The following list of 10 underated death metal classics was written by Gruesome‘s Matt Harvey. Check ’em out below and certainly go listen to all the death metal that Gruesome has to offer on their latest record Silent Echoes right here, due out June 6.
First off, these arenβt in any kind of order β but all of them are extremely highly recommended.
Slaughter β Strappado
The culmination of the band’s Surrender or Die and Bloody Karnage demos, this 1987 masterwork captures the morbid heaviness of classick Celtic Frost along with the manic energy of crossover acts like Cryptic Slaughter or early D.R.I. It’s worth noting that that at one point, Chuck Schuldiner moved to Toronto to join the band / have them become a new Death lineup, and the rehearsals are out there and are wonderfully crude examples of early Death Metal, with the Canucks doing renditions of early Mantas classicks like “Legion of Doom” and Chuck jamming on Slaughter tunes like “Nocturnal Hell”.
What’s even more notable, is that this record, recorded in 1986, is the first example that I know of of the HM-2 “Swedish” / “Chainsaw” guitar tone. It doesn’t bite quite as sharply here as it does on Left Hand Path, but it’s unmistakably present here. The vocals may sound a little goofy to modern ears, but they’re full of sneering attitude and were a heavy influence on another Death Metal vocalist who put attitude before unintelligible “brutality,” Scott Carlson from Repulsion.
Recommended tracks: “Tales of the Macabre”, “Tortured Souls”, “Strappado”
Deceased β Luck of the Corpse
Maryland / VA metallic mainstays Deceased have always marched to the beat of their own drum, and have become something of an underground legend because of it, despite being often overlooked by many Death Metal fans. Their debut (and the maybe even better Thirteen Frightened Souls EP that followed it) captures their barely-detuned, occasionally Vӧivod-infused thrashy Death Metal at its most wild and aggressive.
It’s great to hear some of the tunes from their excellent demos recorded properly β Birth By Radiation benefits especially from a less blown-out sound than the band’s early material. The style of the songs should be familiar to any fan of the 80s underground, but the way the band mishmashes Autopsy, Iron Maiden, Voivod and old-school Death Metal in general is uniquely their own. The band’s popularity would peak in the late 90s when their trad-Metal influences came to the fore on the excellent Fearless Undead Machines and Supernatural Addiction records, but I love the early stuff just a little bit more, especially because it is so underappreciated.
Maybe because the band didn’t tour extensively, or just because they had an outrageous streak of bad luck leading up to their debut (which the title cheekily refers to), or just due to the vagaries of marketing and the fanbase at the time, many of their peers would ascend to relative success while Deceased would remain in the shadows, but their discography is virtually without a weak spot (Blueprints for Madness being the only album of theirs I don’t love). Do yourself a favor and start at the beginning.
Recommended tracks: “Decrepit Coma”, “Birth by Radiation”, “Gutwrench”
Mordicus β Dances From Left
By 1993, my interest in releases from Roadrunner and Earache was waning fast. In fact, it seemed like most of my favorite bands (Entombed, Carcass, Napalm Death, Death) were giving up on Death Metal in general. Black Metal was already nipping at the heels of the underground as yet another Dan Seagrave-illustrated sleeve was dropping into record rack after record rack. But, for those paying attention, there were still a few interesting things going on in good, old-fashioned underground Death Metal.
I never realized these guys were Finnish when I first heard the record in β93, because the HM-2 is loud and proud on this record. If anyone had told me Dan SwanΓΆ produced the album, I would have immediately believed them. There’s a great synthesis of groove, melody and aggression on display here that sums up Scandinavian death metal so well and this record, originally released by French label Thrash Records, seems to have really flown under the radar for most DM fans, despite their label-mates Convulse receiving a well-deserved postmortem reevaluation.
If you like your Death Metal catchy, infused with melancholy melodies that presciently anticipate the coming of “Melodeath,” outbursts of manic energy and seriously rocking groove sections, you owe it to yourself to check this record out. I’ve heard a few people recommending Furbowl, but to me these guys do everything Furbowl does, but much better, catchier and classier.
Recommended tracks: “I Bleed to See”, “Blood Under Ice”, “Cybernetic Summer”
Disgrace β Grey Misery
Another Finnish entry here, these guys released Grey Misery in 1992 to mostly crickets in the US, and unlike countrymen Demilich, they have never been reappraised during the scene’s recent infatuation with “old-school Death Metal.” The secret weapon of this record is a nasty, NASTY, fucking groove. The album opener “My Dark Paradise” has a wonderfully kinetic feel that never lets go. The riffs undulate and veer into gross melodies and then into almost Death-‘n’-Roll territory, only to slide into intermittent blast beats. This tune alone is worth the price of entry here, but the rest of the album continues with unabated brutality.
The songs ebb and flow between nasty blasts and nastier grooves, with gurgly vocals that punctuate the grisly proceedings with appropriate opprobrium. I don’t know much about the band’s career beyond this album, but we listened to this CD nonstop back in β92/’93 in our hatchbacks driving from high-school to Exhumed rehearsals.
Recommended tracks: “My Dark Paradise”, “Unity’s Interlude Dyes Blind Tomorrow”, “Waves of Hypocrisy Seas”
Master β Unreleased 1985 Album
This one is a no-brainer and one of my all-time favorite records. What do you get when you take all the fast Hellhammer material, inject it with amphetamines and throw in copious double bass? You get Death Metal that sounds suspiciously like D-beat. It’s primitive, it’s aggressive, and it fucking rules. If you’ve ever wondered why Napalm Death and Terrorizer (who got their name from a Master tune) name-check these guys, it’s all here.
Sure, there aren’t a ton of ideas going on here, but the ideas that are incorporated are executed with ferocity, conviction and the ideas themselves fucking rule. The re-recorded versions on the self-titled 1990 record are equally great and should be in every Death Metal maniac’s collection as well. Absolutely essential early Death Metal.
Recommended tracks: “Mangled Dehumanization”, “Re-Entry and Destruction”, “Master”, “Funeral Bitch”
Putrid Offal / Exulceration β Premature Necropsy / Infernal Disgust Split LP
This 1991 split captures everything great about the underground at the time. France’s Putrid Offal specialize in the post Mentally Murdered / Symphonies of Sickness grind-infused Death Metal that was my favorite wheelhouse at the time, and Swiss grinders Exulceration are a bit more punky, with a very weird guitar tone, but still very morbid and aggressive. It’s primitive, it’s unpolished, it’s brutal, and it’s fucking glorious. If you like your Death Metal, fast, grimy and putrid, this split is for you. I also recently discovered the Putrid Offal (the stronger offering here) re-recorded their tracks in 2023 as Mature Necropsy and the re-recording is actually killer.
Recommended tracks: Putrid Offal: “Purulent Cold”, “Repulsive Corpse”, “Gurgling Prey” Exulceration: “Cerebral Supporation” (sic), “Syndrome of Regurgitation”
Vulcano β Bloody Vengeance
By now, everyone is familiar with early Sepultura and even SarcΓ³fago is (rightfully) universally revered among the trve and kvlt. But South America and Brazil in particular was a hotbed of Death Metal in the genre’s nascent era. Chakal, Sextrash, and many more are worthy of your attention as well as later bands like Porrado, but Vulcano‘s 1986 debut is a masterpiece that takes early Slayer and German thrash and goes one step further in extremity.
All the hallmarks of the early days are there, flailing solos, about-to-go-off-the-rails tempos, tortured vocals, evil tremelo-picked riffs and a suitably blasphemous (if crude) album cover. If you’re a fan of anything I’ve mentioned above and haven’t heard this record, you owe it to yourself to rectify that as soon as possible. Stylistically not far removed from their countrymen, Vulcano still have that certain something that sticks with you and demands repeated listens.
Recommended tracks: “Spirits of Evil”, “Bloody Vengeance”, “Death Metal”
Infernal Majesty β None Shall Defy
This is one of those “is it Death Metal or is it evil Thrash?” records that always end up being among my favorites (see also Darkness Descends, Pleasure to Kill, Torment in Fire, Chemical Exposure, etc). For my money, in 1987, this would have been considered Death Metal, so that’s good enough for me. These Toronto-based riff-merchants may have had hair as big as Cinderella, but they riffed like Hell Awaits-era Slayer, but with more precision, melody, dexterity and class.
Drummer Rick Nemes had cut his teeth in the excellent trad-metal outfit Rapid Tears (highly recommend them as well), and the rest of the guys had chops aplenty that more than made up for any lack of Metal bona-fides. I never checked out this record as a kid because, let’s just be honest β the album cover fucking sucks- and the guys had big hair β all that aside, holy shit this rules.
Dark, evil, aggressive and surprisingly well-executed, this was leaps and bounds ahead of most “extreme” bands in 1987, Death included (although Chuck & co. would be hot on their heels by β88). These songs are so fucking catchy and the band’s nimble instrumentation actually serves the hooks rather than the other way around.
Recommended tracks: “S.O.S. (Satan our Saviour)”, “Overlord”, “Skeletons in the Closet”
Intestine Baalism β Anatomy of the Beast
1997 is not a year that anyone thinks of as Death Metal’s heyday, believe me, I lived through it, and it was not that at all. That said, there were some absolute gems in the underground and this is one of the best. Hailing from Japan, these guys fused the chasm-scraping sound of Incantation with epic, melancholy melodies and real Death Metal aggression.
This album sounded old-school when it came out, but it also had a very distinct identity. Hearing a pure Death Metal album at the time was so refreshing, but the whole affair is of such high quality, it would stand tall in any era. Album opener “Corporal Celebration” sums up what’s so great about the band β just over four minutes of evil, blasting Death Metal gives way to a massive, melancholy melodic section that feels more Finnish or Swedish than anything you would have expected from the first few minutes of the record.
The band successfully break up the brutality with classy, epic melodies and hummable riffs throughout that provide welcome contrast and make the brutal shit sound more brutal, rather than watering it down.
Recommended tracks: “Corporal Celebration”, “Alastor Possess”, “Blasphemy Resurrected”
Defleshed β Under the Blade
Another unsung banger from 1997, Sweden’s Defleshed take the nimble, tuneful side of mid-90s Swedish Melodeath (At the Gates, Dark Tranquility, early In Flames) and dial back the melody, liberally inject Death/Thrash aggression and then play everything way faster than necessary. I have no clue why this band didn’t blow up, because the performances are extremely aggressive but still razor-sharp and accurate, with the rhythm guitars and drums whiplashing together to make even the most jaded maniac headbang.
Maybe its because the bands logo is unimaginative, the album title immediately brings Twisted Sister to mind (not a bad thing, to be fair), and the album cover is just plain dull. Also, the band has a penchant for some corny wordplay and goofy song titles like Cinderlla‘s Return and Departure (which is still not as eye-roll inducing as their previous album titles β Abrah Kadavarah and Ma Belle Scapelle β yeesh). All that aside, if you just listen to the record, you’re treated to a roller-coaster of high-speed thrashing Death Metal that’s tight, punchy, catchy and extremely powerful. It’s like the evil stepbrother of Slaughter of the Soul that goes way fucking harder, meaner and faster.
Recommended tracks: “Entering My Yesterdays”, “Metallic Warlust”, “Cinderella’s Return & Departure”, “Farewell to the Flesh”
Honorable Mentions:
- Unanimated β In The Forest Of The Dreaming Dead
- Necrophagia β Season of the Dead
- Cadaver β Hallucinating Anxiety
- Defecation β Purity Dillution
- Incubus β Serpent Temptation
- Aseptic β Murderous Obsessions