Phobocosm's debut 'Deprived' is an excellent slab of death metal. Been listening to it heaps the last couple of days. A real Immolation-esque feel to them too

http://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/deprived

Yeah, great live band too, I've just missed their record launch this weekend since I went to see Uncle Acid (I've seen Phobocosm like 4 times already) so I don't feel that guilty! Perhaps currently the best death metal Montréal and Québec as a whole has to offer.

Agreed on Phobocosm. Damn good stuff indeed!

Also not as well known, and it's been a long time between recordings, but finally Funerary Pit have recorded/released a brand fucking new EP of some blistering Aussie death metal, called The Titan Sea. Check it;



Charnel Chasms
Vaults Of Crawling Darkness

Fans of Destruktor and the like should get on this.

Somehow I totally didn't realize Black Crown Initiate has a new album coming out until the day it's scheduled to be released. Just finished listening to Withering Waves for the 3rd time in a row. Goddamn, I wasn't prepared for those cleans at all. I really hate making those "top 10" lists, but this exceeds anything else I've heard all year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv2k7YyWeL0

Wow! I've never even heard of these guys before, but that sure got my interest. Better than Vengeful? I love "The Omnipresent Curse". If this band is anywhere as good I need to check this out!

A couple of albums I haven't seen mentioned much...

Lathspell's Impious Incantations is a really solid album. Very traditional, old school sounding raw black metal with lots of repetition, but I've really enjoyed. Just tremendously listenable overall.

Nuclear Hammer's Serpentine Hermetic Lucifer was also a huge surprise for me. I hated their split with Begrime Exemious(mostly because of Begrime Exemious), but I gave it a shot and man, this album is so fucking stupid that it kind of crosses over into progressive and artsy. Most of the tracks last mere seconds, yet are book ended by these two epic tracks which are essentially just non stop blast beats and grunting. It is one of the most hypnotic albums I've listened to though, because it is just so bullish in it's relentlessness that it never once quits. It is completely committed to being noisey, shitty and unlistenable and it ends up working on so many levels.

Neither of these are top 10 albums for me, but 2014 has been a year of lots of really good releases and no truly great releases.

HOW??? I mean, BCI aren't bad but they're pretty run of the mill stuff!


Awesome album, hyper heavy slow hardcore, for fans of Nails and company, I'm seeing them next week.

Yeah I don't know if Serpentine Hermetic Lucifer is something that would really stick with me or be a world-beater of any kind, but from what I've heard of it online there seems to be a very hypnotic and enticing atmosphere there that is quite rewarding, going way beyond what a lot of people would expect from the bare components of the style Nuclear Hammer play. Perhaps something I'd pick up if I saw it at a nice price. Stupendous imagery associated with that album as well to be honest. Lathspell sounds like my sort of thing too, will check them out.

I was going to bring up Vengeful, too! Vengeful are the best death metal outfit in Canada that I know of, but I'm going to check this ban out and see if I change my mind.

You probably don't know that many then!

I'd say Phobocosm is much better than Vengeful, more focused and dynamic even. The album seems pretty good, but since I fell asleep both times I listened to it I still need to get a better impression out of it. It does seem to be one of the better bands going after that post-2000 Immolation sound though, and I'll be listening to it again for sure. Preferably awake this time.

Vengeful never quite interested me, I might say. Chthe'ilist will completely destroy the oppositon with their debut full length (to be released on Profound Lore/Dark Descent/Graceless)

I'm curious about that one too.

A bit presumptuous but I have full faith in this statement!

Listening to the Phobocosm album right now

I may be speaking on impulse, but after several listen throughs of Wreckage of Stars it's still incredibly solid. Those savage riffs coupled with the contrast between the really well-executed clean parts and those feral growls are tight as piss. This might be a bad comparison, but BCI is sorta like Ne Obliviscaris without all the pretentious noodling and unnecessary violins all over the place.

I've been enjoying the new albums from Anthropomorphia and Calm Hatchery. Different styles of Death Metal, but absolute riff-fests. The former could be a bit shorter though, as the length is a bit much for a Death Metal record.

And I just checked out that Phobocosm album. Very good stuff.
I really need to get my hands on a physical copy

Really enjoying the new Falls of Rauros. Been eagerly waiting for it ever since Austin Lunn of Panopticon mentioned it quite awhile back.

I just love this style of black/folk metal. Fabulous guitar melodies and use of clean/acoustic sections. The production might turn a few people off if they are expecting it to be like their previous album, but if you enjoy their two songs on the split they did with Panopticon earlier this year than you won't be disappointed. At 40 minutes the album flies by and I'm left wanting more and more.

Will be around the top of my list of favorite albums of the year, tho it'll be hard to beat out the new Spectral Lore. That album is just a flat out masterpiece.

Couldn't yet get into the new Calm Hatchery. It sounds "happier" and generally slower than their past efforts. I don't know, there's something I can't exactly put my finger on that isn't clicking with me on that one.

Like some have already mentioned, the Phobocosm is great. "Caverncore" that still has some damn solid meaty riffs. Saw them live and they were great - was immediately disappointed that they didn't have anything out so I'm pretty happy about this. Enjoying the new Thantifaxath. A very immersive and full sounding black metal album that covers a lot of ground while still sounding cohesive. Great atmosphere without any sacrifice in the riffs department.

The new Atlas Moth was good, although doesn't have shit on Ache. A few really great songs, though. In all, it sounds like the previous record, only lighter and more rock oriented. Besides the standout songs, I could take it or leave it.

I'm listening to the new Winterfylleth, The Divination of Antiquity, it's quite good of course. The almost ten minutes "A Careworn Heart" is epic as fuck, it's in the same vein as their previous stuff, it's not offering any surprises and that's ok!

Yeah, it really does sound happier but it wasn't enough to ruin it for me. El Alamein is still my favourite from them.

These two albums have been kicking my ass for the past couple of days

Sempiternal Dusk - Self Titled

Mid-paced Doom influenced cavernous Black/Death Metal. Might be too repetitive for some but those monstrous evil sounding tremolo riffs are enough to keep me hooked.

Sinmara - Aphotic Womb

There's got to be something very evil in Icelandic waters these days that's causing them to produce some stellar Black Metal. A cacophony of dissonant riffs, balanced with regular tremolo riffs and some Psychedelic stuff thrown in for good measure. If you like their fellow countrymen Carpe Noctem and Svartidaudi, there's a very good chance you're gonna love this.

Yeah, Sinmara sounds definitely good.

The new Mare Cognitum is also shaping to be a great album. Seems to be taking a more melodic turn than its predecessor but it has plenty of variation to please different tastes.

I came across The Dead (Aus) and their 2014 album is up for streaming. I must say this is some pretty good sludge-infused doomy death metal. It's only my first listen, but it seems like they've got a winner already. I'm sure it'll be one of the better albums this year.

http://transcendingobscurity.bandcamp.c ... tal-sludge

Now that's brilliant news. I've been waiting for so long for a follow-up to their last album, Ritual Executions.
I can't wait to get home and stream that.
Thanks for the heads up man

Im just here to put my two cents and recommend Morfin's Inoculation.

http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Morfin/3540330821

Some tasty old school sounding death metal that changes you from the crappy over technical bullshit bands.

Listening to their song on Reverb Nation right now. So old skool!! Total Possessed worship.

Septycal Gorge - Scourge Of The Formless Breed

This album is interesting, complex, and surprising. I can definitely catch some Suffocation and Deeds Of Flesh influences even if it's more brutal in some regards. I really enjoy the amazing chord-work and diverse riffing styles. Not your typical BDM album - especially musically - and it has terrific production and artwork.

I came across this two days ago

Dictated - The Deceived



http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Dictated/3540263931

Bolt-throweresque sound + two girls on guitars..what else do you need ffs ?

new ruinside album streaming in full for this week, before the release

melodic, slightly proggy thrash

This is a serious album-of-the-year candidate for me (and I'm not just talking about the artwork. Amazing material in the vein of other great technical brutal death metal acts, such as Katalepsy (my favorite). Excellent brutal technicality, slamming, and innovative chord-work. It has some Ulcerate-ish flavor sprinkled in with tiny doses to enhance the music and break up monotony found in other, lesser or average BDM fare. This soars above most of the rest. On top of that the production is FANTASTIC! Skull-crushing riffage abounds and there's a distinctly hellish atmosphere that pervades the album with the music itself. I give you:

Disentomb - Misery (2014)

Seconding both that Septycal Gorge and Disentomb. Actually intelligible, ultra brutal death metal. This is what I like in the genre, not shit like Defeated Sanity.

The new Execration and Swallowed albums absolutely slay.
The former walks that fine line between Black and Death Metal, while the latter is the most insane shit I've heard this year. You just can't place it under a genre, but there's definitely hear some death/doom in there, the rest is just bat shit craziness.
Good stuff

this is some mighty fine incantation worship - and that cover art is fantastic

Throw me in the "holy crap" camp on Disentomb, so many riffing styles coming from every direction but it all meshes so well. Amazing stuff.

Jammed out to the new October 31 for the first time last night....(yes, at the gym).

I have to say, King Fowley definitely has style. It sounds like he writes down all the words and then just recites them over the music, making up all his intonations on the spot like he's telling a theatrical story....in his single, monotone shout. I've always thought both October 31 and Deceased could benefit from more variety in the vocal recording/production. Still, new album sounds like cartoony Halloween music without actually being cartoony at all.

It's been a good year so far, though maybe my standards aren't that high at all. Dunno, but what I do know is that there's been a fair amount of really enjoyable work coming out.

Some excellent death metal albums were put out. I won't try and make a comprehensive list, more of a mention-what-comes-to mind kind of thing.
Calm Hatchery has impressed me with Fading Reliefs. Pretty much everything about the record screams class, from the luscious guitar tone, the excellent sense for dynamics, variation and generally songwriting to (most importantly) relentless and pounding riffwork.

I could say pretty much the same for Beneath's sophomore release and Near Death Condition's latest; the thing is that these bands don't occupy or even tend to occupy a specific niche or particular sub-genre. What they do is crushing, excellently crafted and inspired death metal - period.

On the other side of things, Teramaze (Esoteric Symbolism) and Vital Science (Imaginations on the Subject of Infinity) spring to mind as excellent power/prog releases, the former more for nuance and subtlety in delivering moody and kind of atmospheric progressive metal (yet with a keen sense for force in riffing) and the latter more for outright heavier side of prog riffing (emphasized by the chunky guitar tone and riffing focus on hard hitting rhythmic riffs) coupled with fine use of keys (and a Russell Allen clone handling vocals - which is more than fine by me).

There are more interesting records to be mentioned some other day.

EDIT: oh yeah, and a shout out to folks here recommending Phobocosm and Disentomb. Both very good releases.

Lunarterial by Swallowed is out now and streaming here http://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/lunarterial

Crushing and bizarre Finnish death/black/doom!

Not so sure about that Disentomb. Artwork is pretty killer. I can dig some of the riffing, and the frequent changes make it somewhat interesting to listen to. However, the mechanical drum barrage and those completely soulless 'vocals' quickly render the material monotonous and quite boring to me.

This is superb! Currently listening to 'Arterial Mists of Doom' and this is quite chaotic. Not as bizarre as I was expecting but the other tracks will definitely tell. Thanks for the mention. Dark Descent seems to be putting out quality release after release

The new Spectral Lore (My first exposure to the band) immediately jumped to AOTY for me after one listen. Just absurdly good in every way.

yes this Spectral Lore is brilliant. I slept on it for way too long.