Another strange year indeed. If you would have told me at the beginning of 2016 that the following bands would be releasing cds I would have guessed they would have dominated the top half of my list.
Neverlight Horizon (Bel), Brutality (US), Dawn of Disease (Ger)
Embedded (Ger), Ulcer Uterus (Pol), Brutus (Hol)
Kingdom (Pol), Fractured Insanity (Bel), Homicide (Chl),
Hellspawn (Pol), Deformitory (Can), Banisher (Pol),
Dormant Ordeal (Pol), Stillborn (Pol), Keitzer (Ger),
Purgatory (Ger), Sorcery (Swe), Monumental Torment (Rus),
and DarkRise (Che)
Then you add Necroabortion (Arg), Laconist (Bra), Harmony Dies (Ger) and Insision (Swe) (remember how long and impatient I was waiting for this one?) and this foursome would have taken slots 1 through 4 for sure! But, none of these bands made it. I can’t say much bad about any of them except for the Insision. That really disappointed me, and maybe Harmony Dies a bit but otherwise there was just better stuff than any of those old favorites.
So, here it is….comments are respected and appreciated, just remember these are only my opinions.
BEST OF 2016…….
1) Rogash (Ger) - Malevolence, great cd, great band, great death metal country...these guys are so good that if they had five or six cds they might be in the conversation with Bolt Thrower and Vomitory whenever I talk about favorite bands ever. Let us hope that they never try to fix what isn’t broke and just leave it pure, straight up, no frills DFM! Plus, this one has a good Sepultura cover!
2) Asphyx (Hol) – Incoming Death, I first must say I am not a doom fan, so how I became infatuated with these Dutch guys over the years I don’t know. My love for them really started in 09 with their Death…the Brutal Way cd, but with that release through to this new one they have proven to be more than a doom band in my eyes. This is solid death metal, with great music, great vocals and a pretty consistent sound. If they limited the little bit of doom they do and played pure straight up death metal they could easily become one of my favorite bands ever. This cd is just another in succession of three great releases since 2009.
3) Volturyon (Swe) – Cleansed By Carnage, this band impressed me so much a couple years ago that I contacted the band and purchased their discography straight from them, so when they came out with a new release I figured it would be good, but….this is better than good. Not your typical Swedish sounding band as these guys have a heavy edge to them that works great. I highly recommend and love this cd.
4) Dehuman Reign (Ger) – Ascending From Below, real underrated release and at first I didn’t think a great improvement over their previous EP Destructive Intent, which is very good, but in time this has grown on me, maybe more than any other 2016 cd. A very promising German death metal outfit and how can you go wrong with members from one of my favorite old German bands, Harmony Dies.
5) Incremate (Ger) – Prospect Of Death, another really good new band from Germany! This is a first release from these guys but they sound like veterans of the scene. Really good chunky groove and great guitar work on this cd make you bang your head no matter which song is on. In fact, all the songs on this cd are exceptional. These guys have a future if they keep it up….and guess what, straight up, no frills, death fucking metal!!
6) Visionary666 (Hol) - Into Abeyance, another real good up and coming band from the land of the Dutch! This in reality is a 2015 release, so don't tell Thorne that I cheated but this was not out to us until after the first of 2016 to my knowledge so they deserve their just due. A very solid cd, with ex-band members of Toxocara & Dictated so don't sleep on this one. If you like frills in your death do not look here, just more of what I like, pure death metal!!
7) Time To Bleed (Ger) - Die With Dignity, my first big surprise of the year, considering this was released just as the whistle blew to start 2016. This band has been around a few short years, with only a previous good EP. As if the 41 minutes of this cd aren’t enough, tack on the 18 minute EP and you get a quality 60 minute listen from these guys. Only negative to this is song #2 Die With Dignity, a good song, has the dumbest intro or sample that I’ve ever heard to a death metal cd….and why!
8) Blessed By Perversion (Grc) – Between Roots And Darkness, Greece seems to make my yearly list with at least two bands and this year a newcomer, with a debut cd. Great vocals, great riffs and such a good cd that both myself and Thorne ordered physical copies from the band the first time we heard it.
9) Slaughterday (Ger) - Laws Of The Occult, this is another newer band from the land of Deutch. I’ve known of these guys, but for some reason cannot figure out how I didn’t give their previous release any love. I can say, this new one is sensational and will get many more plays from me in the future because this is one really good cd.
10) Humiliation (Mys) - Honourable Discharge, nothing new, nothing exceptional, nothing much different from their previous 5 or 6 cds. If you like this band you'll love this cd, if you aren't into them don't even bother because they refuse to fix what isn't broken, which is a great thing.
11) Burning Hatred (Hol) - Carnage, the Dutch are back again, and this one was a surprise! I've known of and liked this band from a previous demo and EP but quite a surprise to find this one. Most of you probably haven't heard it yet as I could only find it on their bandcamp page, where I purchased it. Good stuff indeed....and don't expect any frills.
12) Centinex (Swe) – Doomsday Rituals, strange band, or at least strange to me as I’ve known of them forever, but never really knew them. My like for this cd might coincide with them bringing in Volturyon vocalist Alexander Hogbom for both of their last two releases starting in 2014. Do not be fooled, this won’t excite you with aggression, speed or brutal-ness but it is one solid slab of straight up death metal which definitely satisfies. One of these days, if death metal ever really does die I will have to go back and check earlier Centinex stuff. However, I will die before death metal does!
13) Skinning (Prt) – Slaves Of Insanity, although this band has only been around for five years or so, and have an EP plus a previous full length I have been a fan since the beginning. This cd did not disappoint and may indeed be better than their 2014 Cerebral Mutilation which is very good. Portugal maybe gets swallowed up by Spain’s scene, I don’t know but with bands like Underneath, Annihilation, Damage My God and probably the best of the bunch Skinning. The Portuguese scene and these guys deserve more credit.
14) Horror Chamber (Bra) – Eternal Torment, very good listen, good vocals and some really great riffs. This is one I’ve let get away from me and only recently got back to it. It is definitely heavy, but not to the extreme. Also, aside from the two slow instrumentals not a lot of bullshit here, just straight up death metal.
15) Resurrection (Pol) – Betrayed By God, as you guys who have been hanging in the cbox with me know, for years Poland was my favorite death metal country, up until a few years ago. You also know that in the last three or four years the Poles have done something to let me down…or my old age has changed me? But anyway, this might be the best release from Poland since last year’s number one on my list by Slaves Of Evil. The only negative I can give it is the 27:49 of running time. With bands like Resurrection and Slaves of Evil mighty Poland has some hope for the future.
16) Obscenity (Ger) – Retaliation, strange cd here. I often say Vomitory and Bolt Thrower are my favorite bands ever. After that I go back and forth between many, sometimes saying Obscenity is #3, making this cd kind of a setback. If this was any other band I’d probably say it is good, really good, but I expected more or maybe am spoiled by Obscenity’s past, as they got better with every cd it seemed, but not this time.
17) Strangulate (Ind) – Catacombs Of Decay, another new band, a first release and good solid heavy ass death metal. The only problem in my opinion, a tad too short at 32+ minutes. India did give us some good death metal this year, Third Sovereign, Godless and Darkrypt a few others but this Strangulate is the best in my opinion.
18) Demonbreed (Ger) - Where Gods Come To Die, another good new death metal band from Germany, and there must be something in the water up there!! A band with a Swedish edge to their guitars, tough to beat and a great first release. We could call them the “new” Lay Down Rotten as the complete lineup from LDR seems to be on board here along with a couple guys from another good band Miseo.
19) Totten Korps (Chl) – Supreme Commanders Of Darkness, underrated South American band, which there are a lot of. This is another, supposedly December 2015 release, which I wasn’t aware of until mid 2016, so I included it. Very worthy stuff from my favorite South American death metal country.
20) Funeral Whore (Hol) – Phantasm, a favorite Dutch band of mine based on their previous great release a couple years ago and this one is good too, but damn…the samples. They have samples in front of songs, some running for 50 seconds, and some at the end of songs. Fuck the samples guys, just give me the great death metal you make.
21) Deranged (Swe) – Struck By A Murderous Siege, a good cd from a great band. Some will say negatively that this one sounds just like their previous but my motto is if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Nothing new, nothing classic, just the same old pure great death metal we expect from Deranged!
22) Gatecreeper (US) – Sonoran Depravation, this is a band that I overlooked but it took Thorne giving them some love to open my eyes. If I had heard these guys blind not knowing where they were from I would have surely labeled them Swedish. They climbed my list higher than most newer US bands are capable of.
23) Prevail (Dnk) - War Will Reign, this is one that I listened to a song from and passed, then our friend Nikki brought them up and I went back. Glad I did because I have enjoyed this very much and very often. Not anything great, just good solid pure death metal and just how I like it.
24) Open Surgery (Swe) – Post Mortem Mutilation, a Swedish band that doesn’t have that typical Swedish sound! This has some good chugga chugga riffage to create some good old, straight up, no frills death metal and at 43+ minutes is the perfect length.
25) My Darkest Hate (Ger) – Anger Temple, a very solid band and personal favorite of mine over the years so I was expecting great, which unfortunately this cd isn’t. But, that isn’t to say this is not a good listen and a quality release. If I have a complaint it is the use of samples in the beginning of some songs and actually putting spoken words in at least two of the songs. Just give me your great straight up death guys as you do it very well.
26) Rebaelliun (Bra) – The Hell’s Decrees, a great comeback cd for this band from the land of LordFrost! I liked them in the past but had forgotten about them but this cd woke me up. Only minor complaint is it clocks in at 30:08….. the good news is this is 30:08 of very good death metal.
27) Slaves Of Suffering (Mex) – Advent Of Despair, Mexico hasn’t given me a great many favorite bands over the years, Blood Reaping, Remains, BIID and Evil Entourage come to mind, but these guys are recently formed and this is a first release, so maybe there is some future for Mexico here. Good straight up brutal-ish death metal for sure.
28) Deacidified (Grc) – Deceitful Wisdom, the second Greek band on my list and here with their first release and what a debut! How unique with three brothers, one on bass, one on guitar and the other doing vocals. This is another slab of really good straight up, no frills, death fucking metal and I am curious to see what these guys have up their sleeves for the future. The only complaint I have is this full length is only 22:50 from beginning to end.
29) Epidemia (Ecu) – Leprocomio, another really good South American death metal band. I must admit their home country of Ecuador doesn’t have too many bands in my collection and easily these guys are the best. I’m glad they came out of semi-retirement.
30) Valgrind (Ita) – Speech Of The Flame, these guys have been around for a while and honestly, I have not listened to a thing from them. But, this one grabbed my attention and for good reason as it is good solid death metal. Aside from an intro don’t look for any frills, just straight up death.
31) Age Of Agony (Hun) - For The Forgotten, a band with four previous releases that I have completely ignored, or maybe wasn't attracted enough to? But this one, good pure death metal and a worthy listen.
32) Miasmal (Swe) – Tides Of Omniscience, more catchy Swede death from a short time veteran band. To be honest, I could probably have a list of just Swedish bands and it would consist of some really good death metal. These guys have never been a big favorite of mine but a really good cd here.
33) Impenitence (Bgr) – Monuments Of Contempt, really good, mildly technical solid death metal from Sofia…and all “old” metalheads know of Sofia, right!! Not sensational but a very solid first release from these guys.
34) Ribspreader (Swe) – Suicide Gate – A Bridge To Death, what can you say about Ribspreader! I was a much bigger fan back in the Congregating The Sick and Bolted To The Cross days but this new one is still a good solid listen. They didn’t go downhill, the competition just got better.
35) Brutally Deceased (Cze) – Satanic Corpse, these guys made #22 on my 2014 list and this release may be better than that previous one but the competition has become so tough that I could not rate this as high as I’d like to. Using the same line I did in 2014, some awesome stuff from the best Swedish sounding band not from Sweden.
36) Apostles Of Perversion (Esp) – Revenge Beyond The Grave, a late in the year release and this is some solid brutal death metal that deserves some listens. These guys are so underrated that I doubt anyone else will have them on their list but a very good listen.
37) Unmerciful (US) – Ravenous Impulse, far from the best I’ve heard this year but still a very good long awaited release from these guys who have been one hit wonders for a long time. These guys and Brutality both made comebacks this year and Unmerciful easily won the battle.
38) Maniaco (Chl) – Obscuras Aguas del Caos, they definitely give Totten Korps a run for their money as my favorite Chilean release of the year and unless I’m mistaken I learned about this here at the Chamber. More good solid death metal and a debut album so hopefully there will be more in the future.
39) Escarnium (Bra) – Interitus, I had almost forgotten about these guys until Thorne posted their 2012 here at TDC. Some killer Brazilian death and definitely the way I like it, no frills.
40) Eraserhead (Ger) – Remnants Of Decadence, more good German death, but with a real peculiar name. Anyway, this 47+ minutes of straight up death metal has very little wrong with it but the damn samples / intros. One song in particular has 1:07 of a talking intro!! Otherwise, these guys have some good potential.
EPs, SPLITS, LIVE and BEST OF…
Feral (Swe) – From The Mortuary [ep], the best EP of the year!
Asphyx (Hol) – Servants of Death [ep], second best EP of the year, but really just four live songs, one cover and one preview from their great 2016 full length.
Obituary (US) – Ten Thousand Ways To Die [live], this is probably a better listen than a lot of the stuff in the top 40 but because it is a live re-issue of old stuff I kept it out. Do give this a chance, it is good.
Godless (Ind) – Centuries Of Decadence [ep],
Vader (Pol) – Iron Times [ep],
Fleshcrawl (Ger) – Tales Of Flesh And Skin [split],
Uncanny (Swe) – Liturgy [ep], some pretty good potential here but only 3 songs.
Paganizer (Swe) - On the Outskirts of Hades [ep], apparently these guys have four EPs out in 2016, but I’ve only seen this one. Why not just put out a full length?
Diabolizer (Tur) – Apokalypse [ep], don’t sleep on this one, pretty good stuff.
Burn Them All (Pol) – Confession [ep],
Omnifariam (Pri) – Vitiate [ep],
Pequod (Ger) – False Divinity [ep],
Dauthuz (Hol) – Dauthuz [ep],
Armorgod (Idn) – Aggression Ov Hypocrisy [ep],
Divide (Ger) – Lazarus Pit [ep],
Desolator (Swe) – Spawn Of Misanthropy [ep],
Bolt Thrower (UK) – Best OF.., why did we need this? Everything they’ve done is a best of…
MORE INTERESTING STUFF…..in no particular order,
Engrave (Swe) – Embalmed Soul, this is really a 2015 release, December based on data at Metal Archives, but it didn’t hit the street until the last day of January 2016 as best I can tell, so I have to mention it. Very good pure Swedish death and I highly advise everyone that likes bands like Ripspreader, Paganizer or anything else with that buzz saw guitar sound to give this a chance. If I didn’t know better I’d believe this was a Rogga production.
Scaplture (Ger) – Panzerdoktrin, what a surprise this one was!! Good stuff that should be higher but a late arrival.
Slaughterer (Ger) – The Conjuror Of Realities, some good death thrash that I didn’t pay attention to until recently. Germany does it again and this time from Bavaria and this maybe should be in the top 40.
Formaline (Rus) – Corpscience, I like this, a lot, but just can’t give it the attention I want to because of all of the stiff competition. There is definitely a dog fight to be played in my catalog of death metal. Can you imagine if death metal wasn’t dead? We would be swamped!
Mercyless (Fra) – Pathetic Divinity, although this band, like me, goes way back I was just never a fan. As similarly to Centinex I somehow stumbled on their previous release Unholy Black Splendor and liked it, so when this came out I had hopes and it did not let me down, really good straight up death metal.
Disrupted (Mex) – A Presence So Obscure, not as brutal as their countrymen Slaves of Suffering, maybe a more thrash edge to them, these guys are good though, and another newer band with a first release.
In Demise (Ger) - …Behold, A Pale Sky, a bit too techy and proggy for my taste but otherwise a good listen and I enjoy banging my head to this on occasion.
Carnophage (Tur) – Monument, Technical Brutal is how Metal Archives labels this band and I cannot argue. Some really good TBDM from Turkey that I must admit did not get enough listens from me.
Grond (Rus) – Worship The Kraken, good riffs, good vocals = good death metal!!!
Horrendum Vermis (Chl) – Portals To Horrific Pandemonium, decent but just doesn’t make the cut.
Soulburner (Col) – The Throne Of Armageddon, I really liked this band’s previous stuff, but can you believe it’s been 10 years!! This one just didn’t do it for me like the others did but still good.
Sacramental Blood (Srb) – Ternion Demonarchy, Some Serbian death with a John Tardy sounding vocalist. Only complaint I have is two vocal styles, both are good but go with one or the other in my opinion.
Third Sovereign (Ind) – Perversion Swallowing Sanity, this is some straight up death metal, solid musicianship and good stuff!
Introvert (Idn) - Intimidasi Perisai Dosa, the Indonesian scene is really turning it up lately and another good young band some great potential.
Graveyard (Esp) - ...for Thine Is the Darkness, is a strange cd. First, there are nine intros / outros / samples, whatever you want to call them, before and after every song. Amazing, as the songs are good, the samples “instrumentals” as they are called ruin this for me. Really though, the music is good, so give it a try but first, check off or delete the bullshit.
Stigmatuary (Idn) – Decimation Of Psyche, muddy sounding brutal-ish death metal, but damn does it suck you in with some really great groove.
Decomposed (Swe) – Wither, this is a strange cd to me. At times it is really upbeat, fast and good Swedish death metal, at other times they just slow down too much for my taste.
Interment (Swe) – Scent Of The Buried, interesting how these bands from Sweden carry that true Swedish sound. This is a good, solid cd from a 25+ year old band that only has two full length cds.
Inferior (Swe) – The Red Beast, this is labeled on Metal Archives as thrash but I don’t get the genre thing. This sounds like death/thrash to me, heavy, fast and thrashy death that is real catchy. Check it if you haven’t and if you are into that style. Only their second full length after seven or eight years of existence.
Gravebomb (Swe) – Rot In Putrid Filth, pretty good Swedish sounding death metal that deserves some more listens but must admit I have neglected.
Mortuary (Fra) – Nothingless Than Nothingness, another band that has been around forever, since 1989 to be exact, yet I’ve pretty much ignored them other than stumbling on their 1998 release Eradicate on a cd store shelf. Another solid mid paced pure death metal release here and it is pretty good.
Panic Disorder (Idn) – Daimonion, ….wow, another great band from the land of the mighty Nadi!! This band has some really great musicianship and damn are they fast with good technicality! A bone to anyone who can find their first release, from 2004 although I believe it was only released on cassette tape!
Warhammer (Idn) – Visual Antagonism, a relatively newer band here and not quite as appealing to me as their countrymen Panic Disorder or Range of Mutilated they do have time considering this is a first release.
Bloodshed (Ger) – Rising, sometimes while preparing these lists you come across something you’ve forgotten, overlooked or just ignored. All of those fit this and I’m disappointed I didn’t give this some listens.
Purgatoire (Can) – Passe Decompose, Not many bands from Canada make my list but this is the best from the Great White North that I heard this year. I would definitely think that Deformity would have been here but….
Echelon (Int) – The Brimstone Aggrandizement, more Paganizer, Ribspreader, Severed Limbs, Megascavenger, Down Among The Dead Men, Bone Gnawer, Humanity Delete….you get it.
Other goodies….
Sentient Horror (US) – Ungodly Forms,
Pargochy (Idn) – Tribe, just released so more plays to come.
Ripper (Chl) – Experiment Of Existence, could have loved this back in my thrash days.
Cortege (Pol) – Touching The Void,
Cromlech (Col) – Mental,
Mortalem (Col) – Delirio Nihilista,
Hexhorn (Pol) – Waking Of Death,
Entrapment (Hol) – Through Realms Unseen,
Panoptikon (Hol) – Sunken City,
Darkrypt (Ind) – Delirious Excursion,
Profanal (Ita) – Supreme Fire,
Throne Of Heresy (Swe) – Antioch,
Lectern (Ita) – Precept Of Delator,
Range Of Mutilated (Idn) – Post Traumatic Perish,
Severed Limbs (Swe) – Collector Of Limbs,
Skewered (Ire) – Deathmethyltryptamine,
Angerseed (Hun) – The Proclamation,
Cruscifire (Bra) – Hellspawn