Top 10 Death Metal Releases (1985-1989) by Ben

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Clan: The Horde

Genre: Death Metal

After completing my early black metal top 10 list last year, I decided to turn my attention to early death metal. There's little doubt that death metal hit the ground running much quicker than black metal, which took many years and some pretty average attempts before really hitting its stride.

My list includes all the albums you'd expect I guess, but for me personally there was really only one significant surprise. I'd never given Incubus' Serpent Temptation a proper listen before, but I'm sure glad I did. If you're a fan of thrash or death, this is one you'll want to check out. I also discovered that Pestilence's Consuming Impulse is MUCH better than I originally though, and my score for that release increased a whole mark. I can only think that my first impressions of it were tarnished by having experienced Testimony of the Ancients first, which is an album very close to my heart. I think I was also underrating Terrorizer too, which just managed to keep Autopsy's debut out of my top 10.

Similar to the way Darkthrone's classic was far and away the best release in my black metal list, Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness tops this list by a long, long way. I'm not sure if any other death metal album can top it for me, but Death might get close in the early 90s.