God Disease are a Finnish death/doom metal band and this is their second album.
God Disease play old-school death metal that’s been injected with a overwhelming dose of ancient virulent doom. The resulting monstrosity offers a slow, oppressive embrace of doom-fuelled heaviness and darkness. Continue reading “God Disease – Apocalyptic Doom (Review)”
This is the second album from Italian death metallers Maze of Sothoth.
Featuring a member of Beheaded, Maze of Sothoth deliver a scathing brand of death metal on Extirpated Light. Following on from 2017’s Soul Demise, this new material is a 36-minute journey into dark realms of brutality and horror. Yep, this is the stuff right here. Continue reading “Maze of Sothoth – Extirpated Light (Review)”
This is the fifth album from US progressive death metallers Contrarian.
New Contrarian! Cast your mind and ears back over Polemic, To Perceive Is to Suffer, Their Worm Never Dies, and Only Time Will Tell, and you’ll find a band that has never released a bad album. I have a long-running soft spot for this band, but one that’s well-deserved. Contrarian are the sound of pure satisfying enjoyment in progressive death metal form. Continue reading “Contrarian – Sage of Shekhinah (Review)”
This is the second album from Swedish death metal band Wretched Fate.
Carnal Heresy contains 40 minutes of prime death metal. It’s effortlessly enjoyable, yet lurking just under the skin is a wealth of flesh and bone that actually tastes even better than it looks. Continue reading “Wretched Fate – Carnal Heresy (Review)”
This is the second album from Canadian death metal band Dead Soul Alliance.
2017’s Slaves to the Apocalypse and 2021’s Behind the Scenes were both solid slabs of 90s-influenced old-school death metal. Spiralling to Lunacy finds Dead Soul Alliance in fine form, delivering another 31 minutes of satisfying carnage. Continue reading “Dead Soul Alliance – Spiralling to Lunacy (Review)”
This is the debut album from Australian death metallers Hormagaunt.
Although In the Flesh quietly oozed into life at the end of 2022 I couldn’t resist its mouldy charms, so here we are. Get ready for a 31-minute trip into the foulest and nastiest death metal swamps. Continue reading “Hormagaunt – In the Flesh (Review)”
Conjureth are a death metal band from the US and this is their second album.
Following on from 2021’s Majestic Dissolve, The Parasitic Chambers is a 38-minute hymn to old-school death metal. Continue reading “Conjureth – The Parasitic Chambers (Review)”
This is the debut album from Australian death metal band Ashen.
Ritual of Ash is a 38-minute monster of a death metal album. Ashen spend their time on this record carving their way through the killing arenas of the style to appear triumphant and covered in blood by the end of it. The album snarls with Swedish death metal groove and roars with USDM intensity. A few other death metal styles can be heard here and there too, making for a collection of tracks that are easy to replay and enjoy. Continue reading “Ashen – Ritual of Ash (Review)”
Obituary are a legendary death metal band from the US. This is their eleventh album.
Obituary are such a goooooooood band. Every album is just a really fun listen. I thoroughly enjoyed all of their recent releases, (Inked in Blood, Ten Thousand Ways to Die, Obituary), and new album Dying of Everything is no Continue reading “Obituary – Dying of Everything (Review)”
So here we are again. It’s December, and year end lists are flying around like shrapnel. Due to the inherent subjectivity of music it’s always interesting to see what people have made of the preceding year.
For me, I made a concerted effort to drag myself away from the depths of black metal’s always-enticing abyss to spend some more time with other genres and styles that I also love. I said something similar last year, but I feel this year I was more successful in achieving that end. Of course, I still love black metal, still listen to it constantly, and you’ll still find some great examples of the blackened arts in the list below.
2022 was a strong year for death metal for me, and I enjoyed more death metal bands in a deeper way than I have done for some time. In every year there are standout releases, but I felt this year the standard was raised throughout. Possibly I was simply more receptive to it. Either way, you’ll find more death metal-related acts, and in higher spots, in this selection than you’ll have seen in my lists for a while.
As with last year, grindcore was largely absent from my year, disappointingly, as was hardcore. Additionally, the sort of lengthy, ugly, abyssal doom that I love so much has been largely lacking too. It’s all probably out there somewhere, but I didn’t catch it.
The top two spots this year are both claimed by albums/bands/styles that I simply could not have predicted would be at the pinnacle of my list by the year’s end, (one of the bands I hadn’t even heard of in January). I hope you enjoy these excellent records even half as much as I do.
Lastly I just want to say a big thank you to any and all that might read this site. It’s only a small endeavour, and I do it purely for the love of all things METAL and to support bands that I enjoy in whatever minor way I can, but if this is you, a heartfelt thank you for enduring my scribblings.
On to it! Continue reading “Wonderbox Metal End of Year List – Best Metal of 2022”
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