Hey everyone, I have a death metal listening project in mind that I'd love your help on. In the last year or so I've really gotten into death metal, and I want to better understand the genre; how it's grown, developed, and branched out into its many styles.

I thought it would be fascinating to do this year by year, starting with the first year death metal was ever produced (I'm sure there are strong opinions on what year this was) and ending with 2019.

I was thinking I would listen to five albums for every year. This is where I would really appreciate the guidance of everyone here. I will pay close attention to your posts, and will regularly edit this post to reflect the which albums are selected. At the end I will post my final list. And I will keep you all updated on what I think as well.

This is something I'm really eager to do, so your help would be appreciated. Thank you!


PS: I'd have written here what death metal I'm already into, but I don't want to create any bias on your part. Thanks.

For the first ten years (impossible to chose in the heydays of 1992-1994):

1984: Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales
1985: Possessed - Seven Churches
1986: Messiah - Hymn To Abramelin
1987: Sarcofago - I.N.R.I.
1988: Death - Leprosy
1989: Morbid Angel - Altars Of Madness
1990: Nocturnus - The Key
1991: Dismember - Like An Everflowing Stream
1992: Therion - Beyond Sanctorum
Seance - Fornever Laid To Rest
Miasma - Changes
Demigod - Slumber Of Sullen Eyes
Torchure - Beyond The Veil
1993: Desultory - Into Eternity
Sentenced - North From Here
Hypocrisy - Osculum Obscenum
God Macabre - The Winterlong
1994: Blood - Mental Conflicts
Pandemonium - The Ancient Catatonia
Fleshcrawl - Impurity
Bolt Thrower - For Victory

Don't forget the finnish Death Metal scene which is extraordinary for the genre. All from the early 90's!

Convulse
Abhorrence
Demilich
Adramelech
Disgrace
Purtenance
Funebre
Depravity
Mordicus

EDIT: Figured it'd be useful to add WHY I included the albums

I'll recommend a handful of (mostly) early DM albums, as that's the period of the subgenre I am most familiar with. Obviously, there are a bunch of hugely influential albums like Left Hand Path, Slowly We Rot, etc., but you can get that list on Wikipedia/someone else will list them. I want to mention albums that are likely to be overlooked. (I am including a few famous ones, but only because I feel like they are absolutely essential.)

1984 - Hellhammer's Apocalyptic Raids
By my ear, one of the earliest records that could conceivably be called death-doom.

1985 - Master's Unreleased 1985 album (finally released in 2003)
Though unreleased, it makes for a great companion piece to Seven Churches. A ripping piece of early death/thrash.

1985 - Possessed's Seven Churches
Maybe the first death metal album? I personally give that honor to Death's SBG but this is pretty close.

1987 - Death's Scream Bloody Gore
I would say this is the moment that DM really coalesced into a genre. Essential album that, if not started it all, certainly crystallized the aesthetic. This is the album that clearly stepped out of thrash and ventured into a new genre.

1987 - Slaughter's Strappado
The roiling, deep riffage of this album came to influence very many death-doom bands. A clear step forward from Hellhammer.

1987 - Morbid's December Moon
I feel like most people wouldn't place this album on a DM list, but honestly this is easily one of the most influential albums when it comes to black/death metal.

1988 - Incubus's Serpent Temptation
Further development of the death/thrash aesthetic. Maybe not the most influential of albums, but such a well-executed, complete incarnation of the style that it's hard to exclude it.

1987-1989 - the Nihilist demos (the first incarnation of Entombed)
You might switch this out for Left Hand Path, but then you'd miss out on the early tinges of what came to be a gold standard in Swedish DM.

1989 - Autopsy's Mental Funeral
Autopsy doesn't REALLY break any ground that Death hadn't already, but it's clearly a band who have had massive influence on the scene. This or Severed Survival aren't revolutionary, but they are great, unique extensions of Death's brand of DM.

1990 - Pungent Stench's For Your God...
Perhaps they didn't have as much influence as Carcass (if you can really call them DM) in developing sibling genres like goregrind, but PS had such a unique sound that for 1990 this album was such a refreshing spin on DM.

1990 - Winter's Into Darkness
Probably THE death-doom record. Such heaviness, such creeping slowness. This is a record that would inspire funeral doom and death-doom bands alike. A crushing timeless inflection point in DM's history.

1991 - Grave's Into the Grave
This might not deserve to be on this list, but it's such a great example of Swedish DM, I couldn't resist excluding it.

1992 - Disharmonic Orchestra's Not to Be Undimensional Conscious
DO are probably the most underrated DM band that I'm aware of. They were absolute pioneers in taking the standards of a homogenous genre and really putting in some avant-garde, weird shit in there. So much unbridled experimentation without going off into a whole different genre. This is the Celtic Frost of DM.

1992 - Bolt Thrower's IV Crusade
I think you will find a lot of bickering about which BT deserves to be on the list, but it's clear BT need to be on here. They single-handedly pioneered the "war metal" style of DM. In my opinion, this is where their sound reached it's peak, but I wouldn't complain about switching this out for any other BT album.

1993 - Benediction's Transcend the Rubicon
This wasn't the first brutal DM album, but it's certainly a great example of the subgenre. Yet it still has its own distinctiveness to make this a key overlooked Brit DM album.

1993 - Amorphis's Privilege of Evil
When it comes to influence, Karelian Isthmus should be on here instead. But this oft-overlooked EP is so ridiculously brutal that you'd never guess the same band will be making prog rock years later.

1995 - Therion's Lepaca Kliffoth
Key album in the development of symphonic metal that eschewed power metal's bombastic approach. Therion led to the darker side of symphonic metal and this is the album that in my opinion was still death metal enough to warrant inclusion, but still pushed the inklings of Symphony Masses to its next logical step.

1996 - Hypocrisy's Abducted
I am certain many will disagree but this is THE atmospheric DM album. I'm not sure it was the first per se, but it's the first that really nailed the atmospheric part. This is the most soothing piece of death metal, I've ever heard.

1997 - Haggard's And Thou Shalt Trust the Seer
No one has done orchestral metal mixed with DM in a weirdly medieval-sounding fashion as well as Haggard. They created their own weird fusion that has never been successfully replicated and this album is probably the best possible middle ground between classical orchestra music and DM.

1999 - Necrophagist's Onset of Putrefaction
The most important album for the development of tech-death as a genre. Nuff said.

2000 - Macabre's Dahmer
I am sure most people will eschew Macabre from a DM list, because their sound is so unique. It's clearly an extension of the aesthetic and the vocals are probably the most unique blend of grating and bizarrely poppy. It's like twisted pop version of DM.

Excellent list. I will second Seamce, Miasma and God Macabre (can't believe I forgot them!)--but I personally would go with Miasma's Love Songs EP instead of Changes, it's just very, very difficult to get a physical copy of the EP.

Sooooo I accidentally locked myself out of my old account (Summum Malum). Who cares?

ANYWAY

I'm checking out all this stuff. This should be fascinating...

But I really want to build that five-album-a-year-list!

edit: turns out I wasn't locked out. I apologize. I wrote this stoned.

I think people are trying too hard to include favourite obscure and overlooked bands. The OP is really after a DM 101 list of the key albums in the development of the genre. Here's my suggestions for 1989-1991 (probably the most important era) :

1989
Autopsy "Severed Survival"
Bolt Thrower "Realm Of Chaos"
Morbid Angel "Altars of Madness"
Obituary "Slowly We Rot"
Pestilence "Consuming Impulse"

1990
Death "Spiritual Healing"
Deicide "Deicide"
Entombed "Left Hand Path"
Napalm Death "Harmony Corruption"
Obituary "Cause of Death"

1991
Carcass "Necroticism"
Death "Human"
Dismember "Like An Everflowing Stream"
Immolation "Dawn of Possession"
Pestilence "Testimony of the Ancients"

Yeah, but DM101 is no fun!

That said, I would argue that almost every obscure-ish album I listed represents some kind of important development in the evolution of DM's sound. And honestly I can't imagine listening to just the classics one after another. It'd get boring real quick, because let's be real, in the early days, it was a pretty damn homogenous genre.

(I'm OP. Got locked out my old account on my phone. So this is my new one from here on out)

Yes! I am looking for the essentials. From there I can branch out. Regardless, I appreciate everyone's feedback. I'm totally taking notes.

I've loved Severed Survival for *years*. It was actually released just a few months before I was born. It's so catchy and on point, the production is clunky as fuck, and the vocals are insane. So far, I like it the best when it comes to the old school sound.

I'm really struggling with Altars of Madness. Is it just that MA were breaking some mold here, making the album important? I totally dig the sound, but I feel like the well honed moments would have made, at most, a decent EP. The album drags a bit for me.

I'm still feeling out Obituary and Pestilence. The sound is different somehow. It's hard to put my finger on. But I'm intrigued.

(I'm OP. This is my new account. Got locked out on my phone)

I'm listening to Grave's Into The Grave right now! I really dig the sound. The production is so meaty. I'm definitely enjoying it.

I'm surprised you recommend Onset of Putrefaction over Epitaph. Both are cool albums, but why do you recommend the former?

Glad you're digging Grave--they do have a very distinctive sound despite being firmly situated amid Swedish DM conventions.

RE: Necrophagist. I just think Onset was more pivotal. Epitaph developed that sound, but Onset set the groundwork.

Ah okay, I see. I think I agree.

I made a chronological list of quality/historically relevant Death Metal from its inception around 1985 until 1997. Its one song per album so you can preview what you might be interested in. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... Pn8BQRmv6A