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1.
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Ævangelist - De Masticatione Mortuorum In Tumulis
This album slowly creeps into your ears via a short ambient intro, and builds into a cacophonous swirling procession of ravaging tremolo picked guitars and blasting drums that give no room for light. Tempo changes and short more ambient driven sections provide this album with enough versatility to make it constantly enjoyable. |
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2.
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Abruptum - Potestates Apocalypsis
Abruptum are no strangers to the art of suffering. Having been around for over 20 years, this band has always made a form of eerie and ear piercing drone/dark ambient which tremors in the background of your speakers. As it hovers there, building with a monumentally slow pace, the tracks seem to jump. They screech at you, like nails on a chalkboard, and then recede again. You aren't safe. The atmosphere only gets darker and darker, and by the end Abruptum have you trembling in fear, but wanting more. |
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3.
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Absolutus - Pugnare In Iis Quae Obtinere Non Possis
Absolutus conjure a suffocating void of misanthropy on this release. With heavy Deathspell Omega influences, there are not any real surprises, but the execution is nearly unmatched within the horde of DsO clones on the market. The group adopt a rough production with occasionally interpret-able melody to create an atmosphere most comparable to an emotional vacuum. |
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4.
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Abyssal - Novit Enim Dominus Qui Sunt Eius
This is a sonic assault. A massive beating that penetrates your ear canal and uses your ear drum as a punching bag. Dissonant riffs and insanely deep vocals that lie behind the wall of violent savagery. Pulsing in and out of upbeat blasting sections and more drawn out tremolo picked guitar riffs, this is an album that will hook you in, tear you down, and submit you to it's torture through it's entirety. |
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5.
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Aderlating - Spear Of Gold And Seraphim Bone Pt. 1
Mories is the single musician nearest and dearest to my heart, and if he heard me say that he'd probably rip it out and use it as his next album cover. Aderlating is one of his less known bands, features ominous ambient backings which seem to quiver in fear as distant drums arduously pound away, slowly approaching you. As it gets nearer and nearer, you see the horde. It's shrouded by a blackened fog, and growls out in rage underneath the chaotic percussion which is only getting louder and louder. The intensity continues growing as it slowly engulfs everything in sight, and by the end of this horrifying journey, everything is black. |
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6.
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Agruss - Morok
This is an album drenched in hatred and smothered in grime. It's a relentless mixture of black and death metal, and it is simply fantastic. It is emotive, yet retains the anger and hatred which seems to fuel it. The riffs are can best be described as sounding like the musical equivalent of a chainsaw (most of the time), while the vocals shriek out in pure agonizing horror. It will ravage your mother with no remorse. |
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7.
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Alkerdeel - Morinde
Everything about this album is ugly. From the cover to the grime covered riffs. Ugly chord progressions that alternate between a slow procession and blasting mayhem ring through your ears for the duration of this beast. The vocals seem to be one with the mix, and blend into the hideous tone of the guitar with seamless perfection. Morinde drags on and blasts through your ears for 42 minutes of sludge infested and blackened doom. |
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8.
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Anaal Nathrakh - The Codex Necro
Evil and anger. That's really the only explanation for music like this. The riffs are massive, thick, and come at you like a wall of sound. The music blasts away with maniacal and incomprehensible vocals, seemingly disconnected from the rhythm, accompany the terror that ensues. Despite all of this, hooks are still existent in the music, which serve as a reminder that just because music is evil and horrifying, doesn't mean it can't be catchy :D. |
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9.
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Antediluvian - λόγος
λόγος, or Logos when using the Latin alphabet, is a savage procession of evil and hellfire. Completely dismal and disorienting tones guide the down-tuned, tremolo picked guitar riffs through this burning forest. Everything swirls together with such painful torment, it's amazing these musicians managed to record such a frightening piece of art. This is a mostly fast paced chaotic slab of evil death metal. |
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10.
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Aosoth - IV: An Arrow In Heart
Here we have an excellent slab of black metal which clearly holds heavy influences with Deathspell Omega. The riffs are mostly tremolo picked patterns of tonal clashes over consistently pounding drums. It varies from mid-paced to full out blasting blaster blasty blast beats. There's nothing too special about Aosoth, but they succeed with flying colors in creating a dense and rich atmosphere of despair. |
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11.
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Arizmenda - Within The Vacuum Of Infinity...
Take acid and sit in a cave. That will probably evoke the same feeling as this psychedelic influenced black metal masterpiece does. The vocals lie subdued beneath an infernal torrent of riffing mayhem. As this album pounds on it sends you into a euphoric trance, but never let's go of the dark and dismal atmosphere it creates. |
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12.
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Bethlehem - Dark Metal
An empty, hollow, and cold experience. Bethlehem pound along with reasonably high-tempo riffs that plunge abruptly into slow moving doom oriented sections that drag on and ring out. A raw and old school feel is achieved through reverberated guitars that don't focus too heavily on the bass end for a boost, but rather rip along in layers to create a dense and suffocating atmosphere. Vocals rip the music to shreds, with high pitched shrieks akin to many other black metal bands during the uptempo sections, and deep gut-wrenching gutturals accompanying the doom oriented sections. |
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13.
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Blut Aus Nord - MoRT
Hollow. This music does not evoke emotional response, but rather sucks all life out of your body and leaves a hollow shell in its place. Riffs that follow no logic plod along while disjointed and quizzical leads ring above with seemingly no direction other than an end. This is not an album for everyone. This is not accessible, but rather completely inaccessible, and it's absolutely marvelous. |
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14.
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Burning Witch - Crippled Lucifer
Crippled Lucifer is a morbid, filthy, sludge driven album of sorrow. The chords are slowly pounded out as the drummer falls into each beat with force created a mournful testimony to the band's troubles. The vocals turn from emotive cleans to painful, throat ripping shrieks and back again. Slowly wavering between depression and filth and anger, Crippled Lucifer is pain. |
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15.
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Carpe Noctem - In Terra Profugus
Carpe Noctem's debut full length is one filled with rage and pain. Tremolo picked guitar riffs which smash out harrowing dissonant melodies with blast beats to accompany create an atmosphere of disconnection from reality as you are slowly sucked into this portal of black metal wonder. It is an undeniably bleak album, with enough of a unique edge to make it unbelievable. |
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16.
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Catacombs - In The Depths Of R'lyeh
Reverberated guitars echoing through the halls which lead to your demise. This album opens in such a way that perfectly sets the mood. Throughout this experience, you are subjected to painful chromatic guitar lines and pounding rhythms that ever so slowly beat on with unbelievable weight. Vocals that sound as if they dwell within an abyss somewhere below the surface of the earth, and rise out of the ground with terrifying force. |
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17.
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Chaos Echœs - Transient
This is perhaps among the more unique releases of the list. Transient is an improvised death/doom experience by masters Chaos Ech-s, and if that description doesn't spark an interest then I don't know what will. The improvisation lends way to something darker than the group have ever released, with long droning passages that suck the light from the room and leave nothing but pain, misery, and pure blackness. |
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18.
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Coffinworm - IV.I.VIII
Coffinworm's sophomore release, IV.I.VIII, features music even more crushing and vile than their debut. It starts by immediately pummeling you to the ground with a shriek and blasted guitar lines which clash in a manner so cruel it creates a sound of sheer horror. Feedback and dissonance appear in massive number throughout this album, which smashes it's way through your face, without pausing, for a full 40 minutes, before it finally releases you. |
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19.
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Dark Tribe - In Jeraspunta - Die Rückkehr Der Tollwütigen Bestie
The instant you click play, the insanity begins. Razor sharp riffs tear you to shreds as this chaotic journey flies along with high speeds. The chord progressions layered on top of each other with massive force create a dense and terrifying atmosphere of pure blackness, and only to add on top of that, demented vocals shriek on and on with intense energy. |
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20.
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Darkspace - Dark Space III
Don't let your astronaut friends hear this album, they'll likely quit their jobs. From the first minute of this album one might expect a standard dark ambient album, but you are quickly proven wrong as the vocalist rips through your speakers with a mortifying scream. The instrumentation comes in with equal force, and blasts away with no hope for nearly the whole album. Peppered with some tasty more drawn out sections that are laden with ambient influences, this album is sure to take you on a trip through the horrors of space. |
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21.
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De Magia Veterum - The Deification
Chaos. Savagery. Pure insanity. These are terms I would use to describe The Deification. At first it may sound like a mess of instrumentation and shocking vocals, but give it a minute and it all falls into place. Suddenly the chaotic distorted guitars form haunting melodies that pile on top of one another forming a wall of shear terror. Mories' vocals only further accentuate this terror as his shrieks blast through this wondrous wall of noise and pile drive you into the dust. |
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22.
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Dead Congregation - Graves Of The Archangels
Graves Of The Archangels sounds like an old school death metal album that had the evil knob turned up. This album shreds along with very precise and very rapid guitar riffs which jump in and out of alternating lines in any given single riff. The drumming is precise as well, blasting away with ease at absurdly high tempos. The vocalist has fantastic low gutturals, but nothing you haven't heard before. This album doesn't break down barriers, it simply takes something that was good (old school death metal) and makes it a bit darker (read; better). |
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23.
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Deathspell Omega - Fas - Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum
Disorienting riffs fly by as savage drums beat you into submission. Beauty is achieved on this album, through an incredibly dense and dark atmosphere created through layered dissonance. Drums provide endless fills to aggregate the madness, and the only chances you get to breath within the massing of dissonant chaos, are horrifying and eerie ambient sections. In addition to these ambient sections, a few more drawn out guitar-driven intros and outros exist to assist in the atmosphere building. |
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24.
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Desolate Shrine - The Sanctum Of Human Darkness
This album is a stark offering of chaotic blackened death metal which rips through your speakers, and pulls you into the abyss from which it came to torment you. Melodic guitar riffs are drowned out by distorted and dense ambient layers. The vocals come up from below the music with fury to tear away at your flesh out of resentment and fury. |
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25.
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Diamanda Galás - The Litanies Of Satan
I don't even know where to begin with this. On the surface, one could call it an experiment in avantgarde vocal performances, but it is so much more. It is dark and schizophrenic at times, and at the other it is outright horrifying. There are elements of industrial, dark ambient, classical, and so much more laying beneath the stinking masterpiece that is The Litanies of Satan. There is nothing quite like this, and really the only way to understand what it is, is to experience it for yourself. |
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26.
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Disembowelment - Transcendence Into The Peripheral
Anyone with even an inkling of knowledge about early death-doom will know who Disembowelment are, and what makes them legends. The massive wall-of-sound guitar riffs smash away at your face while the drums break your bones at both crushingly slow paces, as well as upbeat savage-tempo sections. It's deep, it's visceral, and it's simply, crushingly, evil. |
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27.
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Diskord - Dystopics
From the very first notes of this disjointed sounding album you are greeted with the old school production reminiscent of 90s death metal, and the song-writing of bands akin to Baring Teeth. Highly technical and massively dissonant, Diskord create a puzzling journey through bleak and surreal landscapes as they pummel you relentlessly for the entirety of the album. The band tosses conventional song structures out the window in favor of a natural yet jarring and harrowing progression through this world they create. It's truly horrifying. |
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28.
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Dolorian - When All The Laughter Has Gone
Slow echoing sounds of a dystopian society echo throughout this album. Vocals subdued under the malicious riffs and slowly pounding drums emerge through the fog and are the cherry on top of this dark ice cream sundae (I probably could have picked a more appropriate analogy). The formula is simple, and something we've seen before, but the execution takes this album and holds it a mile above the rest. |
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29.
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Double Leopards - Halve Maen
A swelling monument of ambient perfection, Halve Maen is atmosphere incarnate. Slowly building up around you, a wall of noise and echoes, and then diving back into the abyss from whence it came, this album will ensconce you. Sending you into a trance-like state, and then punishing you for losing focus with horrific swells of ambiance, this album can not be looked over. |
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30.
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Dragged Into Sunlight - Hatred For Mankind
I said Alkerdeel were ugly, well Dragged Into Sunlight are something beyond ugly. A monster so vile that it simply oozes filth. The tone of the guitars is razor sharp yet manages to blast through your speakers with massive force. Sound clips from movies are scattered throughout the album and add to the eerie atmosphere the music creates. |
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31.
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Eibon - Entering Darkness
Entering Darkness is an album that can bring you to your knees, sobbing in pain, and then beat you while you're down. The riffs are savage, the drums seem to methodically pound you to a pulp, and the vocals are as good as they come. This is pretty much a shining example of black infused sludge, and how it should be done. |
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32.
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Elend - A World In Their Screams
Those familiar with this album will know exactly why it makes an appearance on this list. Our good friend Joe (username !J.O.O.E.!) once described this (on facebook) as being more frightening sounding than any metal band could ever hope to achieve. Joe was entirely correct. Elend play a neoclassical form of symphonic music, and this particular album provides us with compositions that defy anything I once believed orchestral music could accomplish. Chaotic, at times somber and mournful, but through and through a dark and pitch black journey. |
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33.
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Elysian Blaze - Blood Geometry
Blood Geometry is a bleak, slow moving, monolithic monster. Here we find an album that pushes on for over two hours, and in this large chunk of your day, you are constantly rewarded with repetitious and slow moving riffs that fling you to the floor and beat you while you're down. Melancholy finds you through the form of ambiance and more blackened sections, but this hope is only relative, as the entire album is a purely dismal effort. |
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34.
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Entombed - Left Hand Path
Entombed are, in my not even remotely humble opinion, the epitome of amazing old school death metal. Chaotic blasting guitars shred out grimy merciless riffs while the vocals scream along in an equally ugly form created a complete beast of evil. Raw tone combined with high speeds and ominous melodies creates one of the original odes to darkness from the death metal scene, and one of the most important albums ever for metal. |
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35.
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Empathie - :Z:Z:Z:
This is an album that sounds utterly disconnected with reality. Ambiance and noise lead into riffs that (very) slowly pound along with the weight of the earth, and vomitive vocals that ring through your ears as the noise in the background slowly quavers in a wavelike formation. This is repetitive and hopeless. No unnecessary melodies or harmonies, simply unforgiving desolation. |
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36.
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Esoteric - The Pernicious Enigma
The Pernicious Enigma is unforgiving. A horrifying trip through the twisted mind of Greg Chandler. Easily Esoteric's most vile and disturbing album from this funeral doom outfit. Gone are the emotive somber clean sections from their later work, and gone is any semblance of hope. This is a crushing monolithic effort that is sure to leave you an empty shell. Also it's two hours long... woot! |
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37.
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Eyehategod - Take As Needed For Pain
Eyehategod probably hate life. What we have here is a drugged up ode to the hatred of humanity. It's ugly, it's fun, and overall, it's plain wrong. It feels dark in a way different than any of the other albums on this list. This album can be fun, and it's ideal for a lazy Sunday afternoon, but the mere fact that it's so drenched in anger and hatred creates an atmosphere so dark and dense that it's difficult to overcome. Sitting through the whole 50 minutes will give you a new outlook on life, and if it left a strong enough impression, you'll promptly go punch your grandmother in the face, steal her car, and crash it into an orphanage, but only while blaring this album one last time. |
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38.
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Fantômas - Delìrium Còrdia
Haunting drones from a synth echo in the background, demented chants accompany minimal percussion, and it suddenly all comes toppling down. Through the wreckage you look around. You're in a foreign landscape. Tribal music and shiver-inducing screams guide you to the light, where you find Fantomas, being the weird fuckers they are. Seriously, there isn't a single album remotely like this. A purely unique, and truly disturbing creation. |
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39.
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Flourishing - The Sum Of All Fossils
As raspy vocals shred into the dissonant guitar riffs of The Sum of All Fossils, you will quickly become a beaten heap of worthless flesh. This album is so intense, dense, and full of suspense, one could be forgiven for not having the stomach to complete the journey. Schizophrenic drumming will pound into you as the tight production of the unrelenting guitars shred into from underneath. A masterpiece of disjointed death metal. |
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40.
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Funeralium - Deceived Idealism
Funeralium play a sort of doom that is so oppressive and heavy it is quite frightening at times (well, if you're new to the genre it will be, I just find it awesome). It's slow, it's dense, and it's simply smothered in layers of agony. The guitars plod along, occasionally sustaining notes into feedback as the vocalist shreds through your ears. At times the band moves to a more upbeat tempo, but only to further extenuate the pain they are conveying, seeing the vocalist switch to a higher pitched shriek over a much "groovier" guitar line. |
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41.
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Ghast - May The Curse Bind
Fast pace guitar riffs cycle in and out of harmonic minor keys, chromatic scales, and generally evil sounding chord progressions. The drums blast away with no real technicality, but simply add to the effect of the repetition as the music penetrates you and begins to feel very natural. But once comfort finds you, Ghast change up the style, and may switch to a slower more consistent riffing progression, or turn on turbo-drive. High pitched vocals moan out from behind the torrent, and tie together the dark and dismal vibe this album brings to the table. |
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42.
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Gnaw Their Tongues - Eschatological Scatology
A layer of filth and noise resides above savage guitar riffs and subtle orchestral elements which all morphs together to form the monster that is Eschatological Scatology. The pained vocals of a musical genius shriek in the background under the wall of noise and echo throughout the album with horrifying torment. This is not my favorite album from the mastermind Mories', but it is his work which best represents elements of darkness and torture. A black metal album that sounds as if it was recorded in a morgue. |
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43.
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Grave Miasma - Odori Sepulcrorum
Few bands can manage to recreate the glorious sound of early 90''s death metal, but Grave Miasma have done just that. The guitar tone just reeks in a style very reminiscent of early Entombed, and the vocals echo out seemingly into a catacomb of pure darkness. High speed, tremolo picked guitar lines combined with these amazing vocals and ungodly drumming create an atmosphere so thick and rotten that it is absolutely wonderful. |
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44.
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Grey Widow - I
From the first note of this wretched album, you know what you're in for. Grime-drenched doom metal with black and sludge elements sprawling from every aching orifice Grey Widow can stuff; one begins to believe that the tortured screams accompanying this vile music may simply be the cries in agony of the album itself. Lingering melodies occur through each song, a leitmotif to your suffering, but they offer no true redemption from the torture you must endure. This album shows no mercy. |
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45.
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Havoc Unit - H.IV+
Released under the name Havoc Unit, H.IV+ is a quizzical undertaking of industrial black metal. A bright synth shines out over the murk of the marching mechanical Armageddon of guitar riffs and machine-like drumming. You think to yourself that there must be hope, but Havoc Unit swiftly stomp such a foolish idea from your mind as they pick up the pace, driving you down with the incessant beating you are now receiving. Industrial mayhem. |
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46.
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Hjarnidaudi - Pain:Noise:March
The title of this album is surely the most appropriate possible. The violently droning guitars stab you, as you crumble to your knees sobbing from the pain inflicted. But Hjarnidaudi offer no solace, and lashes again, and again, and again, and again, until the torment becomes your blanket, accepting the fate laid out before you. A white noise, a droning chamber, and finally, the march to hell, leading you to your final resting place as the album slowly... ever so slowly, comes to an end. |
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47.
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Impetuous Ritual - Unholy Congregation Of Hypocritical Ambivalence
I feel like death metal used to be a fun genre, much like thrash metal. Impetuous Ritual clearly hate that thought, as the music they make is the bleakest most vile form of death metal out there. An empty cavern slowly fills with a green slime as you drown in the dense filth Impetuous Ritual spew towards you. You die, and the band continues on their quest for death, playing the soundtrack to your withering away. |
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48.
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Incantation - Onward To Golgotha
Incantation would probably like to disagree with my statement I made in the previous mini-review. From 1992, Onward To Golgotha is THE savage death metal album you need. Way ahead of its' time, Incantation manifest the most devilish creature to tear your flesh from your bones, and ingest it as you are subjugated to violent torture in the form of chaotic riffing, severely maniacal drumming, and vocals that ring out and fade back into the waves of cavernous death metal flowing through your head. |
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49.
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Indian - From All Purity
Noisy, filthy, dissonant, inaccessible, and most of all, purely evil; that's how Indian's album From All Purity goes. The violent riffs fly away into feedback, as the noise envelops you. You grasp at melodies, trying to find some semblance of hope, but as the vocals kick in, so does your hope. There are moments in which bright sounding guitar riffs can be found, but they are quickly pounded out by violent drumming and maniacal vocal-work. |
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50.
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Infestus - The Reflecting Void
Infestus has once again given the world a lesson in making unforgiving, yet hauntingly melancholic black metal. This album can pound out brutal riffs that shred along in misanthropic agony, and it can slow down to a near halt, slowly dripping in agony. The vocals, filled with pain, shriek out above the bleak melodies and aid in creating a dense atmosphere that can only be described as pain. A simply unbelievable performance from an unbelievable band. |
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51.
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Keeper - MMXIV
This album is brutal, it's slow, and its' absolutely fucking amazing....wait....it's a demo?! Yep, that's right. Keeper are a new band, creating a sludge infused funeral doom with death metal elements and haunting melodies that linger briefly only to be replaced by brutal and arduous riffs that ring out into a void of pain and despair. In my humble opinion, the vocals are where Keeper truly excel, as the singer violently rips his throat apart in a masochistic sense of pleasure. Breathtaking beginning to what will almost certainly be a brilliant band. |
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52.
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Khanate - Things Viral
If you enjoy dark and experimental music, you are almost certainly well acquainted with the work of Stephen O'Malley. The man is simply a genius, and his work with Khanate is only emphasizing such a claim. Minimalist percussion slowly builds as light feedback from a guitar hums in the distance. A desolate landscape manifests before you, and standing there, is a cloaked figure, who begins screaming vile poetry of misanthropy through the mist, throwing you back and pinning you down. Subjected to the torture for nearly an hour, you become numb. Not immune to the pain, and not resistant, but rather accepting. Embracing suffering as everything in your life now, and slowly becoming one with the Things Viral. |
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53.
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Khlyst - Chaos Is My Name
Khlyst are ugly, inaccessible, unique, oddly entrancing, and above all, monstrous. If you find yourself enjoying this disjointed piece of avantgarde madness, then congratulations, you have transcended musical oddness and can listen to anything without fear of it being too weird. The purely alien stylistic approach taken on this thing prevents the listener from forming any emotional connection, but rather leaves you feeling empty, confused, and potentially anxious. |
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54.
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Leviathan - Massive Conspiracy Against All Life
Within this album, dissonant and fast paced guitar riffs trample you in a stampede of violent black metal. Wrest made sure that this album was devoid of any accessible melodies in favor of complex song structure accompanied by relentless drumming to weave an intricate blanket of detailed, yet clear riffing. This album is a stinking heap of blackened misery, and it's rather brilliant because of it. |
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55.
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Lord Mantis - Pervertor
Lord Mantis are oppressive and filthy. Many bands that attempt this form of noisy disjuncted blackened sludge end up with a muddy pile of incoherent nonsense, but Pervertor is a masterpiece in the art of grime. Vocals that sound like the screams of a man whose throat has been cut, screaming for help, shriek out above hard-hitting guitar lines that one can't help but groove along to. Despite being ugly, and even dissonant at times, Pervertor still manages to weave its' way into your skull, and remain resting on your brain for the remainder of the day, as you are tormented by this Vile Divinity. |
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56.
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Lurk - Lurk
Lurk's approach to sludge is one that is drenched in equal parts doom and vile torture. Repetitive riffs will force you into a hypnotic trance while often hideous growling yells force you to close your eyes and zone out to the mesmerizing brutality. This is a straightforward record, but had it been experimental then all of the initial purpose would have been lost. This is nasty, raw, atonal at parts, but always purely torturous (in the best of ways) |
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57.
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Lurker Of Chalice - Lurker Of Chalice
This is the defining gem of this list. No album ever recorded can match the vile, heartless, misanthropy contained within this album. Description of such a masterpiece would be pointless, and I will instead leave this with a Sylvia Plath quote cited within the album: "Sometimes, I feel like I'm not solid. I'm hollow; there's nothing behind my eyes. I'm a negative of a person. It is as if I never thought anything, never wrote anything, never felt anything. All I want is blackness. Blackness and silence." |
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58.
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Lychgate - Beneath The Horizon
When the group known as "Lychgate" held the name Archaicus, they released some rough black metal demos that were far darker than the modern incarnation of the band could ever hope to achieve. Signature buzzsaw riffing from the guitars and reverberated vocals that wail in the background are more than reminiscent of the early days of black metal. The release isn't unique in any way, but it's an impossibly excellent example of misanthropic black metal. |
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59.
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Mayhem - Ordo Ad Chao
Ordo Ad Chao is unlike anything you've ever heard. Black metal at heart, but it is something so much more. Unprecedentedly dark, the notes ring together creating a dense atmosphere of puzzling chaos. A more typical chord progression may come into play, but Mayhem quickly swipe it away, and change the direction to something different. Atilla sounds completely deranged. On top of the strange instrumentation, he provides a versatile vocal performance ranging from more standard black metal vocals to grotesque low moans that give off the sound that he is suffering immensely. |
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60.
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Mitochondrion - Parasignosis
Parasignosis is a massive wrecking ball. You know it's coming, but you don't know when it will hit, and when it does, it completely demolishes you. Thundering riffs pound through this album in a disjunct fashion, and puzzle you as it consistently beats you into submission. Dense, thick, and horrifying layers suffocate you in a black abyss of malice and hate. Thundering drums blast out for the entirety of this album, and form a whirlwind of torment to assist in your beating. |
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61.
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Mors Sonat - Comforts In Atrocity
The infamous Maurice De Jong returned to us in 2013 with perhaps his most abstract album within his extensive catalog. Comprised primarily of dissonant orchestral instrumentation layered on top of artificial noise and sparse percussion, this album is at its core a noise record. My suggestion for this would be to close your eyes, sit in the corner of a dark room, and let the expertly crafted atmosphere drive you into schizophrenic madness |
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62.
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Necrite - Sic Transit Gloria Mvndi
Necrite deliver black metal in the vein of top notch Leviathan, with dissonant yet recognizable riffs leading maniacal vocals through a dense fog of gloom and mystery. Void of emotion, this album is sure to leave you a lifeless shell, having been jaded by the unspeakable terror held within this magnificent release. |
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63.
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Negative Plane - Et In Saecula Saeculorum
This album is most likely what would happen if you asked Deathspell Omega and Hell to have a jam session. It's upbeat, and surprisingly fun to listen to, but maintains the atmosphere that lends to the thought that the album was recorded inside of a burning church. There is dissonance, but only at the most appropriate times to ensure the listener that what they are witnessing is truly meant to be dark. Potentially the least appropriate album for the list, but those who are not familiar with the genre will find it a harrowing experience at the least. |
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64.
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New Risen Throne - Crossing The Withered Regions
A void. Pulsing quiet drones echo in the background. An incomprehensible muttering accompanies the somber echoing of ambiance as various sounds rattle throughout this landscape. A synth being played at maybe one note every couple of seconds pulsates in large drawn out crescendos and forces your head to swirl in the formation these tones manifest. |
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65.
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N.K.V.D. - Vlast
The production on Vlast is really what qualifies it for appearing on this list. The fuzzy guitars shriek out in dissonant mayhem, over a full yet subdued drum track that is constantly blasting away in the background. On top of this lay down some vocals that range from audible and discernible to completely washed away by this assault on your ears. |
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66.
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Nortt - Gudsforladt
Nortt is the sonic definition of emotional vacancy. The synth laden funeral doom project incorporates synth to layer on top of thunderous and arduous riffing in order to truly earn that "funeral" tag. Conjuring images of misery and death, it is next to impossible to hold a smile through even a second of this album. |
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67.
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Ophis - Withered Shades
Anyone with even a modicum of interest in death/doom has almost certainly experienced the sorrow that is Ophis' "Withered Shades". A shining (or maybe more appropriately "dim") example of true emotive death doom, the guitars cry gently as the build and build into colossal destruction. This album will remind you of the futility of life. |
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68.
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Overmars - Born Again
Solitude is the central theme behind this 40-minute song/album, and the viscerally punishing group Overmars deliver in making you feel pure loneliness. The album slowly climbs, only to fall right back into misery half-way through. It then builds again, but more chaotically, with the layers melding together until the album is nearly white-noise, and by then, the solitude has enshrouded you. |
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69.
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Owl - Owl
Owl were clearly aiming for a more accessible Portal style when they began recording this album. It's mid-paced for most of the time, and one can seem to get into a groove when listening to it. It's thick atmosphere is almost comforting at times, just before they decide to switch it up and create disjuncted "melodies" layered over nearly mismatched drum patterns and dense vocal lines that echo out much like before. |
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70.
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P.H.O.B.O.S. - Atonal Hypermnesia
Atonal Hypermnesia sounds like Blut Aus Nord being played at a dismally slow pace... under water. This is an industrial doom album that sounds completely inhuman. Dissonant riffs creep along with oppressive massiveness creating a cold, cold atmosphere. |
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71.
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Portal - Seepia
Portal are the masters of anti-death metal. Their style includes riffs that pound out with shear dissonant mayhem, bashing the high speed, tremolo picked riffs into your brain until you are inevitably insane. The drumming will blast on consistently for a short period of time, but constant breaks and brief time signature changes manage to create an entirely quizzical experience when observing the drums. There is no follow-able melody in Portal's music. In fact, there is often a lack of a clear distinction of any true notes, and the guitars will sound as though they've been replaced with chainsaws. |
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72.
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Primitive Man - Scorn
I can't think of a better title for this album than "Scorn". Primitive Man give us a lesson in brutality with this release, with the vocals, guitar, bass, and drums amalgamating to something so simply crushing, I'm hard-pressed to find a heavier album. The gritty guitar tones are reminiscent of bands such as Alkerdeel while the song structure finds itself being a bit more simple. The band regularly switches between snail-paced sections of blasting anger, and high-tempo sections of raw energy and hatred. And with all of this put together, along with the vocals shrieking and ripping through your speakers with unbelievable force, you get one grimy slab of nearly unbeatable sludge/doom that is certain to get stuck in your head. |
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73.
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Profetus - ...To Open The Passages In Dusk
Bleak. Crushing riffs played at the speed of a dead snail (so slower than a snail) are accompanied by a seemingly reverberated organ to give that perfect graveyard feel. Repetition and a lack of any real climax make this album a very sobering experience, and one that always leaves me dumbstruck. Completely wipes your mind, and replaces your brain with that of a dead corpse. |
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74.
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Robedoor - Rancor Keeper
Rancor Keeper creates a landscape. The slowly trembling ambient sounds give birth to a world of blackness. The droning swells build up at a monumentally slow pace, and often cut off into more hopeless feeling pits of sustained notes from a guitar that ring into oblivion, possibly sinking further into the depths of the abyss this album has created. When you reach the bottom, ghastly wails cry out from the depths of the drones, with an undeniably inhuman sound. |
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75.
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Shrine Of Insanabilis - Disciples Of The Void
Falling more under the "ravaging" description than anything else, Shrine Of Insanabilis are simply unforgiving on this release. The riffing is lightning paced for nearly the entire runtime, and though glimmers of melody and hope may shine through occasionally, the band snuffs these from existence as swiftly as they appeared. |
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76.
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Sink - The Process
This album is unbelievably fantastic. It draws you in with eerie melody and chanting vocals in the distance of the landscape the music creates, and once you are trapped, it plunges into a dark chasm. The ambient swells slowly comfort you, falsely leading you to believe you are safe, but soon enough it builds into a screeching mound of filthy horror. And then you realize, this is only the first track. |
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77.
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Skepticism - Stormcrowfleet
Skepticism's Stormcrowfleet is a lesson in pain. The under-produced guitar riffs sing sorrow to back the vocals, which seem buried under a droning ambiance created by bass and organs. Light does not sneak through the thick veil of blackness created by the band. For an hour you are subjected to the tattered songs of men who must have once stood tall, but now, serve only as a memory of the hatred and bleak nature of life. |
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78.
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Skitsystem - Stigmata
This Gothenburg based crust-punk/grindcore band has garnered a reputation through the years as being vile, relentless, and pure maniacal chaos. As upbeat as this album may be, it never feels catchy nor fun, but rather like a punishment. Skitsystem beat you to a pulp with violently sadistic intent, until you come back begging for more. |
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79.
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Skullflower - Pure Imperial Reform
Noisy savage lines of ravaging feedback and over-driven bass pound through your speakers for 40 minutes. Random sound clips including screeching guitars and the odd percussive element spice up this massively intense noise piece to keep it interesting. As this drones on you are slowly sucked in and begin noticing little aspects under the wall of noise. It begins to feel natural, and not just like a bunch of chaos. It finally begins to make sense, and once you are finally comfortable, it ends. |
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80.
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Spectral Lore - Sentinel
A journey through the mind of a Greek god, metamorphosing into both ambiance and black metal, Sentinel is a monstrous journey. Moments of peace flicker between the lightning speed riffs, but they are hardly even fleeting enough to give way for hope of survival. Ugly chord progressions are accompanied by savage drumming and painful wails in the distance. Such a combination manifests an eerie, yet somehow peaceful and inviting atmosphere. |
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81.
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Suffer Yourself - Inner Sanctum
An accurate descriptor for this album would be crushing. There's little innovation to be found here, but these Ukrainians know damn well how to make funeral/death doom. Slowly building tension with smashing, palm muted riffs that crawl to an ascent and then plummet into disorienting harmonies built on misery. The ambiance in the background only further extenuates the atmosphere the band creates, and it is sure to lead you to a dark place. |
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82.
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Sun Of The Blind - Skullreader
This album is the experimental result of mastermind Zhaaral (of Darkspace) taking pure artistic direction to create one of the most soulcrushing pieces of music ever. Layers of ambient drones are coupled with slowly building guitar lines that meld together in pure agonizing beauty. This is a heartless album, which has one goal; devastate the listener. |
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83.
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Sunn O))) - Black One
Sunn O))) are a prohibitively polarizing group, and can mostly be credited with popularizing drone in modern times. Black One is their darkest, most soul-crushing release, with no melody to be found. This sonic journey has the occasionally subdued yet harrowing vocals wail from within the abyss each note creates, adding to the sonic torture that this album most certainly must be. |
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84.
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Terra Tenebrosa - The Tunnels
The Tunnels is a puzzling journey. This is an album that I can only view as a whole, rather than observe the individual instruments. Everything morphs together to create massive swells of crushing musical power. The vocals don't serve as a means to tell a story, or relate a political opinion, but rather to accentuate the underlying riffs and beats which pound in and out of ambient interludes. |
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85.
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Terzij De Horde - A Rage Of Rapture Against The Dying Of The Light
Few black metal releases can claim to be as chaotic as Terzij De Horde's debut EP. Dissonance dominates over harmony throughout, and the shrieked vocals seem to have glints of pained intent within the inflection. The riffing constantly wavers between the use of relatively slowly plucked chords and tremelo-picked onslaught forcing the listener to give undivided attention to this intensely maniacal EP. |
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86.
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Thaw - Thaw
Noisey production is heavily coated over this playground of dissonance and misery. The production is surprisingly good, given this is the band's first effort, however not "good" in the conventional sense. There is enough clarity to allow the more minimalist sections to breathe, but enough of a raw edge to make the upbeat portions drill into your psyche and create a nest of festering demons to slowly drive you into madness. Desperate wails reverberate out only to be silenced by subdued shrieks and growls from under the tremelo picked riffs. |
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87.
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An Axis Of Perdition - Deleted Scenes From The Transition Hospital
The scene is set in a mental hospital. The lights shut out and the patients begin to emerge from their rooms. Then chaos ensues. This is how I view this album, which is in essence, the musical equivalent of a horror movie. Bleak and dismal ambiance gives way to high speed savage chaos in the form of expertly crafted industrial black metal. An album rivaled nearly by none within its style. |
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88.
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The Nihilistic Front - Procession To Annihilation
Very few band names are quite as appropriate as The Nihilistic Front's. Playing an industrial-laden procession through a bleak landscape, this album is nihilistic sounding beyond all prior conceptions. Lifeless riffing is accompanied by hollow screeches from a seemingly dying being as the album slowly draws nearer and nearer to its conclusion. |
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89.
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The Ruins Of Beverast - Rain Upon The Impure
Von Meilenwald made no efforts to polish this album. It is raw and it is dark. The guitars rip along with typical black metal speed, but slow down and repeat notes for a few minutes on end in some instances to create a more desolate atmosphere. Blasting drums accompany the riffs and shred away at your flesh until they reach the bone, at which point the music screeches to a crawl, sending you into a trance with hypnotic and ominous melodies. |
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90.
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The Secret - Solve Et Coagula
Vicious, grotesque, at times rather groove driven, and most of all filthy. The Secret bring forth with Solve Et Coagula a seamless mixture of sludge, grind, and black elements to create a rather short barrage of high speed riffs and throat tearing vocals. The intro track draws you in with a repeated and (relatively) slow tempo riff, but by the time the second track comes into play, your ears are assaulted with this filthy stinking pile of wonderful grotesqueness for the rest of the album. |
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91.
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Throbbing Gristle - The Third Mind Movements
Harrowing industrial music is a tricky task to undertake, but Throbbing Gristle's ability to combine it with disconcerting ambiance manages to staple this album in the nebulous void of dark terror. Foreign soundscapes paint a colorful picture of your demise, as the album curiously oscillates between overbearing walls of sound, and timid yet terrifying electronic-influenced sounds that are certain to make you uncomfortable. |
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92.
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Today Is The Day - Sadness Will Prevail
This album is the soundtrack to insanity. High pitched shouts, melancholic clean vocals, over-driven shrieks, and all accompanied by schizophrenic instrumentation that holds no real style. Pianos and violins make appearances, but don't exactly give way to light or uplifting moments. Running for a full 2 hours, making it through this album is a trek, and one that if accomplished, will surely leave you in a confused state of mind for the rest of the day (or week....or life). Sadness Will Prevail is a horrifying journey. |
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93.
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Trap Them - Darker Handcraft
This album is, simply put, aggressive fun. Now don't be fooled, just because you'll often find yourself dancing around the room in your underwear to this upbeat blackened-hardcore album does not mean that Trap Them have sacrificed any of the grime and filth that made their previous records enjoyable. On the contrary, Darker Handcraft is refined to perfection, finding a perfect balance between catchy riffs, jammy choruses, and vile abuse of your eardrums. Is it fun? Yes. Is it still grimy violence? More than ever. |
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94.
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Tyranny - Tides Of Awakening
Sharing band members with Wormphlegm, it should come as no surprise that Tides Of Awakening is a vile descent into the wretched bowels of funeral doom. This album will strip you of your soul, leave you naked in the freezing cold, and ultimately find you dead from over an hour of torturous pain. With dense layers drenched in synth-influenced misanthropy, Tyranny border the line between depressive and violent quite well, and land in a nebulous plain of misery that any funeral doom fan will find to be excellent. |
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95.
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Vanhelgd - Relics Of Sulphur Salvation
With this album, Vanhelgd have proven to be the current masters at recreating that Old School Death Metal sound so many strive for. Dense production with a raw edge creates the sense of being lost in the woods, and endless waves of riffs pummel you as you try to flee from the monster that is Vanhelgd. It's deranged, it's chilling, and it's amazing. |
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96.
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Verdunkeln - Einblick In Den Qualenfall
Verdunkeln's form of black metal is one taking heavy influence from psychedelic music, luring you into a trance with hypnotic melodies and occult-like chanting. As you slip into a realm of darkness, the music intensifies, showing its' true form of bleak and miserable despair. This is completely breathtaking music, and completely unique as well. |
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97.
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Virus - The Black Flux
A puzzling album. Each chord rings out in haunting dissonance as a seemingly disjointed vocalist echoes in the distance. The album never stops it seems, it quickly envelops you, and suffocates you in an uncomfortable yet addictive atmosphere. You keep coming back, but only to your own suffering. A true masochists album, the feeling is unexplainable. |
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98.
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Voice Transmissions With The Deceased - Voice Transmissions With The Deceased
Voice Transmissions is a very minimalist-driven band. Only a few layers of dark ambient can be found here, but these layers work together in such a way that something very beautiful, and very horrifying is created. A very subdues bass lies in the background of this, which pulsates at a coma-like pace. On top of this are very quiet synth/piano/guitar layers which ever so slightly play depressing melodies in repetition until they are finally clear to you. The music is emotional yet bleak, and really, is unlike most drone/dark ambient you will find. |
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99.
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Witchrist - The Grand Tormentor
Deeply disturbed and hauntingly vicious: this is the best way to describe Witchrist. The Grand Tormentor is an album of completely mental death metal that will beat you relentlessly against impermeable walls of dense production. The guitar tone is the best part of the album, maintaining an incredibly rich thickness that suffocates you further under the weight of the album. |
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100.
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Wormphlegm - Tomb Of The Ancient King
To conclude this list come a band who, to me, encapsulate all that could possibly be horrifying in music. This is the kind of music that makes other inhabitants of this list shudder in fear and run for their lives. Slowly building riffs of colossal magnitude topple you over as wretched screams laugh at your agony. Funeral doom done right, and I see no artist ever topping the achievements of Wormphlegm. |
