backed-up sewer drain, Re-Buried play largely mid-paced, crushing Death Metal with a filthy sense of groove and riffs you could drown in. Cannibal Corpse are an obvious reference point, along with modern exponents like Undead and (early) Tomb Mold, but Re-Buried play with enough of their own stomp and gore to draw attention.
Buy the album here:
https://re-buried.bandcamp.com/album/repulsive-nature
11. Out Of The Mouths of Graves – Shrines to Dagon (Vargheist). After an ambitious but not-quite-there debut, Out Of The Mouths Of Graves finally live up to the promise of their name. Their maximalist approach to discordant Death Metal can be intoxicating, with dissonant guitarwork dancing across creepily labyrinthine song structures and vocals far beyond human.
Buy the album here:
https://outofthemouthofgraves.bandcamp.com/album/shrines-to-dagon
10. Dwelling Below – Dwelling Below (Transcending Obscurity). Sharing members with transdimensional weirdos Acausal Intrusion, Dwelling Below occupy a similar musical space, but grounded more solidly in Death and Doom. Discordant riffing and sinister melodies unfold across four long tracks, creating an atmosphere both captivating and disturbing, while the tight musicianship and strong compositions prevent it from meandering into pointlessness.
Buy the album here:
https://dwellingbelow.bandcamp.com/album/self-titled
9. Disguised Malignance – Entering The Gateways (Prosthetic). If it’s filthy, diseased-sounding, neck-snapping fucking DEATH METAL you want, Finland should always be one of the first places you look. Helsinki’s Disguised Malignance refuse to acknowledge any decade since the 90s, stuffing their Demigod with a handful of Incantation to make an assault of mid-to-fast-paced Death Metal that makes no apologies for being exactly what it is.
There are touches of… whisper it… progression! on several of the tracks, as if they’ve stopped by Demilich on the way, and it only serves to heighten the impact of the material.
Buy the album here: https://disguisedmalignance.bandcamp.com/album/entering-the-gateways
8. Cannibal Corpse – Chaos Horrific (Metal Blade). Cannibal Corpse are perhaps Metal’s greatest example of the value of specialism over-generalism. Whereas some bands are stuck in a rut by their lack of ability, Cannibal Corpse are a supremely talented band who love Death Metal and choose to do this one thing as well as they possibly can. Their strongest album since Kill, Chaos Horrific is another example of the power of depth over breadth.
Buy the album here:
https://cannibalcorpse.bandcamp.com/album/chaos-horrific
7. Fossilization – Leprous Daylight (Everlasting Spew). Following up on their savage EP and split for Everlasting Spew, Fossilization’s debut full length plunges into a churning labyrinth of Doom Death horror. Leprous Daylight dials back some of the dissonance of the EP in favour of a pitch-black Doom atmosphere, but loses none of its devastating power in the process. A gruelling but engaging listen, and another success from the seemingly tireless Everlasting Spew.
Buy the album here:
https://everlastingspewrecords.bandcamp.com/album/leprous-daylight
6. Vastum – Inward to Gethsemane (20 Buck Spin). One of the most reliable voices in modern American Death Metal return to drown the world in riffs once more. Vastum’s style is built around crushing, mid-paced riffs and claustrophobic atmospheres underpinning a murderous dual-vocal attack, and they see no need to change it on the slyly-named Inward To Gethsemane. “Mature” is a word that has no place in a genre where “disgusting” and “horrible” are high praise, but there’s always been something about Vastum that demands they be taken seriously, and they’ve not lost it here.
Buy the album here:
https://20buckspin.bandcamp.com/album/inward-to-gethsemane
5. Vile Ritual – Caverns of Occultic Hatred (Sentient Ruin). Providing further evidence that the days of one-man bands all being rough as hell are long over, Vile Ritual blend hyperspeed, raw Death Metal with a thick soup of Doom and psychedelic passages, on the bad-trip album of 2023. Ugly, savage and disorienting, Caverns Of Occultic Hatred makes no attempt to appeal to a wider audience, but carries itself with such skill that it deserves to.
Buy the album here:
https://vileritual.bandcamp.com/album/caverns-of-occultic-hatred
4. Phobocosm – Foreordained (Dark Descent). With an early December release date, Phobocosm’s third album screwed up this year’s nascent list, demanding a high spot on first listen. They occupy the position Ulcerate might have if they’d doubled-down on heaviness after Vermis – dense, dissonant and utterly crushing – to the extent that some tryhards might start calling them “Post” Metal if they weren’t so thoroughly and undeniably Death.
Buy the album here:
https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/foreordained
3. Altarage – Worst Case Scenario (Doomentia). Altarage may have started as a fairly straightforward Portal clone, but it didn’t take them long to explore disturbing, dissonant paths of their own. On their fifth full-length the Basque horrors combine the Noise and Ambient elements they’ve been playing with into their Death Metal to create a horrorscape beyond riffs and solos. You can still point to traces of Portal or The Amenta in their sound but, like those bands, by this point Altarage don’t sound quite like anyone else.
Buy the album here:
https://altarage.bandcamp.com/album/worst-case-scenario
2. Impetuous Ritual – Iniquitous Barbarik Synthesis (Profound Lore). Though sometimes dismissed as Portal copyists, Impetuous Ritual were always the masters of their own writhing, non-Euclidean kingdom. If any band have the potential to break music it’s them, and the journey to convert Death Metal into pure sonic abstraction continues on Iniquitous Barbarik Synthesis with a sound that’s almost purposefully unlistenable yet somehow utterly compelling.
Buy the album here:
https://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/iniquitous-barbarik-synthesis
1. Nothingness – Supraliminal (Everlasting Spew)
I haven’t got the statistics in front of me, but I imagine it’s pretty rare for an album released in January to hit the top spot in a list like this – something newer and shinier comes along, and even the most exciting initial listens finds itself falling through the cracks. This year, Nothingness would not let that happen, cramming so much into their second full-length that it just kept demanding to be listened to all year.
At times blasting, ominous, cavernous and even melodic, Supraliminal draws from decades of Death Metal history without ever sounding generic – there are parts here that draw to mind Incantation, Morbid Angel or Cannibal Corpse, but you would never mistake them for those bands, so clearly detailed is Nothingness’ own musical identity.
Supraliminal is nothing short of a masterclass in American Death Metal, and a worthy champion of a year filled with high points.
Buy the album here: https://everlastingspewrecords.bandcamp.com/album/supraliminal
RICHARD BENTON