The Technical Death Metal Thread
Gorguts - "Colored Sands" (2013)
I've spent the last couple of days revisiting this beast of a tech death metal record & rediscovered all of the reasons that I fell in love with it in the first place. It was the Canadian outfit's comeback record & it took the extreme metal underground by storm which is not surprising when you consider the sheer class on display here. It certainly doesn't sit particularly comfortably under the tech death banner. Despite the sensational musicianship, it's more avant-garde & progressive than it is technical with its strong focus on the use of dissonance resetting the metal scene's understanding of what that sound was capable of. My rating from shortly after the time of release was absolutely spot on. This is undoubtedly one of the best releases of the 2010s.
4.5/5
Cryptic Shift - "Visitations From Enceladus" (2020)
I was recommended this album by the father of my four-year old daughter's best friend recently & thought I'd give it a crack. Cryptic Shift are a four-piece outfit from Leeds, England whose highly ambitious debut album can be described as progressive death/thrash. Imagine a combination of Vektor, Voivod & Gorguts & you won't be too far off the mark. There's only four tracks included with the opener being an absolute beast at 26 minutes in duration but the quality is consistent throughout. The musicianship & execution is excellent & my interest is maintained throughout the run time although I never quite found myself quite hitting that top tier. Nonetheless, "Visitations From Enceladus" is a very solid first up outing from a quality artist but why does the album title make me feel like ordering Mexican food?
4/5
Atheist - "Piece Of Time" (1990)
Florida tech death/thrash legends Atheist's 1990 debut album "Piece Of Time" made a significant impact on me & was high on my rotation list at the time but as soon as their follow-up "Unquestionable Presence" was released I kinda forgot about it as the band's sophomore effort was a clear step up from the debut & an undeniable classic. It's been interesting to rediscover the point that Atheist were at in their creative & artistic journey with "Piece Of Time" this week as it's generally regarded as somewhat of a classic too.
The opening title track is an absolute belter & sounds exactly like the material from "Unquestionable Presence" which is a sure-fire indication that it was the most recently composed track included on the album. The other material sees them varying the amount of traditional thrash metal & more progressive elements & I'm willing to bet that I could piece together the exact order that the tracks were written because you can easily hear the band developing their sound over the course of the nine songs. For that reason, I've never found "Piece Of Time" to be quite the finished product however it undeniably represents a huge step up in ambition for the extreme metal movement. No one had attempted anything like this before & the more atmospheric & progressive parts of the album were a particular revelation that would be expanded upon significantly on later releases. Death, Cynic & Pestilence can all be found to be trying very similar things in the years that followed too & I don't think that's a coincidence.
The level of musicianship on display here is absolutely outstanding, particularly the shredding lead guitar work & Roger Patterson's super-interesting bass lines which take an up-front position in the mix. Kelly Shaefer's vocal delivery has never really struck me as being particularly "death metal" though & sounds more like a raspier thrash front man like Sadus' front man Darren Travis than it does Chuck Schuldiner. I probably would have preferred a little more extremity there to be honest but then again... that may have changed the feel of the album completely so it may be for the best.
Overall, "Piece Of Time" is a ground-breaking & highly influential debut that offers consistent quality & strong hints at the potential that was to be fulfilled in the coming years.
For fans of 90's Death, early Cynic & the techier Pestilence albums.
4/5
For this weekend's top ten list I've decided to go with my Top Ten Technical Death Metal Releases of All Time. It's worth noting that I've elected to omit the more obviously brutal death metal bands who implement technicality (e.g. Suffocation, Hour Of Penance) & have chosen a few that are pretty borderline or are closer to progressive death metal (see "Human", "Testimony Of The Ancients") based solely on the general consensus. See what you think & feel free to post your own list.
01. Death - "Human" (1991)
02. Death – “Individual Thought Patterns” (1993)
03. Gorguts – “Colored Sands” (2013)
04. Ulcerate – “Everything Is Fire” (2009)
05. Death – “Symbolic” (1995)
06. Nile – “Annihilation Of The Wicked” (2005)
07. Atheist – “Unquestionable Presence” (1991)
08. Gorguts – “The Erosion Of Sanity” (1993)
09. Pestilence – “Testimony Of The Ancients” (1991)
10. Ulcerate – “The Destroyers Of All” (2011)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/148
My updated top ten list:
01. 7 Horns 7 Eyes - "Throes Of Absolution" (2012)
02. Death - "Human" (1991)
03. Suffocation - "Despise The Sun" E.P. (1998)
04. Suffocation - "Pinnacle Of Bedlam" (2013)
05. Death – “Individual Thought Patterns” (1993)
06. Gorguts – “Colored Sands” (2013)
07. Ulcerate – “Everything Is Fire” (2009)
08. Ad Nauseam - "Imperative Imperceptible Impulse" (2021)
09. Death – “Symbolic” (1995)
10. Nile – “Annihilation Of The Wicked” (2005)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/148
After revisiting Gorguts' "From Wisdom To Hate" album over the last couple of days I think I'm gonna have to give it Nile's number ten spot:
01. 7 Horns 7 Eyes - "Throes Of Absolution" (2012)
02. Death - "Human" (1991)
03. Suffocation - "Despise The Sun" E.P. (1998)
04. Suffocation - "Pinnacle Of Bedlam" (2013)
05. Death – “Individual Thought Patterns” (1993)
06. Gorguts – “Colored Sands” (2013)
07. Ulcerate – “Everything Is Fire” (2009)
08. Ad Nauseam - "Imperative Imperceptible Impulse" (2021)
09. Death – “Symbolic” (1995)
10. Gorguts - "From Wisdom To Hate" (2001)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/148
Gorguts - "From Wisdom To Hate" (2001)
These guys have always been a favourite of mine as they're always so classy in the way they go about the creative process. No fucks are given whatsoever & they're completely uncompromising. This album followed on from 1998's incredibly unusual "Obscura" record & here we find the band adding a little more structure back into the mix which ends up having a positive impact on the result in my opinion. As mentioned on numerous occasions by band leader Luc Lemay in the press, "From Wisdom To Hate" really should have been placed between their 1993 sophomore album "The Erosion of Sanity" & "Obscura" as it seems pretty close to the missing link between the two & would undoubtedly have made "Obscura" sound a little less jarring if we had of had this record to ease us into it. As it stands though, this is an incredibly consistent & ambitious undertaking in its own right. I absolutely adore the slower sludgier Morbid Angel-esque tracks which is when I think Gorguts are at their best. The progressive guitar solos & the outstanding drumming are also highlights. It's just so death metal but also so experimental at the same time. It's pure class from start to finish & an outstanding example the technical death metal subgenre from one of the undisputed leaders of the subgenre. I'd suggest that I regard it as my second favourite Gorguts record behind their clasic 2013 comeback album "Colored Sands" these days.
4.5/5
Ripping Corpse - "Dreaming With The Dead" (1991)
I picked up on this underrated gem through the tape trading scene shortly after release & remember being very impressed with what I heard. 1991 was a particularly strong year for extreme metal so it's a major compliment to say that "Dreaming With The Dead" got a fair few repeat listens out of me that year. Sadly it would be the New Jersey-based five-piece's only proper release but it's gained most of its underground notoriety through the later exploits of a couple of its key players in guitarists Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal/Morbid Angel/Cannibal Corpse) & Shaune Kelley (Hate Eternal). Ripping Corpse sounded very much like a combination of Sadus & Atheist to my ears & I'd describe them as technical death/thrash combined with the consistent use of short snippets of super-shreddy lead breaks in a similar style to that which Mike Davis of Nocturnus has become known for. The vocals of front man Scott Ruth are closer to thrash than they are death metal but Ripping Corpse can be pretty brutal at times with the band often opting for blast beats or crushingly heavy doom riffs in the name of variety. The level of musicianship is very high (particularly the awesome double kick work) while the sheer velocity these dudes are capable of is very impressive. There are adventurous riffs aplenty with more than the odd hint at progressive experimentation. The only negative is the weak production job which does a pretty poor job at highlighting the band's strengths. Despite that flaw though, it's really pretty hard to understand how Ripping Corpse didn't get more attention over the years & I'd place "Dreaming With The Dead" right alongside the debut albums from either of the bands I mentioned earlier. This one comes highly recommended for fans of high quality death/thrash.
4/5
Cryptopsy - "Whisper Supremacy" (1998)
Here's a hot take for ya. This is my Cryptopsy album of choice these days. I know that might sound strange given the almost unanimous love for the Canadian's first couple of records & the fact that brutal death metal is my subgenre of choice but I honestly never saw the attraction that others seem to & consider them both to be significantly overrated. I actually don't have any time for "Blasphemy Made Flesh" & even though I quite like "None So Vile" I've never thought of it as anything particularly special. For their third record though we saw Cryptopsy dropping a little bit of the brutality & adding a significant amount of technicality with a more professional production job & a new vocalist who actually attempts to enunciate his words even if his delivery is more serviceable than it is impressive. Extreme drumming legend Flo Mounier still blasts away at ridiculous speeds but he still doesn't have the endurance or precision to fully pull it all off & I maintain my position that there are much better death metal drummers out there. Despite the consistent blasting though, this is definitely more of a tech-death record than a brutal-death one. New front man Mike DiSalvo sounds quite a bit like Cannibal Corpse/Monstrosity legend George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher here & in fact I'd suggest that the whole album comes across as a more brutal & technical version of the world's biggest selling death metal band. There's not a weak moment on "Whisper Supremacy" though with a very consistent tracklisting. Unfortunately it lacks the highlights to be considered for my higher scores & it probably doesn't help that the individual tracks can tend to sound pretty samey as they lack a bit of identity. Still... I love this style of death metal & have always found Cryptopsy's third effort to be a really enjoyable experience.
For fans of Suffocation, Wormed & Cannibal Corpse.
4/5
Cryptopsy - "Once Was Not" (2005)
In previous reviews I’ve been very open about the fact that, despite the brutal death metal subgenre being arguably my favourite sound in all of metal, I’ve never rated Canadian legends Cryptopsy’s supposedly classic first couple of albums as highly as almost everyone else on Earth seems to with a large portion of my issues lying with the two major drawcards in front man Lord Worm & influential drum virtuoso Flo Mounier. To be honest I just don’t think either are half as good at their craft as they’re made out to be. Hell, I didn’t even like the band’s highly regarded debut album “Blasphemy Made Flesh”. But 1998’s “Whisper Supremacy” brought with it a new & more traditional vocalist in Mike DiSalvo & also saw the band heading in a flashier & more technical direction which appealed to my taste significantly more than their supposedly genre-defining sophomore album “None So Vile”. “Whisper Supremacy” finally saw me getting onboard the Cryptopsy train with some level of confidence & I was hopeful that this revisit to Cryptopsy’s 2005 fifth album “Once Was Not” would provide further emphasis to my preference for slightly later Cryptopsy than most people are willing to admit to. Did it deliver in that regard? Well… kinda. Let’s take a look at one of the Canadian’s more underappreciated albums.
“Once Was Not” saw the return of Lord Worm to the fold after two albums with DiSalvo & I have to admit that I’ve probably taken longer than I might otherwise have to plan a revisit for that very fact alone as I’ve never been terribly enamoured with the Lord's over the top & often unintelligible death growls. He doesn’t waste any time at all in reminding as to why I’ve struggled with him over the years here either as his ranting, rabid-dog style delivery sounds pretty thin & unconvincing to my ears. In fact, he’s easily the weakest element of the album & I don’t doubt that DiSalvo’s more conventional approach to death growls played a strong role in my preference for an album like “Whisper Supremacy” over Cryptopsy’s classic releases.
Instrumentally though, we have a very well-produced, creative & artistic record on our hands here & one that I’d suggest no longer fits comfortably under the brutal death metal banner. “Once Was Not” is a highly technical effort sporting an impressively broad scope. It doesn’t always make sense mind you & can sound a little like a collection of good ideas that have been pasted together at times rather than a cohesive & fluent piece of artistic expression. I do really enjoy the jazzier moments, particularly those that feature ride cymbal work that sounds like it’s been borrowed from progressive rock or the early progressive death metal bands like Atheist or Cynic.
Extreme metal drummer extraordinaire Mounier puts in another blinding performance but he still can’t convince me that he’s the real deal here. His endurance seems to have improved over the years & his sheer velocity is no less impressive than the first time I heard him back in the early 1990's but unfortunately he’s still pretty messy with his timing as far as his ability to perfectly synchronize his kick drums & snare during the hyper-speed blast-beat sections go. He often sounds more like a possessed typewriter than a tight & clinical tech death time-keeper & it baffles me to see the consistent adoration he seems to draw at times when there are so many extreme drumming gods about these days. Perhaps it's all about his influence as he was certainly one of the first to be attempting the sort of speeds he's made his calling card throughout his career.
In saying that, it’s pretty hard to be too critical of “Once Was Not” as the tracklisting is extremely consistent with no weak tracks included among the eleven on offer. Unfortunately there aren’t any genuine standouts though & I find myself wondering if Cryptopsy have simply tried to be too clever with this record as the best parts usually come when they go in a more classic death metal direction rather than trying to be as wacky as they possibly can without breaking the death metal mold. The musicianship of Flo & Worm's counterparts is of a very high standard & it’s rare that I find myself getting bored across the relatively lengthy (for a record this extreme) 50 minute duration. The band don’t seem to be short of ideas & it’s hard to imagine that they’d fall from grace in such a dramatic fashion with their very next album when listening to this one so I’d suggest that most fans of the more brutal end of the technical death metal subgenre will find a fair bit to enjoy here. "Once Was Not" isn't as strong as "Whisper Supremacy" was by any means but I'd probably still take it over Cryptopsy's first two records nonetheless (yep I said it alright).
For fans of Lykathea Aflame, Origin & Wormed.
3.5/5
Here's my updated Top Ten Technical Death Metal Releases of All Time list:
01. 7 Horns 7 Eyes - "Throes Of Absolution" (2012)
02. Death - "Human" (1991)
03. Suffocation - "Despise The Sun" E.P. (1998)
04. Suffocation - "Pinnacle Of Bedlam" (2013)
05. Death – “Individual Thought Patterns” (1993)
06. Gorguts – “Colored Sands” (2013)
07. Cynic - "Focus"
08. Ulcerate – “Everything Is Fire” (2009)
09. Ad Nauseam - "Imperative Imperceptible Impulse" (2021)
10. Death – “Symbolic” (1995)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/148
Fleshgod Apocalypse - "Oracles" (2009)
I can still very clearly remember my mindset upon returning to the metal scene in 2009 after a decade of electronic music indulgence. I’d grown tired of the club scene in a similar way to how I’d done with the metal one around 1997/98 & just wanted to hear something genuinely brutal again so my first moves were to see what my beloved brutal death metal subgenre had been up to since I’d last been involved with it which led me very quickly to the Italians who were making the most brutal music the world had ever heard to the time (well… shortly after checking out the latest efforts from old faves like Suffocation & Dying Fetus anyway). One of the releases that particularly blew my socks off was the debut album from Rome’s wonderfully named Fleshgod Apocalypse whose debut full-length “Oracles” offered some of the most relentless music I’d ever encountered, only with a twist or two along the way. Fleshgod Apocalypse would go on to make some fairly significant musical adjustments that would see them becoming more & more of a challenge for me in the years to come but “Oracles” excited me & saw me giving it regular spins every time I needed an adrenaline rush over the next few months. It’s been ages since I’ve listened to it though so let’s see how it’s aged.
Perhaps the biggest feather in the cap of “Oracles” is its presentation. I simply adore the cover artwork which utilizes a striking colour scheme to enhance an already attractive image. The production job is equally impressive though, perhaps even more so given just how hard it must have been to achieve this sort of clarity amidst some of the most relentless blasting you’ll ever encounter. Sure, bassist Paolo Rossi isn’t done any favours by the mix which is hardly unusual for a death metal release but the guitars are presented with supreme precision. Legendary extreme metal drummer Mauro Mercurio’s drums are certainly heavily triggered & do sound a obviously artificial when isolated in the mix but it works well for a release that’s as technically demanding & high paced as this one is.
Some of you would likely be aware of Fleshgod Apocalypse through their bombastic symphonic death metal releases from the 2010’s, particularly their popular 2011 sophomore album “Agony” (which time has seen me quite liking after overcoming some initial concerns) but the band kicked off their recording career with a couple of releases that sound a little more traditional & can now be seen as somewhat transitional even though they were Fleshgod Apocalypse’s first proper releases. What we receive from their initial effort is an extremely brutal & extraordinarily relentless release that keeps a foot in both the technical death metal & brutal death metal camps in a similar way to bands like Hour of Penance, Nile or Origin while also throwing around some neoclassical influences without fully taking the plunge like they’d do over the next couple of years. There’s not anything especially symphonic in Fleshgod Apocalypse’s metal material at this stage in their evolution but there’s definitely some attempts to use classical music as a compositional tool from the guitarists with the solos being entirely neoclassically focused. There are also four or five quite accomplished classical interludes positioned at key locations within the tracklisting & these serve a very definite purpose given the aural battery the listener is subjected to via the metal material.
So how does it all work? Well, I’m a big fan of well executed brutal death metal so I find the flat-chat, pedal-to-the-metal stuff to be nothing short of exhilarating. Hired gun Mercurio (Hour of Penance/Hideous Divinity) is unbelievably fast & his endurance is almost super-human so for someone that’s obsessed with elite-level extreme drumming “Oracles” almost falls into the novelty category (although admittedly band leader Francesco Pauli would one-up him on the next album with arguably some of the most savagely brutal drumming ever recorded). The limiting factor here though is that I find neoclassical guitar work to be at odds with the intended aura of the death metal sound. There’s just something that doesn’t sit all that comfortably with me which sees most tracks including parts that aren’t exactly as I would wish. Still, there’s a lot to love about “Oracles” with Pauli’s crushing death growls & precision riffage being combined with Mercurio’s mind-blowing fury to create some of death metal’s most over the top material.
Fleshgod Apocalypse would push the neoclassicisms one step further on their 2010 “Mafia” E.P. before cruising head-first into symphonic territory for 2011’s “Agony” sophomore album & have never looked back. Personally though, I still find this debut album to be the most appealing inclusion in the band’s back catalogue & it’s always serves me very well indeed when I’m looking for the ultimate dose of adrenaline-fueled intensity.
4/5
Oni - "Incantation Superstition" (2023)
You know what? You can’t get too cocky in this vast & varied landscape that we know as the global metal scene because just when you start to think you know everything there is to know you’re likely to get hit in the back of the head with something you weren’t even aware existed but was right under your nose the whole time & that’s certainly the case with Adelaide-based death metal outfit Oni. I like to think that I have a pretty decent knowledge of the Aussie extreme metal scene (both current & historical) but when I met up with the label head of Sphere of Apparition Records recently he mentioned that the their first major release would be coming from a cool early 2000’s death metal band whose angle saw them tackling themes taken from Japanese demonology. I’d never even heard of Oni before but I trust his judgement so I made a point of checking them out once the CD was released earlier this year.
The ”Incantation Superstition” compilation draws together the entire recorded output of Oni which amounts to two 2001 releases (i.e. the “Enshrined To The Dead” demo & a split CD with delightfully monikered fellow Adelaide outfit Jesus Anal Penetration) as well as a cover version (“Altar of Sacrifice”) taken from the “Hell At Last – A Tribute To Slayer” compilation. Impetuous Ritual vocalist/guitarist & Portal/Grave Upheaval drummer Ignis Fatuus has done an excellent job at remastering & preparing this material as the tracklisting flows pretty seamlessly between the tracks from the various sessions & you won’t experience any jarring changes in sound along the way. The production job is more than reasonable for such old demo recordings too with all of the instruments & vocals being not only clearly audible but also maintaining a suitable amount of raw extremity so all of the ingredients are here for a rewarding trip into the annals of Australian metal history.
The 32 minute runtime kicks off with the five tracks taken from the split CD which I’m assuming is the more recent of the two releases due to its slightly more technical song structures but there’s not really that much of a stylistic difference between the two to tell you the truth which certainly helps with the flow of the tracklisting. The release opens with a short but splendidly executed intro piece that immediately presents the listener with Oni’s Japanese themes before the band blasts off into four hectic & quite brutal death metal outings. This is followed by the three track “Enshrined To The Dead” demo which I slightly favour over the split, especially the last two tracks “Seppuku Blade” (my personal favourite) & “Incantation Superstition” which are particularly strong. The older material might not be quite as psychotic as the material from the split but I feel that it works better from a compositional sense so it offers a touch more appeal for the naïve teenage tape trader that’s still such a big part of me all these decades later. The Slayer cover version represents more of a bolt-on as its style is quite different to the rest of the tracklisting. As someone whose favourite metal album of all time has been ”Reign In Blood” for about 35 years now, Oni was always going to have their work cut out for them in covering a track like “Altar of Sacrifice” which was metal perfection to begin with. They do a pretty reasonable job at replicating the song it has to be said but if you’re going to cover such a well-known & undeniably classic track then you really need to do something a little different with it if it’s to have the desired impact. As it is, “Altar of Sacrifice” comes across as a touch disposable given that it's essentially a down-tuned version of the original & features deep death metal vocals that don’t gel nearly as well as Tom Araya’s did. It’s not a weak song as such but it’s probably the least interesting inclusion on a very consistent tracklisting at the same time.
All of the hints I’d seen online had me expecting to hear something in line with the brutal death metal model when going into “Incantation Superstition” but the reality is a little different to that. Sure, there’s a fair bit of brutality to Oni’s sound but that’s not the only feather in their caps as there’s a lot more going here than that. I feel that the technical death metal subgenre is a much better fit for Oni as their riff & song structures are a touch more complex & a lot more chaotic which brings to mind the more tech death-oriented records from bands like Cryptopsy & Nile. It’s all presented with an inherently underground aesthetic that sees them maintaining enough looseness in their performances to avoid the sterility of the super-precise modern tech death world though. Oni’s riffs are angular & quite jerky at times which never allows the listener to relax. They kinda sound like a runaway train a lot of the time, as if they’re on the brink of crashing but have the technical chops to hold it all together while giving their audience a sly, knowing grin. Despite the technicality though, Oni always keep a foot in the classic death metal camp with “Altars of Madness”-era Morbid Angel appearing to be the main catalyst. The riff structures, blast-beats & super-shredding Trey Azagthoth-style guitar solos all owe a debt to the greatest Florida death metal band of them all although the super-underground atmosphere also tends to have me reaching for comparisons with fellow Morbid Angel disciples Sadistic Intent too.
There are number of Japanese intros & outros used throughout the release & they’re unanimously effective in achieving their desired outcome, so much so that I have to express a little disappointment that I couldn’t hear a little more of the Japanese influence in the actual death metal. I’m sure the lyrics are sporting it in spades but I can’t hear a lot of it in the instrumentation. The band go with several different vocal styles with a deep death growl & a higher, snarlier delivery being the protagonists. I prefer the higher-pitched one for the most part as it sounds less generic & a touch more aggressive. The bass lines benefit from their strong positioning in the mix & make the most of the opportunity by contributing more to the overall package than most death metal bassists are afforded the pleasure of.
Overall, “Incantation Superstition” works very well in paying homage to one of the Australian death metal scene’s less familiar yet still quite talented artists. The continuity of the production job also gives it the opportunity to work as an album in its own right too if you give it the chance. There isn’t a weak moment on the tracklisting & the relatively short run time means that the listener’s patience isn’t challenged which gives the release the potential to reach a whole new audience. In saying that though, I’d probably suggest that Oni’s best work may well have been ahead of them as I’m not quite sure they’d completely galvanized their sound as yet. They’d hit on something fresh & interesting from a stylistic & thematic point of view but I think they needed a little more time (perhaps just in the studio) to pull it all together in a way that’s more unified & fluent so as to truly rip the listener's face off (at least as a full-length release as I do think that "Enshrined to the Dead" is a very solid effort in isolation). As it is though, “Incantation Superstition” has left me surprised that I hadn’t heard of Oni before as local bands of this quality are few & far between, particularly those that possess such a clear pedigree with the extreme metal scene that I love so much.
3.5/5
Here's my updated Top Ten Technical Death Metal Releases of All Time list after revisiting Suffocation's "Pinnacle of Bedlam" this week:
01. 7 Horns 7 Eyes - "Throes Of Absolution" (2012)
02. Death - "Human" (1991)
03. Suffocation - "Pierced From Within" (1995)
04. Suffocation - "Despise The Sun" E.P. (1998)
05. Death – “Individual Thought Patterns” (1993)
06. Gorguts – “Colored Sands” (2013)
07. Cynic - "Focus" (1993)
08. Ulcerate – “Everything Is Fire” (2009)
09. Ad Nauseam - "Imperative Imperceptible Impulse" (2021)
10. Death – “Symbolic” (1995)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/148
I've heard everything on the above list except for that number one. I'll make room for that today and/or tomorrow. Lovin the RYM genre tags.
I just went through my top ten tech death albums.
1. Death - The Sound of Perserverance (my number one death metal album in general)
2. Death - Human
3. Gorguts - Colored Sands
4. Suffocation - Human Waste
5. Athiest - Unquestionable Presence
6. Death - Symbolic
7. Suffocation - Pierced from Within
8. Ulcerate - Stare Into Death and be Still
9. Gorguts - Obscura
10. Cryptopsy - None So Vile
My list is based on Metal Academy genre tags only which excluded a few of the releases on your list from consideration.
To clarify our position on that, technical death metal isn’t a Metal Academy genre. It’s a subgenre of death metal in the same way that dissonant death metal is. It’s our belief that dissonant death metal doesn’t necessarily have to be technical & vice versa so have made them seperate tags in their own right. It’s also worth noting that we’re not led by RYM when making decisions on our genre-tagging structure. We prefer to run our own race.
To clarify our position on that, technical death metal isn’t a Metal Academy genre. It’s a subgenre of death metal in the same way that dissonant death metal is. It’s our belief that dissonant death metal doesn’t necessarily have to be technical & vice versa so have made them seperate tags in their own right. It’s also worth noting that we’re not led by RYM when making decisions on our genre-tagging structure. We prefer to run our own race.
I figured all of that out. Why else would you have the halls? That's why I also made the Ulcerate comparison, as it's the only album in my ten that doesn't have both the dissonant and tech tags. I won't immediately know all the tiny differences and similarities to RYM, so it would help if we had a genre tree.
Hellwitch - "Syzygial Miscreancy" (1990)
I picked the debut album from this Florida technical death/thrash outfit up through tape trading back in the day & really enjoyed it at the time so I've returned to it quite often over the years. It sounds very much like a combination of the technical death metal of Death & Atheist & the tech thrash of Sadus & Аспид only with the additional of some brutally executed blast beats which can't be a bad thing. Neither can the fact that it was recorded at Morrisound Studios with Scott Burns. The vocals are particularly reminiscent of Chuck Schuldiner & the overall aesthetic sits more in the death metal camp than the thrash one. Love the frantic guitar solos which sound similar to Deicide's debut. An underappreciated gem.
Vinny, I'd suggest you get onto this one if you haven't already.
4/5
Nocturnus - "The Key" (1990)
The debut album from this Florida tech death outfit was a really big record for Ben & I back in the day after I picked it up on cassette shortly after release. I was absolutely blown away by the lead guitar wizardry while the unique use of keyboards & sci-fi- themes was also a major drawcard. I've been wondering whether I'd appreciate it as much in modern days though so I was a little hesitant going into my first revisit in many years. That hesitation proved to have some merit too because there's no doubt that some parts of the album sound less complete than others.
"The Key" opens in stunning fashion with the first three cuts all being genuine death metal classics in their own right, particularly "Standing In Blood" which is an all-timer for me. There's definitely a bit of a dip in quality after that though, even though there's nothing I'd say is weak as such. "Neolithic" & "Undead Journey" see me labelling the middle of the album as merely decent before things pick up in the back end with closer "Empire Of The Sands" being another wonderful representation of the Nocturnus sound.
I absolutely adore the super-shreddy lead guitar tone of Mike Davis & Sean McNenney. It's about as metal as it gets really. The keyboards can get a touch overblown during that middle section but most of the time they tend to stay away from anything too cheesy. Band leader Mike Browning is the clear weak point though, particularly his vocals but also his drumming to a lesser extent. Nocturnus' music is meant to be ridiculously over the top & some of Browning's beats feel a little underwhelming if I'm being completely honest. Still... there's no doubt that "The Key" is a very strong record that borders on my higher scores. You can hear Browning's former band Morbid Angel in not only the vocals & drums but also some of the riff structures. There's a similarly thrashy influence to the "Abominations of Desolation" album too only in the context of a much more overtly technical outlook with some of the riffs essentially being light-speed dual-guitar lead solos. It's amazing how Florida was coming up with so many forward-thinking & talented death metal bands at the time with Nocturnus standing toe to toe with artists like Death & Atheist. "The Key" doesn't seem out of place next to that company either although I'd suggest that, unlike those two acts that went on to greater things, Nocturnus peaked early &, as a result, are probably better suited to being a leader amongst the second tier of the Florida death metal hierarchy.
4/5
Tomb Mold - The Enduring Spirit (2023)
I really enjoyed Tomb Mold's previous album, 2019's Planetary Clairvoyance. TM have evolved their sound even further since that album, branching out in a more technical and progressive direction, even dabbling with the ever more fashionable sorties into jazz metal territory. Whilst I understand and respect the band's desire to evolve and challenge themselves in both songwriting and technical expertise, it doesn't necessarily mean that I am fully on board with it. I have never made any secret of my lack of enthusiasm for the more technical style of metal and as for jazz, it generally has very little to do with me and is something I tend to keep at arms length. That said, the basis of TM's sound is very much in line with my preference for old-school, cavernous death metal and as such enables me to give them the benefit of the doubt. As I am exposed to repeated runthroughs, The Enduring Spirit is beginning to win me over, using the OSDM sound as a handhold I am finally coming to grips with Tomb Mold's continuing refinement of their direction.
In truth most of the evolution on the album is not as jarring as I first thought and is limited to some technical flourishes in the riffing and overall guitar work with the songwriting moving in a more progressive direction rather than a technical one, the band never going full-on Gorguts, which I am thankful for. Will of Whispers is the track I struggle with the most as the smooth jazz-like tone it employs in places is so at odds with the band's death metal roots and my own personal preferences, especially when the growling vocals are performed over the jazz sections (from around the four-minute mark), that it just sounds "wrong" to my ears. More generally, though, the technicality adds some spice to the riffing and battery that is the band's core sound, the technical aspect of the riffing on Fate's Tangled Thread, for example, gives an extra kick to what is actually already a bit of a killer and the more expansive and adventurous soloing in the latter half of the track is most definitely a cool direction to take it in. Tomb Mold almost seem like what would have happened if Autopsy had followed Death's career trajectory.
I think that for me the major takeaway from The Enduring Spirit is that this is not an album that deserves a rush judgement, it reveals more with every listen and I am definitely thawing to what I think the band is trying to achieve here. Most importantly, it still retains the ability to kick ass, no matter what it's technical or progressive intentions and that will always carry a metal album a long way with me.
4/5
Pestilence - "Testimony of the Ancients" (1991)
Dutch legends Pestilence first came to my attention back in 1990 through their classic death metal anthem "Out Of The Body" which was played on late-night metal radio & saw me quickly exploring Pestilence's first couple of albums. I found both of them to be very solid examples of the early death metal scene too & have returned to them quite often over the years but it would be their 1991 "Testimony of the Ancients" third full-length that would really set my world on fire after I picked up a cassette copy of the album upon release. It would be by far Pestilence's most ambitious effort to date as it would see them expanding their musical palette significantly with a more progressive approach that sat very well with my taste profile at the time. For some reason though, I've managed to never get a firm rating down on Metal Academy & I'd like to change that today.
1988's excellent death/thrash debut album "Malleus Maleficarum" & 1989's widely praised death metal classic "Consuming Impulse" were both classy affairs that showcased a band that was willing to push themselves as musicians but were still comparitively straight forward in their structure & composition. The loss of influential front man Martin van Drunen would see a reshuffle in the ranks with guitarist Patrick Mameli stepping up to the microphone & the super-talented Tony Choy taking over Mameli's bass duties which were both extremely positive moves in my opinion. While I do enjoy van Drunen's psychotic howls, I've always found Mameli's more controlled & traditionally deathly vocals to be far more to my taste while Choy's undeniable chops & impeccable tone would see Pestilence reaching a new level of technical proficiency that would no doubt play a role in the musical direction they'd take.
"Testimony of the Ancients" sees Pestilence offering eight full songs in combination with eight short interludes of various styles for a wonderfully expansive take on the death metal model that wouldn't totally isolate old-school fans but would open Pestilence up to a whole new audience of open-minded metal fans. It's still very much a death metal album at its core but the incorporation of more complex song-structures, the wide use of octaves & dissonance within the chord structures & the integration of jazz fusion concepts within the guitar solos would see Pestilence starting to play in spaces previously only traversed by bands like Atheist & Cynic but maintaining a darkness & intensity that neither of those seminal acts could match. The influence of Teutonic thrash heavy-weights Kreator's classic 1988 "Extreme Aggression" album is obvious throughout without the record ever feeling like thrash while the contribution of death metal godfathers Death to Pestilence's music is still as clear as day, although it's certainly worth noting that "Testimony of the Ancients" actually came out before Death's wonderful 1991 fourth album "Human" with which it shares so many of its traits. Pestilence had traditionally followed Death's lead but here we see them making the running in no uncertain terms. The tendency for people to want to call both bands "technical death metal" is misguided though in my opinion with neither being particularly technical in the true sense of the term. This music is far better served by a "progressive death metal" tag as it's a lot more adventurous than simply making the riffs & rhythms harder to play. In fact, a lot of the material isn't actually all that hard to reproduce, even Choy's bass lines which are still fairly faithful to the riffs for the most part.
Despite the inclusion of the many interludes which are quite varied in their effectiveness, "Testimony of the Ancients" possesses an outstanding tracklisting that's full of genuine classics. "Twisted Truth" is one of my all-time favourite death metal tracks & lead the way nicely while "Land of Tears", "Prophetic Revelations", "Stigmatized" & particularly the incredible "Testimony" & "Presence of the Dead" present an elite artist that's at the very peak of their creativity. This all amounts to a record that I still consider to be the clear highlight of an impressive four album run that would etch Pestilence into the annals of death metal folklore for all time. Sadly, the band's subsequent reformation & continuous efforts to match their early works hasn't amounted to anything of significance but they'll always be afforded a position amongst the greats of the genre nonetheless, such was the impact of those late 80's/early 90's releases on the global extreme metal scene. If you're a diehard Death, Atheist or Cynic fan then you owe it to yourself to get across this record too.
4.5/5
Here's my updated Top Ten Technical Death Metal Releases of All Time list with Death's "Symbolic" dropping out to make way for "Testimony of the Ancients":
01. 7 Horns 7 Eyes - "Throes Of Absolution" (2012)
02. Death - "Human" (1991)
03. Suffocation - "Pierced From Within" (1995)
04. Suffocation - "Despise The Sun" E.P. (1998)
05. Death – “Individual Thought Patterns” (1993)
06. Pestilence - "Testimony of the Ancients" (1991)
07. Gorguts – “Colored Sands” (2013)
08. Cynic - "Focus" (1993)
09. Ulcerate – “Everything Is Fire” (2009)
10. Ad Nauseam - "Imperative Imperceptible Impulse" (2021)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/148