Old School Death Metal

Benediction is pretty good, lyrics are hard to decipher at times if they're mocking Christianity but don't quite outright do it.

https://blabbermouth.net/news/benediction-bassist-talks-about-upcoming-album

Frank Healy - Bassist of Benediction wrote:
Tangra Mega Rock: In death metal you can often find lyrics based on religious topics. However, Benediction is a bit apart of this tendency. What is your attitude towards religious topics in music?
Frank: It's everybody to their own, you know. I might not tell other bands what to play or sing about, and I don't really care. We're not a political or religious band in any way, and we don't want to preach anything to anybody in any ways.

Peter Rew (guitar) made similar comments.

If y'all like OSDM and haven't heard Molder, you're really missing out. They are a new band influenced by the old style and are absolute riff masters. Groovy, catchy stuff. They have two albums out (the debut in 2020 and a sophomore this year).

Molder, Tomb Mold, Coffin Rot all fit that sound you described. Lots of good newer DM bands.

I was kind of skeptical about new DM bands since I got back into exploring secular DM, but I'm really changing my mind. It started with Inhuman Condition (which is kind of cheating since Terry Butler is in the band) and then Molder really convinced me that there are great new DM bands. After I saw Gatecreeper perform with Obituary last week I went back and re-listened to their latest album and got hooked. Now, I'm getting into Frozen Soul, Undeath, Obscene, Morbific, Creeping Death, etc. It's actually really exciting to enjoy new bands again and know there are going to be lots of opportunities to go to shows and interact with them.

Apparently Frozen Soul guitarist Michael Munday was in Disencumbrance for a couple years. Anyone know anything about that or if he's a Christian?

I really like Frozen Soul but don't know about Munday, would be interesting to know. And Inhuman Condition, well, I liked the first one with it's big nod to Massacre but the newest one is more Six Feet Deep and not as good.

Some of my favorite Death Metal albums are OSDM. It may be my preferred type of DM altogether, never got into the technical stuff much, and... some of the "Brutal" stuff is okay, but it lacked classic "staying power," imo. 

As such, I'll always view Morbid Angel's Domination, Cannibal Corpse's The Bleeding, and Six Feet Under's debut release Haunted as veritable classics. Including (last but not least) Mortification's Scrolls of the Megilloth, and one of my personal favorites (but I forget which year... and what the album is called atm) was a band called Sculpture. I think they only did one album, but it's great. 

There's a few others which get honourable mention, like Autopsy's Mental Funeral, and Broken Hope's Repulsive Conception, Dismember Like an Everflowing Stream, etc. Hypocrisy's The Fourth Dimension as well.

Nice, some good stuff on that list. It's wild to me that Chris Barnes released The Bleeding and then Haunted back to back. Those are two of my favorites. Allen West was a great guitarist.

Son of Nun wrote:Nice, some good stuff on that list. It's wild to me that Chris Barnes released The Bleeding and then Haunted back to back. Those are two of my favorites. Allen West was a great guitarist.

For sure! Haunted was so innovative when it came out, what for its laid-back, simplistic style. Can't say that I've ever been into much of what SFU has done since then (and I've heard enough to form an opinion), but their debut is still, arguably, unbeatable to this day. 

Also, I saw that Benediction was mentioned earlier. I always liked them. I remember what was almost full-price back then for an LP being dropped on their EP "The Grotesque/Ashen Epitaph," and it always garnered repeat-play on my cassette recorder back in the day, lol. Benediction is a name that often gets overlooked, unfortuantely, in these discussions, but they deserve a worthwhile mention, imo.

Benediction has some good stuff but are kind of a poor man's Bolt Thrower to me.

Black Rider wrote:Benediction has some good stuff but are kind of a poor man's Bolt Thrower to me.

Well, this much is true, haha! Undeniable. Bolt Thrower are just so goooood! Another one I'd seen earlier and forgot to touch upon, I'm slippin'!

Have you heard Memoriam? Strong Bolt Thrower connection.

M_Mosher wrote:

Son of Nun wrote:Nice, some good stuff on that list. It's wild to me that Chris Barnes released The Bleeding and then Haunted back to back. Those are two of my favorites. Allen West was a great guitarist.

For sure! Haunted was so innovative when it came out, what for its laid-back, simplistic style. Can't say that I've ever been into much of what SFU has done since then (and I've heard enough to form an opinion), but their debut is still, arguably, unbeatable to this day. 

Also, I saw that Benediction was mentioned earlier. I always liked them. I remember what was almost full-price back then for an LP being dropped on their EP "The Grotesque/Ashen Epitaph," and it always garnered repeat-play on my cassette recorder back in the day, lol. Benediction is a name that often gets overlooked, unfortuantely, in these discussions, but they deserve a worthwhile mention, imo.

Glad to meet someone else who's high on Haunted. It was one of my first Death Metal albums. There's just something about the simplicity and catchiness of the riffs, the guttural vocals, and the dark atmosphere that I ADORE. I actually have it at #4 in my top DM albums. I also like Warpath, Maximum Violence, and Unborn as well as parts of True Carnage, 13, and Commandment but there was definitely a decline after the debut and especially after Allen West left. They've been very inconsistent (and sometimes bad) since then.

Benediction definitely pales in comparison to Bolt Thrower (most bands do), but Transcend the Rubicon is a genuine masterpiece. I've never gotten around to checking out Memoriam but I did finally pick up the Hail of Bullets debut and it's quite good.

I need to check out SFU. I’ll start with Haunted.

SFU is a love em or hate em band and I can't stand Barne' vox which is ust me, not knocking people who like them.
Hail of Bullets is so good and I enjoy when bands use actual history as a subject matter.

Not real familiar with Barnes’ vocals. The CC album I’m most familiar with is Kill, mainly because the lyrics are a bit less horrific and the cover art is less disgusting.

Hail of Bullets is good. Not Bolt Thrower good, but good.

Pethead wrote:Not real familiar with Barnes’ vocals. The CC album I’m most familiar with is Kill, mainly because the lyrics are a bit less horrific and the cover art is less disgusting.

Hail of Bullets is good. Not Bolt Thrower good, but good.

Barnes is pretty famous for being one of the pioneers of guttural death metal vocals. His performance on CC's Butchered at Birth (some would say Tomb) is legendary in that regard. Early SFU lyrics are quite tame by comparison with early CC.

Black Rider wrote:Have you heard Memoriam? Strong Bolt Thrower connection.

No, I hadn't, thanks for mentioning them, I'll try my best to keep them in mind during my next search-sessh.... 

(btw, haven't yet figured out how to do multiple quotes per post, or if I did have it once, the formula escape me. So, I'll  basically be clouding up the joint with my "abundant class" xD Just a head's up.

Son of Nun wrote:

M_Mosher wrote:

Son of Nun wrote:Nice, some good stuff on that list. It's wild to me that Chris Barnes released The Bleeding and then Haunted back to back. Those are two of my favorites. Allen West was a great guitarist.

For sure! Haunted was so innovative when it came out, what for its laid-back, simplistic style. Can't say that I've ever been into much of what SFU has done since then (and I've heard enough to form an opinion), but their debut is still, arguably, unbeatable to this day. 

Also, I saw that Benediction was mentioned earlier. I always liked them. I remember what was almost full-price back then for an LP being dropped on their EP "The Grotesque/Ashen Epitaph," and it always garnered repeat-play on my cassette recorder back in the day, lol. Benediction is a name that often gets overlooked, unfortuantely, in these discussions, but they deserve a worthwhile mention, imo.

Glad to meet someone else who's high on Haunted. It was one of my first Death Metal albums. There's just something about the simplicity and catchiness of the riffs, the guttural vocals, and the dark atmosphere that I ADORE. I actually have it at #4 in my top DM albums. I also like Warpath, Maximum Violence, and Unborn as well as parts of True Carnage, 13, and Commandment but there was definitely a decline after the debut and especially after Allen West left. They've been very inconsistent (and sometimes bad) since then.

Benediction definitely pales in comparison to Bolt Thrower (most bands do), but Transcend the Rubicon is a genuine masterpiece. I've never gotten around to checking out Memoriam but I did finally pick up the Hail of Bullets debut and it's quite good.

Indeed, it's a refreshing breath of air. I was recently over at M-A, and "before my bombardment" with so much mutual respct and courtesy, one of my last posts was in the "unpopular Metal opinion," where I basically said all this stuff. Doesn't matter what it is really, they'll actively seek out a reason why YOU should be banned for it, lol. 

Oh, but I digress greatly.... when I had my first band back in 1996 (called "Necroscope), my guitarist had Haunted, and we used to listen to it when he drove us anywhere. Either that, or "Trinity" by My Dying Bride. Anyways, good memoreis. Tough times, but still. 

I had True Carnage at some point, back in 2001, and while I guess (in retrospect) thee were some okay songs, nothing ever had the feel of their debut. I can't "swear" to it, but I think aside from any of their official albums, their Graveyard Classics albums had some good stuff on them. Don't hold me to it, lol. 

All i know is when I heard "Dethklaat" and read the lyrics, I officially disowned SFU as downright retarded (and I don't mean that as an offense to the handicapped, but that SFU and their whole ideology + philosophy = just sheer stupidity. Maybe it's just me, I dunno... but after reading the lyrics to Dethklaat, it was pretty clear to me who's side I was ultimately on.

All that being said, while I'm familiar with a few live versions from it, I'll really have to check out Transcending the Rubicon, as per your suggestion.

I'm not too in to the secular DM scene.  I do like Bolt Thrower and I just recently discovered that I like Obituary.  And I have a few DM albums that aren't Old School (Between the Buried and Me, Beyond Creation, Archspire, Obscura, Atlantis Chronicles, Insomnium).

But I'm very in to Christian Death Metal.  Here's my Facebook page, if you want to check it out.  https://www.facebook.com/christiandeathmetallittlelist

I mostly love what I've dubbed MeloTechDeath.  Bands like Immortal Souls, The Burial, Hilatherion, Fleshkiller, Hope for the Dying, Sympathy, Woe of Tyrants.  Not full on melodic (Insomnium) or full on Technical (Archspire), but bands that blend both into great DM songs!

For more Brutal I go with Monotheist, Taking the Head of Goliath, Revulsed and Afflicted Truth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I940OsqBSGA

Constantine wrote:In doing a review of Christian vs. non-Christian death metal bands, it dawned on me that there are actually very few "old school" death bands in the Christian realm.  

I wonder if that is because A) Christian bands have tended to be a few years behind in terms of sound and style, and/or B) Christian death metal is not a big market so it doesn't attract many musicians.  I don't know, what does anyone else think?

Here are some bands that I would consider "old school" as far as where some or all of their material falls.  If anyone has others to add that I missed, please do.

1.  Mortification
2.  Tortured Conscience
3.  Proclamus
4.  GROMS
5.  Antidemon   (possibly more grindcore than old school....)
6.  Corpse
7.  Scourged Flesh
8.  Martyr's Shrine
9.  Metanoia
10. Crimson Thorn
11. Azorrague   (the "Die With Us" album)
12. Deracination
13. Obliteration
14. Oblation
15. Evisceration
16. Skymetal
16.  Zebulom
17. Demonic Extinction  (yeah, I know they are controversial, but for academic purposes I am listing them...)
18. Revulsed  (technically, probably not a Christian band as much as Christians in a band)
19. Living Sacrifice   (the 2 older albums with Darren Johnson)
20. Wicked's End  (some earlier material....)

What about these bands?  Pantokrator, Sacrificium, Soul Embraced, Spirit's Breeze, Zurisadai, Paramaecium (Old School Death Doom), Krig, Disecumbrance, Discern

Any of you guys know of Abolishment of Hate?  Hard to find CD (or expensive), but very good!

Instrumental DM all done by Jeff Lewis from Mortification and Sympathy fame!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4xEI3MlBKI

wesvette wrote:Any of you guys know of Abolishment of Hate?  Hard to find CD (or expensive), but very good!

Instrumental DM all done by Jeff Lewis from Mortification and Sympathy fame!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4xEI3MlBKI

Lewis shreds

I've been going through the later parts of the discographies of some old school bands and exploring some I wasn't as familiar with.

I had not been a big fan of The Chasm, but I've really enjoyed some of the new bands for whom they were the greatest influence. So, I went back and spent more time and the charms of this band are starting to reveal themselves. I really liked their release from last year which was a pretty straight-forward affair. Their more recent sound has a lot of catchy riffs. Although a little more dense and mysterious, Procession to the Infraworld is also quite good and one of their more Death Metal sounding affairs (for a band that dabbles in a lot of different areas).





New album:


More on other bands later.

I remember they sounded like a manic mix of Possessed mixed with Dismember back in the day which isn't my cup of tea. Is the new stuff more straightforward?