It's time to my top-10 list of my personal favorite death metal albums ever! Just like the other two lists before this one, I'm just gonna choose one record for each band that will represent the best of that band specifically. Here goes...
#10: Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade (1992)
Bolt Thrower will start off this list with the last spot. There were many bands and albums battling for this spot, but I guess BT just had a great artillery at the end of the day. I really dig their made-for-combat death metal sound, even though it tends to get somewhat repetitive, but I just couldn't deny them a spot on this list. Choosing a favorite album of theirs was no easy task either. Ultimately I came to the conclusion that this one is one of their more varied albums, including some doom-y influences to make their sound even more heavy. Think like if Black Sabbath made death metal. Well, that's kind of it, I think. This album is just shit-heavy fucking death metal perfect for fighting!
#9: Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God (2008)
One of the "newer" (still old, actually, just a late bloomer) Swedish DM bands that has really become one of Sweden's biggest bands of the past ten years, Amon Amarth is a very nice and heavy answer on Sweden's Gothenburg death metal sound. While I never was quite a fan of Gothenburg bands like At The Gates or Dark Tranquility, AA really is something else. It's like they combine the Gothenburg melodies with the heavy approach of the Stockholm scene, which I really like. There is no other record in their discography that I think does this better than this one. This is an almost flawless metal album with many great songs that surely will get you headbanging. The band also manages something on this album, that I probably have to admit that no other death metal band ever has managed, and that is the inclusion of the closing-track "Embrace Of The Endless Ocean". I truly believe that it might be the most epic and amazing death metal song ever recorded.
#8: Carnage - Dark Recollections (1990)
Pretty much a hybrid record combining the sound of early Dismember and of what Carcass would become very soon. Featuring three members of Dismember as well as band founder and future Carcass and Arch Enemy, guitarist Mike Amott, this album is essentially a Dismember record with a strong Carcass '89-'91 era influence. Many of the songs even are old Dismember tunes that appeared on their demo-tapes back in the late 80's, and the sound is very obvious. This album also makes use of the legendary buzz-saw guitar sound that Dismember had used, but as Entombed had just put out "Left Hand Path" short before this one, that one got all the credit. Carnage eventually went on pretty unnoticed, as the band had already split-up by this album's release, due to Mike Amott joining Carcass (well fitting, though). The other guys quickly reformed Dismember and the rest is (great) history. But this album still is here, having caught the attention of death metal enthusiasts like me, and it's a damn good record. While the band splitting up paved the way for two of the best outcomes ever, it would've been fun to hear what else they could've put out.
#7: Unleashed - Odalheim (2012)
These Swedes were the first and true death metal vikings. Any fan of Amon Amarth should really give these guys some fucking cred - they're the old school, real deal kind of band. This is also really the only death metal band, at least in Sweden, that really manages to put out even greater records nowadays, than they did back in the death metal heydays. That's saying a lot. The only other band could possibly be Grave, but I'm not sure. At least no other Swedish DM band manages it. Unleashed has just gotten better with each album released in the last, like, twenty years. This album is my favorite of theirs, and their most recent one! That is not a bad achievement!
#6: Benediction - Transcend The Rubicon (1993)
A band whose sound is pretty similar to Bolt Thrower, but with more variety (though BT has made more records of great quality than Benediction has), this album is a raw, high-energy output. It's got some great riffing that fucking rips you apart. They do kind of a melodic yet raw approach to their riffing style, with some pissed-off drumming accompanied to it. The bass is also audible, even if not really as forthcoming as the other instruments. It's a well-balanced album and the songs are essentially very riff-oriented. I usually put this one on when I feel like doing some angry death metal air guitar.
#5: Carcass - Heartwork (1993)
Without a doubt Carcass' most melodic release, to my ears at least. This might come as an obvious choice, but hey, it's a fucking great record. This is very the band truly hit the spot-on button in the studio. I really like how this album is like death metal discretely flirting with stoner metal, really bringing forth a heavy-oriented side while maintaining the brutality and melody from their earlier death metal albums. I also really dig the production on this album. It's so clear yet raw and heavy, just a perfect balance and every instrument is audible and clear - rare for a death metal record. Just a masterpiece, nothing less.
#4: Entombed - Left Hand Path (1990)
My introduction to death metal. I remember putting this record on and instantly being blown-away during the opening. It was just so crushing and brutal, so spot-on what I needed to discover at the time. This is the first official release with the legendary Swedish buzz-saw guitar sound, and damn if I didn't cum my pants when I first heard it. Just is just some pure, hardcore-punky death metal that will crush your spine and neck because you will headbang too hard. It was a perfect introduction to the genre.
#3: Nocturnus - The Key (1990)
This is one of the most interesting metal records ever made, as well as pioneering. From what I've heard, this album, or band at least, is the first death metal band to make heavy use of keyboards in their music, and the result is phenomenal! This is very much a typical Tampa death style, very Morbid Angel (even containing former MA drummer/vocalist Mike Browning), records with great, atmospheric keyboard intros and supports throughout. The songs are great as a whole, too. The only thing really lacking with this album would be the somewhat primitive drumming. The bass drumming is rarely real solid, but I guess that's because they recorded it all live on tape, with Mike Browning being a little distracted while singing at the same time as drumming. I don't know. But nonetheless, this album is fucking killer! The best out of the American Tampa scene.
#2: Septic Flesh - Mystic Places Of Dawn (1994)
This is an album that I discovered many years after I first ventured into death metal, but I'd be damned if it didn't struck me down with its huge, epic, melodic, and Gothic atmospheric sound. It's 99.9 % perfection here, the only slight miss being the use of a drum-machine. But it's one of the best-working (most acceptable) ones I've heard accompanied to the music it's serving. These Greek guys really know what they're doing on this album. An overseen masterpiece!
#1: Dismember - Like An Ever Flowing Stream (1991)
This one is the true one, my one true love of death metal. No other record of the genre, and not many other records in music overall, have meant as much to me as this one does. This one is like one sexy chick - it's got that fat, Swedish Sunlight Studios production, with them fat buzz-saw guitars (my favorite guitar sound ever), live-like drumming, and neat fucking riffs. On top of that is some creamy, melodic guitar soloing, which I just love. The album cover really suits the music perfectly as well. It's just as sexy as the music it's containing is. An immortal classic. One of my most precious records in my collection.
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