2013: The Resurrection of Death Metal PART I

Long gone were the glory days of early 90's Death Metal. With each passing year there were less and less quality DM releases. The peak of DM dropped with the rise of Black Metal. Bands like Darkthrone, Burzum and Mayhem replaced names like Cannibal Corpse, Obituary and Carcass. The denim clad, sleeveless shirt wearing every man of DM was replaced with the demon looking, all black wearing, spiked, seemingly woods living heathens of Black Metal. Death Metal guys talked the talk, Black Metal guys walked the walk. The autopsy table stories of DM'ers coundn't compare to the BM'ers killing each other, killing homosexuals and burning churches. The surgical steel precision of DM musicians fell to the raw, sloppy, under produced sound of BM. Black Metal since the early 90's continues to be not only full of sloppy, raw, under produced music but also home to some of the most progressive, forward thinking, genre bending acts in Metal period. It's become the place to go to experiment. Death Metal on the other hand, tried to move on, tried to progress and  became less and less appealing.

In the past 5 or 6 years though, there's been a large group of young bands (and old favorites) looking back to the birth and early 90's peak of Death Metal and regressing back to those days. In my eyes, that regression has been progression. It's been termed OSDM or Old School Death Metal, but to these ears it's just plain ol' Death Metal. Each year this trend seems to grow and each year there's a few more quality Death Metal releases. In 2013 though, the dam has burst. In my opinion 2013 has been the resurrection of Death Metal.

Going into Carcasses Surgical Steel, I had ZERO expectations. After such a long layoff I didn't think they had it in them but thank god I was wrong. Surgical Steel may not surpass their best works but goddamn if it isn't close.

Autopsy has made a couple new records in the past few years that were just OK. Headless Ritual though, may be their best since Mental Funeral.

Exhumed never really stopped making solid records but Necrocracy may be their best.

Gorguts has also made a huge comeback with Colored Sands, their best album since Obscura. Seeing the trend yet?

While maybe not as widely known as the above classic bands, Portal has been dropping their own brand of Death Metal for a decade now. Maybe even more sinister than the rest. Check out a live version of "Awryeon" from the album "Vexovoid" to see the true vicious nature of Portal.

And that's that. In Part II of this post I'll be recommending 2013 albums from newer DM bands like Katechon, Lantern, Irkallian Oracle, Abyssal, Bolzer, Horrifying, Ogru Jihad, Prosanctus Inferi, Sacriphyx, Antidiluvian, Ulcerate and Tribulation. You're in for a long one, so get your headphones ready. They're coming to get you, Barbara!