The underrated/overrated thread - The Horder Edition

Tell us which Horde-related bands & releases you regard as either heavily overrated or cruelly underrated.

Autopsy's "Severed Survival" has never struck me as the undisputed classic it seems to have been claimed as by most death metal fans. Is anyone with me on this?

It's good, but not one of my favorites. Mental Funeral is definitely superior in my opinion.

I completely agree. "Mental Funeral" was a step up in all areas in my opinion.

Suffocation - "Human Waste" E.P. (1991)

Every devoted metalhead has those bands that give them enormous pride in the fact that they've been with them since their earliest demo recordings & Suffocation is one of those artists for me. In fact, they're arguably the band that most accurately reflects my taste in metal music & that was evident from the first second that I heard this debut E.P. which not only defined a brand new & significantly more extreme version of the death metal sound but also showcased a band that was already at the peak of their powers from a technical & compositional point of view. The riff structures are slightly more thrashy than we'd come to expect from the band in the future however this record is still full to the brim with those ridiculously challenging & chunky palm-muted melodic runs & high-octane, grind-inspired blast-beat barrages that would become synonymous with the Suffocation brand. To my ears they'd already struck on the perfect balance between aggression, progression & memorability.

The production is perhaps not as effective as it would be on their more widely celebrated "Effigy Of The Forgotten" & "Pierced From Within" records & most of these tracks were re-recorded at one point or another however the class, energy & controlled violence that oozes from this record like the dripping blood on the imposing cover artwork has no less of a physical effect on me. In fact, I'd even argue that the tracklisting is just as consistent as that of Suffocation's more highly regarded follow-up from later on the same year so it's always baffled me that it isn't placed on a similar pedestal given how ground-breaking it was at the time. Brutal death metal was born & boy did it get off to a great start!

For fans of Dying Fetus, Hate Eternal & Pyrexia.

4.5/5

Molested - "Blod-draum" (1995)

OK, so here's a release where I've never really understood the appeal. 1995's "Blod-draum" debut album from Norwegian death metallers Molested seems to be regarded as somewhat of an underground classic these days but it all sounds like a bit of a mess to me. The band have certainly achieved a genuine graveyard atmosphere here however the song structures & arrangements are so chaotic & the performances so loose that I struggle to make much sense of it all. The super deep Incantation style death growls of front man Øystein G. Brun (also of Borknagar) are great & the guitar tone is superb for this style of extreme metal however this only makes it easier to hear how sloppily executed everything is. Then you've got the use of traditional folk music here & there which fails dismally on the atrocity that is the three minute title track. What a surprise that an instrumental folk piece doesn't sound amazing when smothered in poorly executed blast beats! Whoever would have guessed? On paper Molested should be right up my alley but I'm sorry to say that the reality is a little bit underwhelming. There are some really brutal & decidedly unusual moments on "Blod-draum" but they're unfortunately weighed down too heavily by it's failings. 

For fans of Incantation, Miasma & Portal.

3/5