Old School Death Metal

Son of Nun wrote:

Pethead wrote:I really enjoy OSDM (Bolt Thrower or Death are my favorites) and some tech death (Nile, Gorguts). 

I also avoid anything that’s blasphemous. No Morbid Angel or Deicide for me, even though I’m sure I’d enjoy their music. I confess I haven’t explored much Cannibal Corpse just because the imagery and some song titles are too graphic for me. I love a good horror movie, but I don’t watch anything quite that graphic! But I might check out some of CC’s classics.

I spent some months discerning the Cannibal Corpse issue. I read/listened to a lot of interviews with various band members. One thing that made me feel more comfortable with them is that all those guys said "we don't believe in or advocate for any of this stuff -  we are disgusted by it too."  Chris Barnes has spoken in various interviews about "shedding some light" on the evil and depravity in the world and that it makes him see how precious life is. One particularly important moment for me was in a podcast where the (rather creepy) interviewer asked Barnes who his "favorite" serial killer is and Barnes was taken aback and said he wouldn't use that word to describe these people who are basically monsters. Reading/hearing these comments made something clear to me: there is a big difference in belief and intention between Cannibal Corpse and bands like Morbid Angel and Deicide. Not only do the latter blaspheme or speak about violence towards Christians, they really believe what they say and are advocates of that anti-Christian message.

I'm just thankful there are censored versions of the CC albums.

Yeah, I’ve thought about checking out some CC. But I intend to avoid MA and Deicide like the plague.

Malevolent Creation is becoming one of my favorites.

Any Asphyx fans? I’ve heard them recommended, but I don’t know much about them.

Pethead wrote:Malevolent Creation is becoming one of my favorites.

Unusual opinion, but Stillborn is my favorite of theirs.

Pethead wrote:Any Asphyx fans? I’ve heard them recommended, but I don’t know much about them.

I've avoided them because of some anti-Christian songs so I don't know much either. Autopsy does the slow Death Metal thing well though.

Axphyx singer has a side band called Hail of Bullets that sings about war and it's really good.

This is a style I never could get into much, though I do have Morgion's collection of demos (titled God Of Death And Disease) from before they went doom/death and it's got some good tracks on it.

I basically never pop into this room since I "actively" (meaning in my physical collection, not counting whatever comes up on Pandora or an occasional youtube session) listen to bands that are somehow attached to "Christian scene" or whatever you would call it.

Really interesting discussion on a couple points, though! I did have a couple year dalliance in "mainstream" bands, and had much the same thought/discernment process as many of you for what bands/lyrics I would accept and entertain or not (before I just gave up for a number of reasons which don't apply to you and that's ok). Fascinating the perspectives on Cannibal Corpse, for me they were ridiculously way far out of the question, but I did watch their big, like 3 hour documentary, and it was really interesting, including that while some of them came off as kind of "off," the bass player and drummer in particular seemed like completely cool, generally well adjusted dudes.

Also interesting to see so many mention Bolt Thrower so highly! Warmaster through . . . For Victory they were maybe my favorite band. I wonder how many of us first saw their name reading about Believer getting on a tour with them back in the day? I know that's where I first saw the name, and thought that it was a cool sounding name and that if they toured with Believer they probably couldn't be TOO evil. 

I liked Obituary, but not nearly as well. Cause of Death I thought was great, The End Complete I thought was kind of lifeless (maybe appropriate for death metal, ha). World Demise was better, pretty good I thought.

Pestilence "Testimony of the Ancients" had some lyrics and imagery that bothered me, but SO good! I never listened to Death back in the day, but am more familiar with them now and great stuff for sure. I liked Napalm Death "Fear, Emptiness, Despair" and "Greed Killing," although it was kind of experimental. I'm not sure how they fit with the genre exactly but obviously Sepultura, Schizophrenia through Arise was classic and so good. Only recently I've come across some old Vader stuff, which is a name that never seemed to get mentioned, but dang they sound perfect on Litany! If I was going to pick a band today, I'm sure Nile would be the one, maybe more tech than "old school" but unlike so many tech bands they're awesome to listen to both for the sound and the songs, if that makes sense.

Just my thoughts, since I enjoyed reading all of yours.

Grindboy wrote:I basically never pop into this room since I "actively" (meaning in my physical collection, not counting whatever comes up on Pandora or an occasional youtube session) listen to bands that are somehow attached to "Christian scene" or whatever you would call it.

Really interesting discussion on a couple points, though! I did have a couple year dalliance in "mainstream" bands, and had much the same thought/discernment process as many of you for what bands/lyrics I would accept and entertain or not (before I just gave up for a number of reasons which don't apply to you and that's ok). Fascinating the perspectives on Cannibal Corpse, for me they were ridiculously way far out of the question, but I did watch their big, like 3 hour documentary, and it was really interesting, including that while some of them came off as kind of "off," the bass player and drummer in particular seemed like completely cool, generally well adjusted dudes.

Also interesting to see so many mention Bolt Thrower so highly! Warmaster through . . . For Victory they were maybe my favorite band. I wonder how many of us first saw their name reading about Believer getting on a tour with them back in the day? I know that's where I first saw the name, and thought that it was a cool sounding name and that if they toured with Believer they probably couldn't be TOO evil. 

I liked Obituary, but not nearly as well. Cause of Death I thought was great, The End Complete I thought was kind of lifeless (maybe appropriate for death metal, ha). World Demise was better, pretty good I thought.

Pestilence "Testimony of the Ancients" had some lyrics and imagery that bothered me, but SO good! I never listened to Death back in the day, but am more familiar with them now and great stuff for sure. I liked Napalm Death "Fear, Emptiness, Despair" and "Greed Killing," although it was kind of experimental. I'm not sure how they fit with the genre exactly but obviously Sepultura, Schizophrenia through Arise was classic and so good. Only recently I've come across some old Vader stuff, which is a name that never seemed to get mentioned, but dang they sound perfect on Litany! If I was going to pick a band today, I'm sure Nile would be the one, maybe more tech than "old school" but unlike so many tech bands they're awesome to listen to both for the sound and the songs, if that makes sense.

Just my thoughts, since I enjoyed reading all of yours.

Yeah, the main thing that keeps away from CC isn’t the gore so much as the twisted, sexual violence of some of their songs/imagery. 

I know Vader has some anti-Christian lyrics, just FYI.

I've tried to get into Nile but for some reason it never clicks.

If you're into historical stuff check out Ex Deo. It's from the main guy in Kataklysm and all Roman history. 
Also, check out 1914, it's like Bolt thrower meets Asphyx and, you guessed it, about WWI.

Black Rider wrote:I've tried to get into Nile but for some reason it never clicks.

What have you tried? They can get this monolithic, wall of sound thing going on sometimes that detracts from my enthusiasm for them but I still like Nile a lot.

My intro to Nile was their new (at the time) album, At the Gates of Sethu. And I loved it. It wasn’t until later that I discovered the lukewarm reception it got. But if you haven’t heard it, it’s less bottom-heavy and lets you really hear the guitar parts. 

https://youtu.be/F0GBd4isAJU

I tried amongst the catacombs and annihilation of the wicked. I do like the eastern touches but overall it didn't grab me.

Black Rider wrote:I tried amongst the catacombs and annihilation of the wicked. I do like the eastern touches but overall it didn't grab me.

If you don't like these songs I'm going to have to ask you to leave the hall.  

I like the second song okay. I don't skip them when they show up on a playlist but I don't search them out.

How do you gents feel about Suffocation? I've been thinking about getting back into them. There are a couple songs on Effigy that bother me lyrically but I'm considering just skipping them when I play it. The majority of the lyrics aren't bothersome. Unfortunately, Effigy is probably the worst of the first three lyrically but I've always really liked it musically. I'm also enjoying Breeding the Spawn more than I thought I would. Pierced hasn't grabbed me much yet.

Never got into to them too much, just didn't click with me.

I always avoided them due to the lyrics.

I was a big fan when I was a teenager. Mostly listened to Effigy and Souls to Deny. I've also kept some distance since I became a Christian so lately I've been trying to examine each album song-by-song to see what works. Indeed, Effigy has some bad lyrics and much moreso than the other albums (which is unfortunate because it's a great album). I'm not really bothered by the lyrics on Breeding the Spawn, Pierced From Within, or Souls to Deny and there's some great material on those.

Even though they are from my area, I could never get into Suffocation.

I keep it simple with Death metal. 

Death (up to Human)
Malevolent Creation (up to Envenomed)
Bolt Thrower (Everything)
Napalm Death (Harmony Corruption)
Nocturnus 



There’s probably some others I can’t think of…

You need Obituary on that there list.

On the Christian side I would add:

Disencumbrance
Discarnated
Clemency
Encryptor
Discern
Embodyment (just the demos)

Oh man I havent listened to Bolt Thrower in ages I forgot how good they were. I remember my older brother had a friend visit England over the summer back in '90 and he brought back a copy of Realms of Chaos. Holy crap that just blew me away! I love the fact that they stick to clean subject matter , history and war etc instead of Anti Christian stuff.

Edge of Sanity
Grave
Unleashed
Morgoth
Brutality
Asphyx
old Entomed
Dismember

Another band that I don't think was mentioned here is Benediction. The first two albums are fine (The Grand Leveller is pretty good), but the third album (Transcend the Rubicon) is fantastic! All OSDM fans should check it out. Lyrically, not bad at all.

Here's a gem I just found out about for those who like Death's Symbolic with more guttural vocals and some really beautiful acoustic passages. It even appears to have a pro-life song:



@Mothy: Bolt Thrower is, indeed, amazing. Realm of Chaos is currently my #10 DM album and they've got a bunch of others sprinkled on my list. Also, I don't think anyone has mentioned Sympathy for Christian DM but Arcane Path is top-tier.