Y'know what? The lists here are okay, but are very incomplete. Lemme show you guys a REAL list. Minimal melodic death (and I'll try to make the melodic death lean more towards the
Death Metal side of things), no
Deathcore, just pure fucking death metal. Here's a shit-ton to snap yer neck over (complete with descriptions and everything!):
Aborted - Only their goregrind stuff, though. They peaked at Goremageddon and anything after that is shitty gore-core. When they're good, they're crunchy,
Nasty Death Metal that has a strange melodic tinge to it.
Abysmal Dawn -
Nothing that special, but they've got some solid tunes and are experts at pummeling your face it. I'm usually not a fan of superficial sonic assaults like this but these guys pull it off well.
Adramelech - It's Finnish
Death Metal, what else do you want me to say? chaotic yet melodic. This should be
Mandatory listening for everybody.
Aeon - ONLY GET RISE TO DOMINATE. I blindly bought Path of Fire, and it sucks HARD. RtD, however, is some good ol' satanic
Death Metal Action and should appeal to most fans of death metal.
Akercocke - Not quite full-on
Death Metal, as they're a weird-ass experimental blend of
Brutal death, black, and clean acoustic passages, but they're still worth a mention cause they own so hard.
Anata - Technical
Death Metal that never indulges itself at the expense of the listener. They use their instrumental prowess to create more textured, dynamic riffs rather than wank all over the place. Can't go wrong with anything they've put out.
Angelcorpse -
Nothing unique here, but who gives a shit?
Evil incarnate.
Archgoat - Pure. Fucking. Mayhem. This sounds like The devil's pubes in musical form, if that makes any sense. Absolutely no frills, no complexity, just a rusty metal
Fist IN YOUR FUCKING FACE.
Arghoslent - Yeah, yeah, they're racist, you can whine about it all you want but the number of fucks I give will always be less than one. These guys don't write songs, they just write riffs. so. many. good. riffs.
Arsis - A Celebration of Guilt is the ONLY thing you should even THINK about checking out- they
Nailed the perfect balance of melody, technicality, and
Brutality on their debut album and haven't even come CLOSE since. ACoG is a modern metal classic, the rest can be ignored.
Asphyx - Not really death/doom, more just really sluggish, slothy
Death Metal, but no one ever said that's a bad thing. THIS is actually what
Brutal Means, slow, stupid and dirty. Cool.
Atheist - Yeah, it's wank, but it's the good kind of wank. Definitely not for everybody, but if you like a little tech and jazz mixed in with your
Death Metal latte give any of their first three albums a look.
Autopsy - Well duh.
Avulsed - Only heard these guys recently and I'm lovin' it. Dear
Lord is it ever catchy, this Spanish
Death Metal scene has boatloads of epic groovin' midpaced riffs to share with the world.
Be'lakor - More on the melodic side of things, but they're one of my favorite bands so I can't not share them with you. Basically an overblown caricature of
Insomnium, which is cool and all cause
Insomnium is better than you.
Behemoth - I'm mainly referring to their later era (since their earlier era was
Black Metal) although you gotta watch your step.
Demigod and The
Apostasy were kinda lame and overproduced (although still decent) but Zos Kia
Cultus and Evangelion are really good. These guys are one of those bands that are really popular simply because they
Kick so much fucking ass. A rare breed indeed.
Benediction - You can never have too much OSDM.
Nothing worth overt praise, but still some solid stuff.
Bestial Warlust - You know how non-fans of metal say
Death Metal is just "senseless noise" or something along those lines? Well, when I hear
Bestial Warlust, I actually start to respect their opinion a bit more. This is essentially just pure fucking noise, and it's also pure fucking awesome.
Biomechancial - Not really death metal, but like Akercocke, it's one of those "hybrid" bands that you can recommend no matter what the genre. An intriguing mix of thrash, death, power, groove, and Halford-eqsue wailing.
Blastomycosis - Brutal death metal the way it was meant to be. Simple, head-slammin' riffs that never overstay their welcome, all topped off with an INSANE vocalist. Aww yeee.
Blood Red Throne - one of those "bread and butter" bands, you know, the ones that don't really stand out but you listen to them whenever you crave a particular genre. Satisfies the craving for DM, if nothing more.
Bloodbath - Swedish death metal with a star-studded lineup and a slightly modern touch that keeps it from becoming stagnant, what's not to like?
Bolt Thrower - If you haven't heard of these guys yet, seriously, do you even LIKE metal? Like what the fuck, man.
Brain Drill - Technical death metal at its absolute limit. Even if you don't like the style it's an interesting listen simply for the novelty of it all. Oodles and oodles of noodling.
Cannibal Corpse - Far before they were "that band everybody listens to to look extreme", they made two great death metal albums, Butchered at Birth and Tomb of the Mutilated. Both are worth a listen if you like you death metal straightforward and catchy and your semen with blood in it.
Carcass- Not necessarily death metal, they've either been goregrind or shitty melodic death metal, but they're worth mentioning for their historical impact and influence on death metal. Everything up to and including Necroticism is worth your time.
Cesspool of Vermin - I'm not gonna lie, I only checked these guys out because their album is titled "Bestial Necrophilia". I mean, cmon, you HAVE to give something like that a look. But, it's slam death that doesn't irritate the hell out of me, and that's an pretty big feat in and of itself, so this might be of more worth to a fan of the genre.
The Chasm - Weird, spacey, melodic-math-death-metal, it's SO GODDAMN amazing. Gets better with every listen. The more I describe them, the more fanboyish I get, so I'll just leave it at that.
Cosmic Atrophy - The line of thinking of this band: "hey Demilich is awesome but let's tone it down a notch and make it a little easier on the ears"
I made it sound like a bad thing, but it's not, it's still really good.
Cryptopsy - None So Vile is an absolute classic and you should go buy it RIGHT NOW. Blasphemy Made Flesh is cool and all too. Both are twisted assaults on the senses, with Flo's amazing drumming and Lord Worm's indecipherable vocals, all layered overtop of the punishing riffwork, dear lord it's so good.
Dark Milllennium - Thrashy, spacey death metal that answers to no one. I already wrote up a review on these fuckers, if you do some legwork you'll find it.
Death - When you've got half a genre's name as your band name, you're pretty much guaranteed to be essential to the genre.
Deathchain - this will BLOW YOUR FUCKING BALLS OFF. Every single thrashy death metal riff on here is mathematically designed to peel another layer of skin off your ballsack. It. never. lets. up. Even when it goes into a thrash break it still rips your scrotum off slowly, and that's saying something.
Decapitated - Only Winds of Creation is worth the listen, a technical brutal death metal assault played by a bunch of ridiculously talented teenagers- and they've yet to match it in their careers.
Decrepit Birth - Take Sound of Perseverance era Death, give it a more death metal flare, and there ya go. Diminishing Between Worlds got me into them, but I'd have to say Polarity is their best yet, simply because they kept the melodies in tighter reins and didn't let them flail about all over the place.
Defeated Sanity - At first, it just sounds like normal brutal death metal, but with more listens, it shows you there a lot more going on and it's a lot more intricate than originally thought. They're crafting the best brutal death metal being put out there today, I'd say.
Demilich - Crazy, abstract, beyond-comprehension death metal with a frog on vocals. Sign me the fuck up.
Devourment - Molesting the Decapitated is perhaps the only real "classic" in the slam death metal genre, and coincidentally it's also the only good thing Devourment ever put out. this is the only time I'll ever say this, but it's FUKKIN BROOTAL BRO. /wiggermode
too bad all the clones of this band never got anywhere close to the original.
Disembowelment - Takes you on a transcendental journey to dark corners of your mind you never knew existed. If saying that doesn't get you to buy this album i don't know what will.
Dismember - YES YES YES YES YES YES okay Dismember's just so damn good I think I'm gonna go whack off now.
aaand I'm back. Anyways, Dismember's got crazy wicked melodies and grooves all under a chainsaw guitar tone and unrelenting fury. One of my top 10 metal bands fo sho.
Entombed - It's basically Dismember, only slightly less cool, which still makes them pretty fucking cool. Most Swedish DM is worth a listen.
Faust - Just hearing these guys for the first time now, and it's pretty sweet, death metal that's really melodic but doesn't sound like melodic death metal for some convoluted reason. Plus there's a pair 'a nun titties on their album cover.
The Few Against Many - Take your usual gaycore gothenburg crap and amp it up by about a BILLION and The Few Against Many is your result. Oh, and Christian Fucking Alvestam. Yeah.
Fist in Fetus - Death metal/grindcore with symphonic and industrial overtones and solos featuring a guy from Stratovarius. It's novelty for the sake of novelty, but it sounds really goddamn cool. Definitely a breath of fresh air.
Fleshcrawl - Death metal that's almost pure, evil atmosphere. Dark, slow, sludgy and hellish. I can count the total amount of bands on one hand that sound as nasty as this.
Fleshgod Apocalypse - Jesus christ it's hard to come up with descriptors for a hundred different death metal bands without sounding redundant. Anyways, this is mindblowingly pummeling and brutal but ridiculously accessible. The classical music gimmick thing is kinda cool too, doesn't really work but it's an interesting experiment. Anyways these guys rule.
Gigan - holy fucking fuck these guys are like Gorguts but they give even LESS of a shit about sounding nice. Difficult to imagine, let alone accomplish. This is for anybody who thinks death metal isn't really that "out there". This will shock you.
Goatwhore - Sludgy blackened death metla with a hint of some muthafuckin' ATTITUDE to boot. These guys just have that satanic, take-no-prisoners, fuck-shit-up attitude that goes so good with death metal, and when you throw that in with their masterful riff craft it's even better. This is what mainstream extreme metal should sound like.
God Dethroned - Blasphemous blackened death that is executed with maturity and finesse. You'll know what I mean when you hear it.
Gorefest - DEATH FUCKING METAL. Bottom line, if you liked what you've heard so far you can't really go wrong with this. It's relatively generic, cept for DAMN that guy has a unique, powerful voice. Avoid the death n' roll stuff, though, it's pretty shite.
Gorguts - I personally don't like their older, more "orthodox" death metal stuff, but Obscura and From Wisdom to Hate are death metal like you've never heard it before. It's not that great at first, sure, and I almost dismissed the band, but it'll slowly grow on you, and you'll be able to appreciate it eventually.
Gorod - These guys write crazy catchy tech-death melodies that just play with each other. It's wank that doesn't sound like wank, fucking great.
Hacksaw to the Throat - Don't let the name fool you, this is some crazy prog death that really lets the progression flourish rather than just throwing a piano solo in here and there to be "different".
Hour of Penance - If you liked Fleshgod Apocalypse, you'll like this, they're essentially the same band. So brutal, yet so catchy....
Immolation - Oh yes oh yes oh yes. Diabolical, winding, twisted, when Immolation gets it right they create the PERFECT death metal atmosphere. Their early stuff's kinda meh though, okay but not worth much, Close to a World Below and Majesty and Decay are the albums where they really shine. One of my favorite death metal bands on this list.
Impetuous Ritual - You know that ineffable "perfect" death metal atmosphere I just went on about? Take the essence of that atmosphere, remove all the dilutions that "conventional" music brings you and you get Impetuous Ritual. Pure, atonal, undiluted atmospheric death metal. This literally sounds like death.
Incantation - Obviously.
Ingested - It's slammish death metal, but it's executed so professionally and flawlessly that you've gotta give 'em some credit. The mechanical sound that the production (unintentionally?) has on Surpassing the Boundaries of Human Suffering actually kinda makes it better, too.
Intestine Baalism: Swedish death metal + additional melodic solos and leads + crazy Japanese kids = sweet shit.
Jungle Rot - This sounds like what cavemen would play if they knew how to use musical instruments. It's midpaced, groovy, stupid, all their albums sound the same and it's AWESOMMMME.
Khanate - So motherfucking heavy. These guys are one of those bands thta you have to listen to twice in a row because the first time around you couldn't understand what was going on because you were all like OMG THAT SHIT IS HEAVY. Not quite pure death metal, but I can't be bothered to give a fuck,
Kronos - Melodic brutal death metal? It's certainly not something you'd think would work, but these guys pulled it off. This is a really accessible, catchy approach to brutal death and for that reason I'd actually recommend it if you're NOT a fan of the whole modern DM style.
Last Days of Humanity - Goregrind that should appeal to most death-heads. These guys take that whole "no substance, just a sonic raping of ears" thing that brutal death metal does and takes it about as far as it can go without being thrown into the noise genre. Best part- the novelty of this band hasn't worn off even after dozens of spins.
Liers in Wait - They're like a Swedish Morbid Angel. These riffs fool you into thinking they're nice, normal death metal at first but as the album goes on it gets weirder and weirder. This actually scared me the first time I heard it and made me not want to go back to it for a while, no joke. These guys are the only death metal band that's done that to me.
Lord Gore - I don't mind brutal death if it's played like this- no-bullshit, catchy as hell, and never trying to innovate. An interesting vocalist always helps, too.
Machetazo - Again with that lovely Spanish death metal scene I was going on about a while back. Death metal's at its best when it's played simple and stupid, in my opinion, and thankfully these guys got that memo. Definitely fucking stoked to see these guys play at Maryland Deathfest.
Malevolent Creation - ONLY GET THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. The rest is mediocre piss-poor death metal, however, TTC hit the nail right on the head. 'bout as brutal as OSDM can get.
Molested - It's basically a precursor to Borknagar, but when I say that I mean some of the members went on to play in Borknagar - these guys sound nothing like them. This is just sick wicked n' nasty death metal, and saying anything more would be an insult.
Morbid Angel - WELL NO SHIT SHERLOCK. Also for the record Blessed are the Sick is my favorite by them.
Morgue - the oldschool American one, I know there are probably a lot of bands called "Morgue". One of those obscure death metal releases that I love for some strange reason, perhaps it's just the kvlt kiddie in me, who knows.
Mortician - Essentially death metal's lowest common denominator. Guitars are super-low, vocals are super-indecipherable, bass is super-heavy, drums are super-programmed and the music is super-JIZZTACULAR.
Nasferatu - Maniacal death/thrash that's just so motherfucking goddamn ANGRY. Makes me want to punch a wall and eat a baby.
Necrophagist - I only really like Onset of Putrefaction, Epitaph had some good tunes but was overall a little too flowery for my taste. Most of the time, though, these guys deliver some ear-catchin' guitar wizardry.
Neuraxis - It sound like fucking French Canadian tech death, okay? it's good. Shut up, you have no idea how difficult it is to write these descriptions and make them sound different all the time.
Nocturnus - Can't say much about their other releases, but The Key is a near-perfect death metal release with crazy fretboard mastery and eerie keyboards. It sounds exactly how you'd think it would if you looked at the album cover, and the cover is awesome, so naturally so is the music.
Nunslaughter - Oh yes. Prepare to burn in hell for listening to this, but if you've made it this far you probably shouldn't give a shit either way. A filthy, rusty metal FIST IN YOUR FACE. Just like Archgoat. Nunslaughter is one of those bands that you're pretty much a poser for not listening to, so get on it!
Obscura - Incredibly well-composed melodic tech death. Everything is written with complexity but is still easy to understand. Some people bash this for not neing "brutal" enough but those people are retards so listen to this.
Opeth - Their earlier stuff is death metal-ish enough to be included. I like Opeth, not as much as some do but it's alright stuff. You might not be a fan (I can completely understand all the criticism for them) but they're worth a look. For what it's worth, their mid-period albums like Still Life and Blackwater Park are my favorites.
Origin - IT'S SO FUCKING FAST. They get faster as they go, so listing their albums in reverse chronological order is a good way of measuring each albums' quality. As such, get Antithesis, it's their best.
Pan.Thy.Monium - Crazy, spacey ethereal death metal. You know this shit's good when the opening track to one of your albums is 21 minutes long, on a death metal release.
Poison - No you fags, not the transsexual glam assholes. I'm talkin' bout the German death-thrashers who were kickin' assand takin' names in the 80s. mm-mm-mm-yea.
Portal - SHIT IS ALL FUCKED UP BRAH. These guys are to Impetuous Ritual what Hour of Penance is to Fleshgod Apocalypse- Near equivalent music, and members are shared between the two bands. A massive wall of sound that drags you into its clutches every time.
Prostitute Disfigurement - fairly average-above average brutal death, I just listen to them so I can say I listen to a band called Prostitute Disfigurement, hehe.
Psycroptic - Meedly Meedly tech death that's catchy like a motherfucker and the bands has gone through a slew of mildly irritating, yet somewhat endearing vocalists over the years. I give The Scepter of the Ancients and Ob(Servant) spins when I feel the urge.
Pungent Stench - This is dirty. Just really fucking dirty. Filthy, nasty, ugly death metal. Addictive and amazing. First two albums are classics that any fan of the genre should get their hands on ASAP.
Quo Vadis - Funky, bass-driven melodic death that's like a slightly lesser version of Arsis' debut. Good stuff.
Rottrevore - This is like the grooviest death metal ever created, at it's got the classic Swedish death metal guitar tone with a little more prickliness to it. In other words, this is legendary.
Runemagick - Simply CRUSHING death/doom, though it's more just slowed down death metal than death metal with actual traditional doom influence. Either way, this album will rape and kill you.
Sentenced - While I personally like their later gothic-pop stuff too, their debut is a great slab of Finnish DM that Creates a swirling aura around you.
Septic Flesh - It's basically Dimmu Borgir without all the suck, strange ethnic death metal with an interesting and captivating melodic touch. All is good with this band, but Communion is the album praised by most, and I share this opinion.
Severed Savior - Brutal death with an artsy-fartsy proggish touch. Not much else to say, if you're a fan of Unique Leader-brand death metal you'll like it, if not you probably won't.
Skinless - One of the few bands I've seen that mixes oldschool and new-school death metal into one large cohesive beast. They have an amazing balance of war-like atmospherics and pummeling pit grooves thta I've yet to see matched by another modern band. Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead is a modern classic.
Slugathor - Best Bolt Thrower clone I've ever seen. These guys got the memo that death metal is best played with homage to Bolt Thrower and Autopsy- midpaced and chunky.
Smouldering in Forgotten - A middle eastern black/death metal band that formed in a region of the world where it's illegal to play heavy metal, so these guys get my utmost respect for that. Plus it's easy to like any band that adequately worships at the altar of Goatwhore.
Spawn of Possession - These guys are another wanky band, but for some reason they don't sound like they're TRYING to be a wanky band, they just kinda stumbled upon that by accident.
Torsofuck - When you get past the grotesque lyrical themes and imagery and such, this is basically just Mortician worship, and some damned good worship at that. Songs like "Raped by Elephants" are so goddamn catchy.
Triptykon - An amalgamation of black death and doom, Triptykon are a band I'm not the biggest fan of but they've got a GREAT texture and guitar tone so I'll give 'em a rec anyways.
Vader - If your ear got raped by a bass drum, Vader would be the soundtrack. Behemoth and Decapitated are cool and all, but Vader are definitely the top-tier death metal export out of Poland.
Viraemia - Soulless, alien tech-death that grabs you by the balls and forces you to listen. Over. and over. and over again. You know how Brain Drill pushed technical masturbation to its utmost limit? Yeah, Viraemia went even further.
Vital Remains - Overblown "epic" death metal, with lots of flashy solos and merciless pounding and whatnot. Plus, the whole Satan stuff never gets old, at least not to me.
Vomitory - Swedish death metal, need I say more?
Vornagar - Crazily skilled melodic death metal that actually features Brain Drill's drummer (Marco Pitruzzella or whatever). These guys are strangely unknown and I'm not sure why, seems like the modern death metal crowd would eat this up.
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And there you have it folks. Yeah, I know, it's a tad overkill, but if you guys want to make a list, at least make it a fucking LIST.
For the record: This took me about three hours to write and I actually did jerk off mid-writing about Dismember, though I didn't actually jerk off TO Dismember.
Oh, and this list is far from complete. As I discover more bands/remember bands I missed I'll add them here as I go.
If you are a false, don't entry, or you'll be burned and died! 
