Music: Official Metal Thread VI

[Augscura]

All right team, post your top 10 swedish death metal albums, here's mine in no order:

Dismember - Like An Everflowing Stream
Entombed - Left Hand Path
Carnage - Dark Recollections
Crematory - Denial
At The Gates - The Red In the Sky Is Ours
Seance - Fornever Laid To Rest
Gorement - The Ending Quest
Necrophobic - The Nocturnal Silence
Necrovation - Self titled
Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane (more of a black metal band I know xD, just recaptured my love for this record lately)

 

[Hivemind]

Swedeath Top 10:
1. Repugnant - Epitome of Darkness
2-10. Other albums

 

[Augscura]

Swedeath Top 10:
1. Repugnant - Epitome of Darkness
2-10. Other albums

And what might those other albums be? :p

 

[Hivemind]

And what might those other albums be? :p

2. Tribulation - The Horror
3-10. Cool riffs played thru an HM-2

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Aside from a few albums, I've never been able to get into Swedish Death metal much.

 

[Augscura]

2. Tribulation - The Horror
3-10. Cool riffs played thru an HM-2

I guess that's all you're going to give me. I'll just assume it's most of the Dismember discography since they fit your description.

Oh and Repugnant and Tribulation are great so good choices.

 

[Hivemind]

I'm not much for Top 10 lists, given that my own opinions are bound to change every few months depending on which albums I'm feeling at that moment. There are a couple bands/albums that transcend that, but seeing a list full of Dissection and At the Gates releases wouldn't really bring much to the thread. Nor do either of those bands fit the true prototype of "Swedish death metal." When people speak about Swedeath, they're primarily referring to the Stockholm sound.

A few other albums definitely worth listening to if you're into that sound:
Nihilist - 1987-1989
Death Breath - Stinking Up the Night
General Surgery - Left Hand Pathology
Grave - Into the Grave
Unleashed - Where No Life Dwells
Miasmal - Miasmal
Morbus Chron - Creepy Crawling Creeps EP
Maim - From the Womb to the Tomb
******* Priest - Under the Hammer of Destruction
Vampire - Vampire (demo)

 

[Augscura]

Yeah I can understand that, my lists change all the time too. I was also just leaving it open for anyone to share death metal albums from Sweden not then "HM-2 Swedeath" sound exclusively.

On another note thanks for sharing ******* Priest again, I really need to get on checking them out

 

[Ouroboros]

The only essential Swedish releases are the early work of At The Gates, Gardens Of Grief, and The Red In The Sky Is Ours in particular.

Then there is some stuff that is decent/good but inessential:

Merciless - The Awakening
Grotesque - Incantation
Carnage - Dark Recollections
Dismember - Like An Everflowing Stream

 

[Behn Wilson]

I cant really come up with 10 albums, favorite bands would be Amon Amarth, At The Gates & Entombed w a notch below Dismember and Grave. Like a little bit of Hypocrosy & Dark Tranquility when they were a death Metal band.

 

[Hippasus]

This is my little Swedish metal list (one release per band):

Crypt of Kerberos - Cyclone of Insanity
Grave - Into the Grave / Promo 91
Merciless - The Awakening
Pan.Thy.Monium - .....Dawn
Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark
Therion - Of Darkness....
Carnage - Dark Recollections / The Day Man Lost... / Infestation of Evil

EDIT: I might see Vader, Gorguts, or Toxic Holocaust here in town in the near future.

 

[Augscura]

I might see Vader, Gorguts, or Toxic Holocaust here in town in the near future.

Dude go, holy **** Vader is amazing live and Gorguts is maybe my favorite band, will kill to see them live

 

[Ouroboros]

Gorguts were very good when I saw them a few months ago. Actually, they've been good every time I've seen them. They're good about playing material from all eras of the band which is nice.

One of the all-time best.

 

[Hivemind]

The only essential Swedish releases are the early work of At The Gates, Gardens Of Grief, and The Red In The Sky Is Ours in particular.

Then there is some stuff that is decent/good but inessential:

Merciless - The Awakening
Grotesque - Incantation
Carnage - Dark Recollections
Dismember - Like An Everflowing Stream

No idea how I forgot Grotesque. Easily one of the best Swedish releases.

I usually think of Merciless as more of thrash metal, but I don't really protest those who lump them in with death metal. They're certainly pretty close to something like Possessed, which are often considered DM. Either way, The Awakening is a 10/10 album.

If we're expanding past just death metal (which a couple posters have done), Morbid should absolutely be in the conversation with Bathory. While Bathory is obviously unparalleled in terms of influence in proto-black metal, Morbid was also a huge influence on a ton of bands.

 

[Hippasus]

Nihilist is one band that I would like to add to my list, but I haven't properly rated their album. Perhaps I shouldn't have had Bathory on there, but back then there was not a sharp demarcation between death and black metal, and even between thrash and grindcore.

Dude go, holy **** Vader is amazing live and Gorguts is maybe my favorite band, will kill to see them live

Gorguts were very good when I saw them a few months ago. Actually, they've been good every time I've seen them. They're good about playing material from all eras of the band which is nice.

One of the all-time best.

Yeah Gorguts were indeed amazing with their atmosphere when I saw them at Noctis Festival in Calgary a few years back. I think I'll heed Augscura's advice about trying to see Vader.

 

[Ouroboros]

I omitted Bathory because I consider them outside the scope of the original question, but otherwise they would have definitely been on the list. I can't imagine someone being into this sort of music and not liking at least one of those first five Bathory albums. It's essential stuff, both for quality and historical perspective whereas I would consider Morbid mainly notable for being influential.

It sort of got me thinking about Swedish metal in general and, on balance, it's probably my least favourite regional variant. I can't think of any other scene where I consider so many of the big names to be of such dubious quality. Entombed, Grave, Dissection, Unleashed, Marduk, Dark Funeral, Watain, Hypocrisy, Unanimated - none of this stuff really does it for me. I used to be really into the first Sacramentum and Dawn LP's but even the appeal of those has been fading for me as of late.

 

[Hivemind]

How someone cannot be into Dissection defies the mind. First two albums are absolute masterpieces.


While on the topic of the more melodic side of Swedish music, I'll do a dump of some of the albums I love from it:
At the Gates - discography
Dawn - Slaughtersun
Necrophobic - Darkside
Sacramentum - Far Away from the Sun
In Flames - The Jester Race
Dark Tranquillity - A Moonclad Reflection (demo)
Eucharist - A Velvet Creation
Unanimated - Ancient God of Evil
A Mind Confused - Anarchos
Gorement - The Ending Quest
Internal Decay - A Forgotten Dream

A bunch of other pretty good stuff out there too (Sacrilege, Gates of Ishtar, Lord Belial, Vinterland, Ceremonial Oath, A Canorous Quintet, etc)

 

[Butchered]

I omitted Bathory because I consider them outside the scope of the original question, but otherwise they would have definitely been on the list. I can't imagine someone being into this sort of music and not liking at least one of those first five Bathory albums. It's essential stuff, both for quality and historical perspective whereas I would consider Morbid mainly notable for being influential.

It sort of got me thinking about Swedish metal in general and, on balance, it's probably my least favourite regional variant. I can't think of any other scene where I consider so many of the big names to be of such dubious quality. Entombed, Grave, Dissection, Unleashed, Marduk, Dark Funeral, Watain, Hypocrisy, Unanimated - none of this stuff really does it for me. I used to be really into the first Sacramentum and Dawn LP's but even the appeal of those has been fading for me as of late.

Marduk was probably my first exposure into like extreme metal. I grew up with Nu Metal stuff like Korn and Deftones and all that and then kind of moved into Cradle of Filth and from there found some stuff like Cannibal Corpse and Marduk. Marduk holds a special place for me, but now I can look objectively and definitely see that the quality is very hit and miss.

 

[Hippasus]

EDIT: Still can't believe I accidently missed Suffocation this last weekend even though I had a ticket to the ****ing thing.

How someone cannot be into Dissection defies the mind. First two albums are absolute masterpieces.


While on the topic of the more melodic side of Swedish music, I'll do a dump of some of the albums I love from it:
At the Gates - discography
Dawn - Slaughtersun
Necrophobic - Darkside
Sacramentum - Far Away from the Sun
In Flames - The Jester Race
Dark Tranquillity - A Moonclad Reflection (demo)
Eucharist - A Velvet Creation
Unanimated - Ancient God of Evil
A Mind Confused - Anarchos
Gorement - The Ending Quest
Internal Decay - A Forgotten Dream

A bunch of other pretty good stuff out there too (Sacrilege, Gates of Ishtar, Lord Belial, Vinterland, Ceremonial Oath, A Canorous Quintet, etc)

Dissection is definitely awesome, but the thing with metal in the 80s and 90s for me is that there are simply a ridiculous amount of good quality bands. It's so hard for me to get everyone I consider to be really good on a short top-five list or whatever. To me they are on the level of Entombed or someone, but I prefer the dirtier sound of a Bathory, Merciless, or Nihilist. Of course the riffs have to be good, but the drums being really good can give a real boost too.

 

[Ouroboros]

How someone cannot be into Dissection defies the mind. First two albums are absolute masterpieces.

It's probably because I don't like Iron Maiden. Or that's what I've always attributed it to at least. I have the same problem with almost all that Gothenburg stuff.

Marduk was probably my first exposure into like extreme metal. I grew up with Nu Metal stuff like Korn and Deftones and all that and then kind of moved into Cradle of Filth and from there found some stuff like Cannibal Corpse and Marduk. Marduk holds a special place for me, but now I can look objectively and definitely see that the quality is very hit and miss.

I remember downloading 'Ramses Bringer Of War' by Nile because people were talking about them in a Napster chatroom. I guess that was the summer of... 1999 I think? At that time I was pretty much just listening exclusively to Slayer, and it blew my ****in' mind. So I guess I kinda feel the same way about Nile as you do Marduk.

EDIT: I also have a vivid memory of seeing the Emperor music video for 'The Loss and Curse of Reverence' on MuchMusic's metal show Loud at around the same time; maybe only a week or two after hearing Nile. What a time to be alive...

 

[Augscura]

I know Finndeath has been brought up multiple times before, but here's my 10 essential Finndeath releases:

Amorphis - Privilege of Evil (the essence of Finndeath)
Demilich - Nespithe
Disgrace - Inside the Labyrinth of Depression (maybe my favorite Finndeath demo)
Demigod - Slumber of Sullen Eyes
Rippikoulu – Musta Seremonia
Depravity – Silence of the Centuries
Purtenance - Member of Immortal Damnation
Convulse - World Without God
Sentenced – North From Here (very underrated imo)
Abhorrence - Abhorrence

 

[Ouroboros]

Again, sticking strictly to death metal and in relative order of preference/tiers:

Demilich - Nespithe

Adramelech - Psychostasia
Demigod - Slumber Of Sullen Eyes
Sentenced - North From Here
Depravity - Silence Of The Centuries

Amorphis - The Karelian Isthmus
Desecresy - The Doom Skeptron
Rippikoulu - Musta Seremonia [demo]
Sentenced - Journey To Pohjola [demo]
Sentenced - Shadows Of The Past

Cartilage - In Godly Flesh [demo]
Agonized - Gods... [demo]
Abhorrence - Abhorrence
Ascended - Temple Of Dark Offerings

In terms of new stuff potentially in this style, I'm looking forward to Blooming Carrion's demo Sparkling Rotten Dreams later this summer.

 

[Hivemind]

It's probably because I don't like Iron Maiden.

 

[Hivemind]

Finndeath that sounds like Swedeath:

 

[Augscura]

Some modern Finndeath I like: