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Death's Door // 2024 In Review

Simply put, death metal rules. Any more questions?

4 days ago

There are many questions this column could raise. First, why is Eden writing the intro? Simple answer there - why not? Next up we have: how good is convulsing? The answer is very. Finally, we might end up with: why do we need other genres than death metal? Some days I have an extremely expansive and vociferous answer to this question. But today, when I've spent the last hour or so getting this post stitched up (and listening to its entries in the meantime), I don't have a good one. Death metal is so good. It's so expansive, encompassing and, most of all, radical in the sense that it drives right down to the core of why we love metal.

Simply put, death metal rules. Any more questions?

-Eden Kupermintz

Jonathan’s Top 10

Black Curse - Burning in Celestial Poison

Death metal has a penchant for excess. By its very nature this is extreme, overwhelming music that gets its reputation by bludgeoning eardrums with an audio sledgehammer. But for those of us who ingest this filth frequently there are albums even we find a bit much. Black Curse’s absolutely scorching sophomore release Burning in Celestial Poison is one of those records. Holy SMOKES is this thing relentless. Jagged, abrasive, merciless, destructive, and absolutely relentless in its sonic assault, there are few records that I can think of released in 2024 that reach the seismic magnitude of this abomination. The songwriting is incredibly intense, and the performances are equally so. The whole thing is fucking NASTY start to finish. Am now deaf would recommend. 

Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere

It would be hard for me to make a list of good death metal records and not include a new Blood Incantation release. Especially when that release is the best of their entire career thus far. Which is exactly what Absolute Elsewhere is. Is it a perfect record? No. Are there sections that feel a bit clunky in transition between proggy noodling and death metal aggression? Debatable, but sure. Is it a borderline masterpiece of ambition and craftsmanship regardless? You bet. You’ve heard all the praise already, so I won’t pile on any further other than to say that this record is the culmination of everything we knew BI was capable of and is nothing short of a definitive statement for one of the genre’s most interesting and excellent bands.

convulsing - perdurance

Death metal is not a genre that I would generally define as emotional. Unless unmitigated rage is the emotion. In which case this music is a full-on confessional. But Brendan Sloan isn’t a normal songwriter, and convulsing isn’t a normal death metal project. Outside of the absolutely incredible musicianship and always interesting songwriting choices, Sloan has begun to blossom as a death metal artist who brings his entire self to his work. The result is one of the most genuinely beautiful, emotive, raw, and powerful lyrical performances I have ever had the privilege of experiencing in a death metal record. Perdurance is a bruising experience, detailing life experience and pain in a way that is as grounded as the music is ethereal and strange. I cannot praise this record highly enough, and it has been on literally constant rotation since release. A complete and total masterpiece.

Defeated Sanity - Chronicles of Lunacy

How many records does it take for a band to lose its edge? When does a group that’s been around for decades finally just phone it in? In the case of longstanding brutal death metal master Defeated Sanity I haven’t the slightest idea, as they haven’t released a dud yet. 30 years of mayhem under their belts without a single sign of slowing down, Chronicles of Sanity is yet another example of what happens when a machine stays well oiled. Defeated Sanity and Colin Marston are a match made in heaven, with Marston extracting every inch of intensity from the band without losing a decibel of clarity. These instruments bludgeon, punish, and flail with exactitude, allowing listeners to receive the full and clear scope of everything this band has to offer. It’s insane that a band that has been around for three decades is releasing some of its best material this late in their career, but here we are. Superb, as is tradition.

Ingurgitating Oblivion - Ontology of Nought

I still can’t quite wrap my head around Ontology of Nought. Ingurgitating Oblivion are one of those bands who make the term “pushing boundaries” feel far too tame. This record is an absolute head scratcher. Replete with jazz, progressive rock, scorching death metal, and… whatever the fuck all those other sounds are, it’s been a wild experience for me to try and pull out particular sections or phrases within the record to talk about. Which is one of the reasons why I just keep coming back to it. Some records pull you in by just being straight up beguiling, and Ontology of Nought is one of those records. Insane, obsessive, erratic, and simultaneously meticulous and fully unhinged, there isn’t another record like it released in 2024. Fun and fucked as hell.

Job for a Cowboy - Moon Healer

Talk about a comeback story for the ages. A band that got famous in a scene they eventually abandoned, they’ve been equally loved and despised as they shrugged off the sound that made them famous. It wasn’t until 2014’s Sun Healer that the full scope of the band’s transformation became apparent, and the first time that it felt like the unmitigated love/hate surrounding the band might actually be justified. Then they vanished. Dormant for a decade. I was of two minds when Moon Healer was announced. Would this be a novelty from a long-dead band trying to revive itself, or a record worth coming out of retirement for? Given its inclusion on this list, it should be fairly obvious which side won out. This is an intense, technical, intricate, constantly interesting and deeply enjoyable record that is in my estimation the best of their career. Welcome back, boys. We’ve missed you.

Mitochondrion - Vitriseptome

Speaking of comebacks, we haven’t heard from Canada’s mighty Mitochondrion in quite some time. 13 years, in fact. The surprise of the release of Vitriseptome was a welcome revelation for the late year death metal slate, and it’s a record I cannot get enough of. Which is an interesting experience in and of itself, especially given the length of this thing. At an hour and a half, this thing is flat out overwhelming. But for Mitochondrion that extended palette is a feature rather than a bug. The songwriting here is interesting and always propulsive, winding and weaving through continuously more bleak and bizarre passages that never lose their sense of danger and unpredictability. I’ve sat through the whole thing non-stop several times and not once found myself bored or wishing it would end. Which by itself is enough to give this record its due. A fantastic release and I sincerely hope we don’t have to wait over a decade for the next installment.

Pyrrhon - Exhaust

Similar to Mitochondrion, Pyrrhon’s latest release came out of nowhere and was an absolute treat to hear. Exhaust is Pyrrhon at its nastiest and most straightforward, presenting track after track of avant-garde, feral death metal nastiness as only Pyrrhon can. But there’s a strange accessibility to Exhaust that has made it one of the most immediately re-listenable records of the band’s career, presenting its ideas in a manner that maintains an expert balance between approachability and mayhem. While What Passes for Survival may hold a slight edge on the scale of zero to masterpiece, Exhaust is by far the most fun I’ve had with a Pyrrhon record, making it potentially my favorite release of their career. Brilliant, as always.

Spectral Voice - Sparagmos

Spectral Voice’s Sparagmos was the first release of 2024 that genuinely floored me. I’ve probably listened to this record front to back 20 times. As Blood Incantation’s doomier, gloomier sister band, I’ve always been fascinated by the cosmic hellscape this band generates, and their sophomore outing has done nothing to dissuade me of my infatuation. Sparagmos is a descent into interstellar hell, a dead ship floating in the inky blackness of deep space. It’s vicious, laborious, punishing, miserable, ethereal, and haunting. It’s everything a quality death-doom record is supposed to be. While perhaps best taken in small doses, Sparagmos is a record that has a unique pull that keeps me coming back again and again. Something this truly destructive shouldn’t feel this easy to digest, but here we are. And it’s glorious. Their best release to date, and a flag of dominance planted firmly atop the death-doom pile.

Ulcerate - Cutting the Throat of God

It’s Ulcerate. What did you expect? Well, weirdly accessible probably wasn’t on the bingo card. But still. Cutting the Throat of God is a culmination of all that this band does well, and a revelation of avant-garde death metal majesty. It’s been praised to high heaven and back already so I won’t belabor the point. Ulcerate are still the kings of this space, and Cutting the Throat of God is another shining example of the exemplary quality and care they bring to each new release. Exquisite stuff.

Eden’s Top 10

Welcome to the least death metal list of this post! It’s very good though. And some of it is death metal. Enjoy! Also it’s unranked, death to ranked lists!

Cyborg Octopus - Bottom Feeder

I’ve been waiting for these guys to hit their full potential and it seems like (at least for now, until they find even more juice) they’ve done it. Bottom Feeder is the kind of progressive death metal I adore; it’s not too self serious and yet meticulously composed, exceeding its lightness only by its absolute dedication to the craft of death metal. This means you can listen to it on just the “fun” level, for some grooving, head-banging music, or dive deeper into the counterpoints, callbacks, and interesting time signatures. It will reward you for doing either one.

Defect Designer - Chitin

If Bottom Feeder is the kind of elegant, well composed progressive death metal I love, then Chitin is the unhinged, rough around the edges, completely engrossing kind of progressive death I love. This album oozes passion, covering diverse ground from Opeth, through grindcore and all the way to Pink Floyd. Whatever it does, it does in its own style, every member of the project feeling like they are about to pass over from playing their instrument with such passion and energy. This album is weird in the way that reaches out and grabs you, not really focusing on how it all comes together but rather in how it all almost falls apart.

In Vain - Solemn

EPIC. SWEEPING. PROGRESSIVE. These are just some of the adjectives I could use to describe Solemn, the album that most set my heart aflutter in 2024. It is a seriously addictive listen, as bits and pieces of not only the musical theme of the album but also its lyrical one, reveal themselves with additional listens. Out of this list, it’s the album that works the most as a big unit, presenting itself as a story to be experienced piece by piece.

Wormed - OMEGON

How? How did the grooviest, slammiest, techiest death metal band somehow get groovier? OMEGON continues the Wormed tradition of creating death metal that’s so heavy that it makes you laugh but somehow introduces even more dynamic riffs and groove sections into the mix. It’s not an easy listen, like all previous releases from the band, but I did find it to be the most approachable Wormed album or, rather, the album of theirs I keep coming back to the most. There’s something so infectiously joyful (yes, joyful) in coming back to OMEGON’s absurdly heavy riffs and realizing that, for some reason, they make you want to fucking dance. How???

Nile - The Underworld Awaits Us All

Album Containing the Riffs to Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks from Boring Death Metal.

Aseitas - Eden Trough

The next two albums are the ones that most caught me by surprise this year and this first one is because I thought the previous Aseitas material was good but it didn’t quite catch my attention. Eden Trough however did that and then some; I couldn’t tear my ears away from it. I’ve never heard anything quite like the way they blend grindcore and death metal, conjuring forth an atmosphere that is both darkly chilling and thickly, feverishly oppressive. The album also contains some of the tightest arrangements of 2024, every note placed with careful attention to how it builds up into the whole. 

Moss Upon the Skull - Quest For the Secret Fire

Oh boy, I love this album so much. It straddles some of the other lines of approach mentioned above, blending technical and progressive death metal into an album that sounds like its (weird, abstract) cover. Green, angular, dark, filled with astral energies and unstoppable, zero compromise death metal. Nothing I can say can do this twisting album justice - just press play. 

Pyrrhon - Exhaust

OK, now it’s time for the stuff that’s not really death metal! Sort of. Kinda? Pyrrhon is definitely rooted in death metal but Exhaust takes them into spaces far beyond it, into noise rock, drone, and whatever standing in traffic in summer heat without A/C feels like. I talk about urbanity and music which represents it a lot on the blog (it’s one of my favorite themes) but I haven’t quite found an album that approaches urbanity like this one. It takes the piss-filled alleys, sweltering turn pykes, and rotting avenues and transports you to them with the power of great music. It’s an experience and not necessarily a “good” one but a fascinating one for sure.

Anciients - Beyond the Reach of the Sun

I didn’t like this album when I first heard it but that was more of a “me” problem than anything to do with the album. Or rather, I wasn’t in the right mood for what Anciients have been doing for a while now, which is make excellent death metal mixed with stoner elements but not really diverging from that formula all that much. Which, to be honest, is perfectly fine because the formula works very well. You just have to tune yourself to the frequency they are on, one with mythic monsters, cosmic energies, and groovy, over the top death metal. It’s a pretty sick frequency.

Bedsore - Dreaming the Strife For Love

Hey, you know how everyone is raving about Blood Incantation? The idea is the same here, namely an extremely good melding of progressive rock and death metal but here it’s weirder. Bedsore have gone deeper into the box of 70’s progressive rock, coming out from there with an expansive, psychedelic, and challenging album. Give it some time, let it unfold, and surrender yourself to its dreamy, hazy, twisting aural corridors.

Bridget’s Top 10

You might need to shower after this.

Vulvodynia - Entabeni

During Vulvodynia’s 2024 tour stop in San Francisco, a khaki-and-company-t-shirt clad guy looked at his friend and yelled at the top of his lungs, “Dude! I totally get it now!” In the middle of a sweaty dive bar on a Monday night, that guy discovered the head-pounding magic that is Vulvodynia. Ridiculously heavy, savagely creative, and unadulterated slamming fun, South Africa’s heaviest export truly came alive with Entabeni

The full potential of Vulvodynia has finally been unleashed, shifting away from the deathcore-centric sounds of Praenuntius Infiniti and finding a better, gorier balance with their savage slam roots. Guitarist-turned-vocalist Lwandile Prusent delivers an unrelenting and energetic performance, snarling across blistering blastbeats and neck-breaking riffs. The latter, orchestrated by Kris Xenopoulos, infuse Entabeni with an unexpected progressive edge that transforms this stupidly heavy ride into something altogether unique and addictive. 

Horse Butcher - Horse Butcher 

Horse Butcher is 20 minutes of filthy proof that best-of lists should never drop before the actual end of the year. Reuniting members of black/death metal mad scientists Hissing, the EO is the latest murky wave in a rising tide of weirdo goregrind and a hallucinogenic journey to a terrifying underworld. Buried beneath layers of downtuned muck lies an experimental heart that wields angular riffs, catastrophic dissonance, and disconcerting rhythms to devastating effect. Even with careful listening, Horse Butcher demands multiple listens to fully unpack. 

Theurgy - Emanations of Unconscious Luminescence

Fans of Nithing and Anal Stabwound need to immediately stop what they’re doing and listen to Theurgy. Actually, make that any/all death metal fans. Emanations of Unconscious Luminescence is pure aggression distilled into unforgiving brutal death, trapping listeners in an apocalyptic web. Each element is turned up to eleven, yet plays nicely with the others so listeners are overwhelmed by a cacophony of details. Sparkling guitars blind with an energetic – and faintly melodic – edge, juxtaposed against knuckle-dragging guttural vocals. At times, Theurgy embraces an almost-jazzy sense of surprise, with rhythms that jerk from death marches to blasts. Each note is perfectly placed, every beat scientifically proven to damage your hearing. The entire album is cold and calculating, the perfect soundtrack to the impending AI invasion. 

Reconstructed Torso - Glimpse

Given that Wormed, Gigan, and Fractal Generator all dropped sci-fi inspired albums this year, you’d be forgiven for missing Glimpse. But this gem from the cold depths of the Russian underground delivers a surreal twist that stands out, even in a banner year like 2024. Sitting somewhere between Facelift Deformation and 7.H.Target, Reconstructed Torso embrace angular riffs and synth edges for a bludgeoning sound that explores the experimental side of the subgenre. Come for the blastbeats and pig squeals, stay for the surprise industrial noise track. 

Cyborg Octopus - Bottom Feeder

There’s no stronger testament to the vibrancy of the Bay Area metal scene than Cyborg Octopus. Their shows (which ideally close with a disco ball glittering over the mosh pit) deliver infectious energy, zany antics, and furious mosh pits, can practically be felt throughout Bottom Feeder.  It’s delightfully weird and inventive, zigzagging from meaty riffs to technical and progressive wizardry with ease. You can feel how much fun Cyborg Octopus had transforming their maximalist approach into a carefully orchestrated and epic album. 

Cytoplasm - Malfeasant Codices

There’s technical death metal, there’s progressive death metal, there’s brutal death metal…then there’s Cytoplasm, which is a funky combination of all three. Citing influences ranging from ByoNoiseGenerator and Cerebral Incubation to Salvador Dalí and Brian Eno. In lesser hands, the combination might have proven overwhelming, but Cytoplasm gave us Malfeasant Codices – one of the most creative slam albums I heard last year. Delicate flutes bleed into pulverizing death metal passages, which abruptly shift into vaporwave-esque samples or unpredictable rhythms. Funk and jazz influences even make themselves known, adding brief danceable flair into an album that’s still undeniably slam. 

Squelching Flesh - Psychic Incarceration

There’s a 30% chance that Psychic Incarceration is playing in my head at all times. I don’t know how Squelching Flesh did it, but they created an album that’s simultaneously utterly filthy and extremely catchy. Progressive goregrind, like many an experiment gone awry, should not exist and yet proves dangerously infectious when unleashed on an unsuspecting world. Murky atmospheres swirl around groovy guitars, the perfect hybrid for gore lovers and skeptics alike. 

.357 Homicide - Immutable Lethality

.357 Homicide play slam. It’s not progressive, technical, or experimental in any way. It’s simply slam: uncompromising, unrelenting, and unforgiving. Extra-crunchy guitars drop into soul-satisfying slams and blastbeats, punctuated by duelling gurgles from both band members. Their obscenely heavy style has kept .357 Homicide in my regular rotation for years, and Immutable Lethality continues that gory tradition with pride. I love this band, I love this album, and if you love slam, you will too.

Fathomless Ritual - Hymns for the Lesser Gods

Hymns for the Lesser Gods came out on March 1st and immediately rose to the top of my 2024 list, permanently locked in place even as 2024 gifted us with a multitude of incredible releases. But Fathomless Ritual cannot be denied. The deadly combination of fast-paced grooves, cavernous atmospheres, and black hole levels of sonic density is simply too addictive to ignore. 

Necroflex - Necroflex

If people were going to dance themselves to death in the 21st century, they’ll be listening to Necroflex. The admittedly bizarre project strips away all guitars and drums for heavy electronics, fusing death metal into dubstep for the ultimate rave in a graveyard. 

Phil’s Top 10

PyrrhonExhaust 

I was not a huge Pyrrhon fan before this album came out. I appreciated the band and their complex take on dissonant death metal, but I found it difficult to fully immerse myself in their world. Exhaust changed all of that in one fell swoop. This quickly became an album I couldn’t get enough of, and with each listen I was discovering more nuances and peculiarities that made me fall even further down the rabbit hole. This is not an accessible album in any way shape or form, in fact it’s downright suffocating at times, but there is something about it which connected with me in a way their previous albums did not. If you’re new to Pyrrhon, this is the perfect place to start. It also contains a contender for my favourite song of the year in “Out of Gas”. Claustrophobic and disturbing but oh so enjoyable.    

Aseitas - Eden Trough

I’d enjoyed False Peace, the 2020 full-length release from Aseitas, but the jump in quality and creativity on last year’s Eden Trough was gargantuan. The band condensed their sound to the point it became a nectareous elixir of discordance, and I was only too happy to guzzle the whole damn thing. You don’t need to be a death metal purist to enjoy this album, there is so much more going on, including moments of mathcore (“Libertine Captor”), prog metal (“Tiamat”) and a stunning interlude of piano and cello (“Null Adam/Null Eve”). I still can’t decide if the relatively short duration of 29 minutes works for or against it, but all I know is that I couldn’t stop listening to this beast when it came out in May. One of the highlights of the year.  

CiverousMaze Envy

This album was a serious statement of intent and ambition from LA Death Doom crew Civerous, with its bruising mix of rhythmic swamp-laden riffs colliding with a barrage of pummelling drums and flashes of brilliance. They manage to create a foreboding atmosphere from the very beginning and slowly increase the sense of unease with every song. It’s an incredibly accomplished release for a band that have only been around since 2019, and you really can tell that they put their heart and soul into Maze Envy. This is not your average Death Doom record, its elevated and razor sharp to the point that you could cut yourself just by looking at it. 

ProtosequenceBestiary

Protosequence were one of last year’s most pleasant yet unexpected discoveries, and one that I must thank Eden for. This is death metal without the posturing and scene prerequisites. As the band said themselves, “We’re just four friends making music that we like and having fun doing it”, which is exactly how this album comes across. Bestiary has an air of joviality, like what you find on early Black Dahlia Murder albums, and not only is this refreshing, but it also becomes rather intoxicating. The music itself is an intense and complex alchemy of Deathcore (Despised Icon), Metalcore (The Red Chord) and Progressive Death Metal (Necrophagist), but it feels free of any barriers, happily spreading its wings and flying wherever it feels like. This all makes for an enjoyably unpredictable journey of which I was a willing passenger. 

Immortal BirdSin Querencia

If there is any justice in the world, Immortal Bird are going to blow up in 2025. Sin Querencia is so damn good, and their brand of death metal, grind and sludge is not just unique it’s also insanely listenable. The musicianship on this album is nothing short of astounding, as they take their trademark sound and add even more layers to it. I was already converted thanks to 2019’s Thrive on Neglect, but this latest opus surpasses it and makes me very excited for what might come next. if you’re a fan of Cloud Rat you need to stop sleeping on this. 

convulsingperdurance

convulsing don’t pay attention to trivial things like rules, and the release of perdurance made this abundantly clear. It dropped out of the blue with zero fanfare and redefined dissonant death metal. Brutal, emotional, intelligent, and compelling. Brendan Sloan is already a legend in these parts and his latest release has only reinforced this status. One of the things that stood out for me was the quality of the songwriting and the fact he wasn't afraid to let things breathe. The whole album flows superbly with moments of stunning beauty in among the orchestrated chaos. A benchmark has been set.

Engulf - The Dying Planet Weeps 

Maybe it's because this album came out in early January last year, but I feel like A Dying Planet Weeps got missed and somewhat under-appreciated. It was the first album of 2024 that got me sitting up and clapping like a circus seal, which is quite a feat during the typically dreary British winter, and the fact it got me through January in a better place means it has a special place in my heart. 

Engulf is the brainchild and solo project of Hal Microutsicos from Blasphemous, and it's not a surprise to hear some of those influences seep their way into Engulf's sound. You'll also find the ferocity of Hate Eternal, the complexity of Gorguts and riffage of Decapitated and Morbid Angel. Brutal, technical, inventive, yet catchy as fuck. It's an intoxicating concoction and one that will have you hooked from the opening blasts of “Withered Suns Collapse”. The vocal attack throughout the album is varied and keeps things interesting thanks to guest vocals from the likes of Sven de Caluwé (Aborted) and Enrico "H." Di Lorenzo (Hideous Divinity).

The production is clearer than arctic waters, there are insane guitar solos that my brain cannot begin to fathom, alongside galactic lyrics that give Blood Incantation a run for their money. The simple fact is this; The Dying Planet Weeps stayed in my AOTY list for a full twelve months, slowly collecting auspicious company such as Aseitas, Pyrrhon and Ulcerate, showing what an outstanding album this really is. Listen to it, tell people about it and give Engulf a sturdy salute for creating one of the best Death Metal albums of 2024.

Saevus FinisFacilis Descensus Averno

Every now and then an album smacks you across the back of the head and holds you face down in a bucket of water while it pounds your ears with glee. Facilis Descensus Averno does exactly this to me every time I listen to it, yet I still come back for more. The sound that Saevus Finis have crafted, nay, summoned, is terrifying and utterly unforgiving, like it’s been unearthed from an ancient burial ground. This is not music that will annoy the neighbours, it’s music that will make the neighbours leave their house and then burn it to the ground with all their worldly possessions inside. Sometimes you have to be in the right mood or frame of mind for this kind of music, but this album is so captivating that you simply succumb to its allures and let the darkness wash over you.

UlcerateCutting the Throat of God

This was always going to be a tricky album for me, as I hold Stare into Death and be Still on such a high pedestal, and perhaps predictably, I didn’t initially think Cutting the Throat of God reached those same levels of greatness. However, that is like saying South of Heaven isn’t as good as Reign In Blood…they are two very different albums. Cutting the Throat of God is insanely good in its own right, and goes to places that its predecessor doesn’t, possibly because the groundwork was already laid, so why retread it? Ulcerate don’t just push boundaries they take pleasure in it, and once again they test how much pressure the walls of genres like dissonant death metal and progressive death metal can take before they crumble. How can something so heavy also be so melodious and, dare I say it, beautiful? We’re lucky to have a band of Ulcerate’s talents within our time and here’s hoping they continue their path of excellence for many years to come.

Replicant - Infinite Mortality 

Replicant deliver riffs. Big fat, chugging riffs. If you want to bang your head and jump around your living room in a one-man mosh pit, Infinite Mortality is the album you need. It's downright nasty…but man is it fun. If Gojira had continued their Morbid Angel worshiping era they might sound something like this now, but Replicant add their own intricacies to proceedings. They are equally comfortable operating at break neck speed (“Acid Mirror”) or creating something much more eerie and foreboding (“Planet of Skin”). The whole bloody thing is a joy to behold.  

Heavy Blog

Published 4 days ago