Hello.

A few weeks ago I came up with the idea of listing 100 death metal albums (and demos, EPs, splits) that could be considered "essential" albums, but after that the list turned to something else and I decided to include more than 100 because it wasn't enough, clearly.

I'm really passionate about death metal in general so my idea is to list these albums and eventually review them all and use them to write a comprehensive guide to death metal through all of its subgenres. It's not about listing "essential" albums anymore, but about listing nice albums that participate into shaping what is death metal. Think of it more as an history of death metal through its releases and various evolutions/crossovers/offshot... so that if a complete novice would listen to it, he would end up being able to say precisely "this" is death metal.

Right now I'm gathering data from metal fans in general, so if some of you could leave me your top 5 or top 10 (or more if you want) death metal/death metal-adjacent albums, and specify which subgenre of death metal (or metal in general) you like the most... it would help me a lot! No need for it to be automatically old and cult albums. You can suggest me an album from 2024 as much as an obscure demo from 1991, as long as it's relevant, I'm alright with that.

Also: I'm not here to debate genres/subgenres. You can suggest me old-school death metal, brutal death metal, melodic death metal, deathcore, slamming beatdown, deathgrind, death'n'roll, death/doom or anything that has death metal riffing and is rooted in death metal. Of course if the band has just minimal death metal elements, regardless of its quality, I'd rather not include it in this list.

Have you had a look at RYM's death metal page? It has a lot of information that I think is pretty neat, such as a timeline of death metal releases, and user-voted preferences etc.

As for a top 10, that's really tough... I'll try to steer clear of the classics.

Bombs of Hades - The Serpent's Redemption (2012, crusty swedeath)
Legion of the Damned - Malevolent Rapture (2006, deathrash)
Undergang - Indhentet af Døden (2009, osdm)
War Master - Pyramid of the Necropolis (2011, death)
Whoresnation - Mephitism (2018, deathgrind)
Analepsy - Atrocities from Beyond (2017, slam)
Defeated Sanity - Chapters of Repugnance (2010, brutal tech)
Cruz - Culto Abismal (2016, crusty death)
Nuclear Desecration - Desecrated Temple of Impurity (2008, death/black)
Hooded Menace - Fulfill the Curse (2008, death/doom)
Trenchrot - Necronomic Warfare (2014, death)
Rattenfänger - Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum (2012, death/doom)
200 Stab Wounds - Slave to the Scalpel (2021, death)
Putrid Pile - House of Dementia (2009, slam)
Augury - Concealed (2004, prog)

Ah yes, I often browse RYM and found a lot of albums and bands I didn't even know about on there!

And thanks for you top albums, there are many I never heard about so I'll give them a listen.

I was also considering adding 200 Stab Wounds because I like this band but didn't know which of their releases to pick between Slave to the Scalpel and their Master of Morbidity EP. I think the album has more to offer, you're right for this choice.

when thinking of genre definition we see frontier : Thrash with bands like Possessed, Black with uh lot of bands, Grind with another bunch of them. And here could be also doom, industrial, etc. There's also hardcore side with bands like Xibalba and so on. Where is Macabre, where is Nunslaughter, etc.
Some moderns include new inspiration or technic, like Chapel of disease or bands with doom/atmos moments.

These frontier could help with extreme like I don't know Possessed for thrash and Suffocation for the opposite, or Asphyx being opposite of Origin, etc

this not to discuss genre limits but to give maybe a skeleton to this work you do?
you can also use discogs, explore rock death and then releases

I agree, I try to set this as well, to include bands without being biased. I like a lot of death metal/hardcore crossover stuff, for me No Zodiac, Deformity or Reprisal definitely have their place on such a list, while Black Tongue, The Acacia Strain or Day Of Suffering (as much as I love these bands) don't, because they are definitely more metalcore than death metal which is just a small influence on their stuff.

Likewise, I've put some death/thrash like Possessed and Sepultura, but I wouldn't have put "Arise" that is, I think, already more into thrash territory; and for death/doom I already put some classic bands like Asphyx, Coffins, Autopsy, Encoffination but I don't think Katatonia, My Dying Bride or Paradise Lost would fit in (except some of their earliest work that I need to revisit). Same remarks regarding deathgrind.

It will be a bit more difficult for some other subgenres that I'm way less familiar with (thus why I appreciate exchanging about them to have a better understanding); some people introduced me to Intestine Baalism which definitely gave me a more positive image of melodic death metal. I already put a bunch of classic like In Flames, The Black Dahlia Murder and of course At The Gates, and I'm pondering which Soilwork album to add, but there are many other bands that I can hardly see as fitting like Children Of Bodom, Arch Enemy, etc. I hardly can picture them as death metal and yeah, indeed, it really makes me wonder where are the limits.

The weirdest right now as to be death'n'roll... it's a real hit-or-miss for me... Entombed "Wolverine Blues" and Systral "Black Smoker" are definitely above average/classic albums for me. But so far, all the death'n'roll stuff I've been listening to annoy the shit out of me lol. Still considering about adding Six Feet Under, but the mere idea of having to listen to the "least good" (to put it politely) part of their discography give me a headache.

Beside that I'm really willing to find some of the weirdest and most niche combinations, at least for my own enjoyment, but also for the sake of variety. Industrial death metal is one example, I have three bands for which I loved some of their work (The Berzerker, Fear Factory and Pitchshifter) but finding more is difficult. Morbid Angel's indus-like album is not that good imo. Then there are some stuff that seems delightful on paper but in practise, it doesn't fit... I'm thinking about Kardashev who advertise their music as deathgaze. I loved them, and yeah I can see the shoegaze influence, I can also see some prog death metal influence, but definitely not enough to call it death metal.

A lot of people forget about the 80s Chicago scene (Master, Death Strike, Terminal Death, Devastation, Sindrome). These bands were a big part of the early death metal sound internationally, and yet they often get forgotten by people these days. Terminal Death's "Faces of Death" demo (1985) is probably the earliest recording that has all the elements of what later became known as death metal.

In terms of industrial death-ish metal, check out "Streetcleaner" by Godflesh, Meathook Seed (UK), Mortified (UK), and Sin (NYC).
Early MDB and Paradise Lost is most certainly death metal.

I see you've got Intestine Baalism covered, sweet, they're one of my all-time favorite bands! As far as death 'n' roll and Six Feet Under is concerned, I'll always give SFU kudos for Undead, they actually showed up for that one. Other than that though, I was pretty stumped. As for industrialized metal, I toyed with the idea of mentioning Mirrorthrone or one of Vladimir Cochet's other projects, but I wasn't sure how relevant they'd be... Anyway, I hope some of this is helpful to you, best of luck with your project!

1. 2 Ton Predator - Boogie
This album scared the shit out of kid-Tanuki. Tons of brutish grooves, like Pantera on meth, but nowadays I don't know if I'd consider it heavy enough to be considered death'n'roll. Probably not, but hey, where else am I gonna mention this.
Standout track: September Flu
See also: Invocator - Weave the Apocalypse

2. Vehemence - God Was Created
Artisanal melody-driven death metal, finely crafted. If you like Intestine Baalism, you'll love this. Achingly beautiful melodies, sometimes very unsettling, in no small part due to the story this concept album tells. Worthy of a trigger warning, even by death metal standards.
Standout track: Christ, I Fucking Hate You
See also: Edge of Sanity - Purgatory Afterglow

3. Konkhra - Sexual Affective Disorder
I think death metal and sex are pretty inextricable, at least in the early days. Konkhra is a great example of some sordid Freudian death metal. Obscene squelching bass-led grooves and remarkably high-brow lyricism about emotional attachment and repression.
Standout track: Blindfolded
See also: Ill-Disposed - Four Depressive Seasons

4. Without Grief - Deflower
The thinking man's In Flames. Too many icy, saturnine melodies to count, almost Dissection-esque with how bitter and strangulated they sound. The Gothenburg sound refined to a diamond luster and hardness.
Standout track: Suicidal Stroke
See also: Sacrilege - The Fifth Season

5. Whispered - Shogunate Macabre
If Amon Amarth were held hostage at an Anime Convention and forced to write an album at katana-point. Kabuki metal should, by all rights, be a self-limiting and hokey gimmick, but it resulted in one of the most memorable and freshest takes on bombastic symphonic death metal I can think of.
Standout track: Upon My Honor
See also: Imperial Circus Dead Decadence - Kuruoshiku Saita Na Mukuro Wa...

6. Lykathea Aflame - Elvenefris
Major scale flourishes, shimmering Arabesque orchestral interludes that come out of nowhere, monstrous chugs... It reads like the scrawlings of a mad pharaoh. One of the most radical and batshit insane technical death metal albums.
Standout track: Land Where Sympathy is Air
See also: Gorod - Leading Vision

7. Massacre - From Beyond
Some people call this a poor man's Leprosy and dismiss it, but From Beyond is my hill to die on. I think it's fantastic, top to bottom. Great riffs, drumming, growls, atmosphere, everything just works. Its "follow-up" Promise, not so much.
Standout track: Succubus
See also: Brutality - When the Sky Turns Black

8. Gorement - The Ending Quest
11 reviews on M-A with a 98% average; I double-take every time I see that, I swear. A gem of old school Swedish death that deserves its praise though, so much oppressive and crushing atmosphere. There's something so sinister and unsettling about this, I can't even put my finger on it.
Standout track: Sea of Silence
See also: Epitaph - Seeming Salvation

9. Sceptic - Pathetic Beings
Highly ambitious technical death metal that doesn't go off the deep end with impossible-to-follow measures or melodies. Laser-hot solos and an atypical vocal style, another album/band I hardly see anyone talking about.
Standout track: Lost Identity
See also: Theory in Practice - Colonizing the Sun

You only need one.

Tomb of the Mutilated - Cannibal Corpse

Everything that is death metal is in this album.

Thank you for these recommendations, I'm taking notes. I thought Godflesh was more of a "pure" industrial metal band though, I'll need to give it another listen (the other bands are unknown to me so I'll check them). And yes I'm thinking about adding something by early MDB and Paradise Lost, possibly "As the Flower Withers" and "Lost Paradise" which are the most death metal-sounding. I'm not sure, regarding Katatonia, though. I will take time to listen to it more.



Thanks a lot for that answer, it's very comprehensive and helpful!

Indeed, Intestine Baalism was a nice discovery for me. If more melodic death metal sounded like this, I'd probably be a bigger fan the genre. I definitely see the continuity between death metal (ex. Death riffing in songs like "Open Casket" or albums like "Like an Ever Flowing Stream" by Dismember being possible early examples of a more melodic take on death metal) and melodic death metal, but some bands seem by now so far removed from death metal that I have a hard time putting them in a "death metal" list. I think I'm treating MDM like death metal/hardcore crossovers or prog death and death/doom, basically seeing which element overpowers the other. I think one of the most borderline album I've put in that list is Dissection's "Storm of the Light's Bane" because it's often more into melodic black metal territory. But it's a cult album.

Concerning death'n'roll and Six Feet Under, well, I'm a bit exagerating here since I liked some of their album... but it's just that, with this band, it's really hit-or-miss... I love groove metal so their often bouncy and mid-tempo death metal pleases me, some of their earliest work like "Maximum Violence" is highly enjoyable for me, but some of their other stuff really sounds like a bad joke.

And yeah... can't say I'm a big death'n'roll fan overall even if on paper it has everything to please me. "Wolverine Blues" again, as I said, is a GREAT album (just today I've listened to it multiple time) and Systral (formerly a more grindcore/powerviolence-oriented punk band) also had an interesting take on death'n'roll. But I struggle to find anything else to my taste. Not a big fan of Pungent Stench or even "Swansong" by Carcass.