I'm literally like the only guy who doesn't really like
Bloodbath that much. Unblessing the
Purity is pretty much the only release of theirs I like. I could never get into any of the older records whatsoever, and i'm an ardent fan of Swedish death.
Shit i've been listening to:
-Deicide's Legion: Their best hour by quite a distance, alongside their debut. This is furious, ridiculously technical while still being heavily rooted in thrash. (
Slayer will always be this band's primary influence, no matter what) The riffs are jagged and percussive, yet intricate, and the furious pacing of the songs is outright dizzying. The riffs are fantastic, the drumming is just about perfect for this style of
Death Metal, and Glen Benton puts in a fantastic vocal performance, by
Far the best of his career. (deeper and more blunt rhythmically than the debut, but not incomprehensible either)
Deicide are generally kind of overrated, but there's no doubt they turned in some excellent records early in their career.
-Sentenced's North From Here:
Sentenced was a band that never seemed remotely content with what their style was early on in their career; the debut was a more standard Finnish
Death Metal record and the later records are a lot more rock-oriented from what I recall. North From Here, on the other hand, is an absolutely brilliant, forward thinking piece of early melodic
Death Metal, with a surprisingly 2nd gen
Black Metal twist.
North From Here is a melodic
Death Metal record, but absolutely not the Gothenburg style you'd expect. The songwriting on this record is truly creative and layered, without being bloated or self indulgent. The riffs are dizzying at times; they're very technical and the band makes significant use of counterpoint throughout - the guitars and bass build off of each other. The riffwork is absolutely masterful; you're not getting something neutered or saccharine, and for the songs general complexity, the band grabs you throughout. Taneli Jarva delivers an excellent vocal performance; his raspy, shitfire vocals more in line with
Black Metal but fitting the
Cold nature of the songs perfectly, and the drumming is excellent. Production is absolutely perfect for this as well: polished and clear-toned, yet
Cold and powerful.
This is an outstanding record.
Sentenced sadly never stayed in this style for very long, but it's an excellent record; get it if you come across it.
-Vader's De Profundis: I've never been very big on Polish
Death Metal; I think
Decapitated is lame as
Hell for the most part and a lot of the bands that i've heard seem to lack identity to them. This record has absolutely
NoNe of those problems;
Vader were one of the first to establish Poland as a
Death Metal centre, and they still may be the best band to emerge from that scene.
This is very speedy
Death Metal, but
Vader aren't a band that mindlessly blast around or lack identity of any kind. The band's influences are easily present:
Slayer,
Morbid Angel, and arguably
Deicide, but they don't clone those bands by any means. The music has a natural, powerful tone to it, and the influence from
Slayer shines through even within the tremolo riffing and blast-beats. The riffs on this record are fantastic, with an absolutely incisive way of getting into your head. The drumming is excellent on this, balancing the needs of the songs rhythmically perfectly without faltering, and the vocals, while intially off-putting are incredibly strong. they're more of a throaty bark than a full fledged growl but they're a great fit. The songs are excellent, with brilliant riffs throughout, and the record overall is short and punchy enough to get its point across without being underdeveloped. An excellent record from these guys, I have to look into them more.
-Darkthrone's Soulside Journey: This is a strange
Beast of a record.
Darkthrone are of course better known for
The Black metal works, but Soulside Journey is a curiously progressive work of death metal. The most surprising thing to me is how many similarities it shares with later Darkthrone.
This is certainly really cold music, but whereas later Darkthrone records were cold in the 'occult' manner, this is in a much more mechanical way. It lends a sinister aura to the record that's never been fully replicated; part of it is the really trebly production job from Sunlight Studios, but the instrumental performances - with the lone exception of Fenriz - seems really stiff sounding. It's weird.
The songs on this record are very good, but flawed at the same time. The songs are packed with excellent riffs, an impressive bass performance, great lead guitar work, and excellent drumming (arguably Fenriz at his peak - it's somewhat technical, but with a great sense of musicality and groove), but the songs at times are really awkwardly written and don't quite fully come together. "Cromlech" for example has that outright rockish part right after Nocturno's solo that sounds totally out of place and seems tacked on. It's little things such as that what makes this a bit flawed. The atmosphere is fantastic, and it does do quite a bit to mitigate the flaws of the record. It's still really good though, definitely worth a shot.
Don't have a fifth one again, sorry!
