Given the state of the world is still in we need death metal more than ever. Death is something to be celebrated not feared and these albums help provide a soundtrack for that celebration. I do not like death metal that is too technical or only heavy, so these bands all went above and beyond. Ok now that that is out of the way, much like in years past sort through the genre lists before making the overall top ten of the year list. The fact these artists made it on the list speaks to how great these albums are, so it's not a slight that the number 8 album is above the 9th album, there is something that just gives it an edge that makes me want to listen to it more.
After all we can try to look cool and pick the hippest bands for a list, but at the end of the day what makes an album the best is that it makes you want more, you look forward to listening to it again. Sure, you can bitch and complain about your favorite band not being on the list. However, I listen to five new albums a day so yes, I heard your favorite album and was not impressed. No, I do not care what you think about it. I do hope you can find your next favorite on this list and have included links to reviews of these albums if you want to check out audio on these guys. Anyways here are the top death metal albums of 2022.
10-Conjurer- "Pathos"
This British metal band is as feral and angry as any metal core band on their sophomore full length. They balance this tendency with a wandering post- rock juxtaposition. But when the dynamic shifts come down, they hit with all the sonic weight of a mammoth bulldozing machine. I do not recall them being as heavy before. While it's impressive in the sheer weight that they pound your ears with,
9-Mantar -"Pain is Forever and this is the End"
This German duo settled to label themselves or at least allow their record label to label them extreme metal, which is either death metal or grindcore, and it turned out to be death metal with a punk twist, meaning a more death n roll direction. Darker more melodic chord progressions take the songs in a more sonic direction, with the song writing often rawer and rowdier with a dose of rock n roll swagger. The snarled vocals have a pretty focused purpose, and the lyrics are more thoughtful than where the genre typically dwells.
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8-Abysmal Dawn -"Nightmare Frontier"
It's been two years since there last impressive offering, so settling for an EP. This time around things fall more in line with standard death metal though well-crafted and executed, more straight forward than I expected from them. This band has created something that captures the steam rolling aggression of Deicide combined with the ever-shifting grooving riffage of Morbid Angel, meaning they have latched onto the best elements of death metal and woven them into something that is their own.
7-Mortuary Drape- "Wisdom-Vibration-Repent"
They lean into their death metal side for this EP, the pace dropping down to something more comparable to Celtic Frost, though dressed up in darker atmosphere and slightly less theatrical in the delivery than they have been in the past. They are great song writing and captured an alluring array of dark sounds on this album.
6-Zous- "No Ground to Give"
Nails drummer Taylor Young has released what is a solo album under the moniker ZOUS. He has written, preformed, produced and engineered this entire album. Well, he does enlist his buddies to come in a help out when it is time for the obligatory guitar solo. This project like to think of itself as old school death metal, and while it is not djent or wanting to be In Flames or anything blackened, it grinds and crunches with more of a modern hard core feel than anything in the zip code of Morbid Angel. Which makes sense when you consider his day job. It is very heavy and crushingly intense.
5-Belphegor- "the Devils"
Basically, they are doing a better job of being the band Behemoth wants to be. This is their 12th album, so you would think they would be set in their wicked ways but, not things are better than ever. At times ample Metallica influence without trying to be thrash. Granted a choir from hell chimes in and there are touches of black metal. There is incredibly tasteful guitar and wonderful solos adding to the mood of the songs.. These guys have straddled the line of black and death metal most famously, but when they accept, they are death metal things go best which is what they have done with this album.
4-Temple of the Void- "Summoning the Slayer"
These guys are really hitting a sweet spot in their career, as their 2020 album "the World That Was" landed in my top 5 death metal albums of the year. They have continued to evolve their songwriting past even that point.; Maturation can be felt in how they take both their doom influence and their death metal influence and rather than worry about creating a sound, write great songs. The rule here is cool riffs alone does not a good song make. They not only adhere to this but pulls some impressive riffs out which at times carry the kind of teeth that recall classic death metal of the 90s.
3-Goatwhore- "Angels Hung from the Arches of Heaven"
One of the best American metal bands going today is back. They are continuing to storm the burning gates of heaven with a sound that offers few surprises, yet seldom feels like they are recycling sounds already beaten into the charred earth. Their songwriting that continues to excel as they blend more melodic guitar work to create a creepy throb. They continue to grow as a band 8 albums and two decades into their career
2-Acid Witch- "Rot Among Us"
They are one of my favorite metal bands, so the expectations are high. The first song is more of a spooky intro with enough metal to foreshadow what is to come, which is these guys rocking the fuck out with a pretty powerful title track. A great deal of it is dressed up like Spirit Halloween on drugs. They are really coming with the fucking riffs here. There is more of a sludge feel to the wall of guitars that empowers the songs though the overall tone is darker and more aggressive than their previous album.
1-Decapitated - "Cancer Culture"
Here is an album that grew on me and earned more listens throughout the year. When I first reviewed the e Polish band's 8th album, I said this was top contender for album title of the year, which it still deserves, but I did not realize at the time how additional listens were going to high light some of the subtle details in the songwriting. With this album they blend enough groove to balance out the more technical elements of what they do. Not the most brutal when it comes to death metal, there is a fair amount of melody buried in the guitar with the drumming the most technical aspect of their sound. Considering the dude has been playing since he was 12 that makes sense. The vocals on a harshness scale falls somewhere near Sepultura. They are coarsely shouted more than growled in a guttural fashion, but they are not an afterthought and serve as a purposeful narrative to an amazing album.
Abysmal Hymns: Death is June - Decapitated : " Cancer Culture"
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