80. King of All Kings - Hate Eternal
My introduction to Hate Eternal came with the 250 bpm blast fest title track from their second album King of All Kings. It was the first to feature Derek "One Take" Roddy on drums and boy does he make his presence known. Roddy never slows down and makes a seriously impressive show to accurately place him at the top of all extreme metal drummers. Production wise, this and pretty much every Hate Eternal album suffer from various problems, mostly the guitars being buried and the bass getting the Jason Newsted ...And Justice for All treatment. But if you looked up the word "brutality" in the dictionary, at least one of the explanations should simply say "King of All Kings".
79. Phobophile - Cryptopsy
Canada's one-time mighty torch bearers of technical death metal Cryptopsy has one album that no one will argue isn't their masterpiece, of course meaning None So Vile. When Lord Worm returned to the fold before they recorded the also excellent Once Was Not in 2005, they did an entire tour playing Vile from front to back. Thankfully I saw this btw. "Phobophile" is probably Cryotopsy's signature tune and is iconic enough to be the only death metal song I'm aware of to have a Lego music video treatment, (see link above). A brief, creepy piano intro slowly oozes into the main riff played solely on bass before all tech breaks loose and Flo Mounier drum solos all over the riffs. It's a gasm of greatness.
78. Carnage - Mayhem
77. Shackled To Guilt - Anata
Swedish tech metalers Anata haven't released an album since 2006, (even though they apparently tried as recent as 2013, but Earache sadly dropped the budget before mixing began). And though I wasn't that wild about their apparent swan song The Conductor's Departure, 2004's Under A Stone with No Inscription on the other hand made me feel all fuzzy inside. Most all tech death to me is far too concerned with being tech and not at all interested in banging heads, but "Shackled To Guilt" is a rare example where the riffs are (gasp!) memorable. All of them seem to be better than the last and at least one is somehow as hilarious as it is heavy.
76. Morgue Whore - Lord Gore
Speaking of haven't been around in ten years, Portland Oregon's relatively little known gore metal band Lord Gore only dropped two full lengths in two years before disbanding to get less gory real jobs. First time I heard The Autophagous Orgy I had to laugh both at the cartoonishly gargly vocals and the fact that every song on it starts with a sample. Mmm...Mortician. But low and behold, the songs on Orgy are neck-breakingly stupid and heavy. Two words I often like where metal is concerned. "Morgue Whore" is, (you guessed it), about fucking a corpse and a line like "Her bowels now empty on the filthy floor and I come inside my morgue whore" are just as hilarious as the riffs accompanying them are wicked awesome.
75. Black Seeds of Vengeance - Nile
Derek Roddy back again on easily one of the most pummeling death metal albums ever made, Nile's sophomore effort Black Seeds of Vengeance. Much Nile is still on the way on this list, (they actually have the most songs from any band on here which kinda surprised me), but I once saw Dallas Toler-Wade announce this one live as being a song that no Nile show is complete without. I certainly didn't yell "bullshit" at him. Probably "take it off" instead. Once again though, Roddy slows down not at all. Even during the fantastic, chanting breakdown finale, the feet are still cruising. One could easily argue that this is Nile's best song and album.
74. Snaggletooth - Motorhead
I kinda had same the dilemma I had with Black Sabbath as I did for Motorhead when it came to deciding when to count them as a metal band for this list. "Ace of Spades" perhaps should've been the oldest song I included as it, predictable or not, rightfully is considered Lemmy and Co's "Stairway To Heaven". But I decided not to include anything from 1980 for who knows what reason and instead thankfully remembered "Snaggletooth". Motorhead probably has or never will be heavier than they are on the song they penned about their mascot. It was one of the "new" songs on the compilation No Remorse and I have loved it since I first heard it probably sixteen or so years ago. Hard to hate Motorhead and this song makes a gnarly case for that.
73. Lament of a Mortal Soul - Arch Enemy
Somehow I remember hearing "Lament of a Mortal Soul" before I had heard anything else from Arch Enemy, yet I can't put together the puzzle of how this could be. I picked up Wages of Sin after hearing the band's name here and there and probably something about them having a chic screamer in their ranks. Also you can't really be a metalhead and not know who Mike Amott is so I'm sure that had something to do with it. Wages is this band's best album by lots and lots, yet somehow "Lament" was released on I think every version of it yet oddly dubbed a "bonus track". Whatever the dick that's about. The opening riff to this song is a motherfucker as is the ridiculously balls tight chunk-to-kick drum one that shows up twice.
72. Higher Coward - Immolation
Hell death metal has no finer band than Immolation, (sorry Morbid Angel, but your last two letters blew children). And New York's finest dropped their very best album Close to a World Below at the turn of the century which opened with "Higher Coward". "Didn't you say...Jesus was coming?" leads right into an assault of all over the place, tom heavy drumming and "Guh?" riffage, all with Ross Dolan's outstanding cookie monster blasphemy on top of it all. It all sounds like evil and chaos fucking each other and it all sounds so very right. Ultimately at the 2:45 mark, "Coward" cranks into one of the sickest and oddest breakdown riffs of all time. It all proves that sometimes hating heaven and loving to headbang are the same thing.
71. Disciple - Slayer
God Hates Us All ended up being the last descent Slayer album says me even though most people I know pretty much only dig "Disciple" off of it. But good Satan, how could you not? This is easily one of the best Slayer songs and just like literally every one of the best Slayer songs, the late Jeff Hanneman wrote it solo. Well Kerry King did the lyrics but wah wah I don't like religion, who cares. This was the first Slayer album I bought when it came out, though not the exact day since like the rest of you, I was rather preoccupied on 9/11. This was also the only Paul Bustaph era song they played live with Dave Lombardo back in the band and it's obvious why. It was an instant classic then and now.
70. Kill the Bitch - Maggot Twat
Besides The Morons Who Ruined Heavy Metal DVD, "Kill the Bitch" and it's accompanying music video were my very first exposure to one of the greatest bands of all time, The Starland Vocal Ba...oh wait, I mean Maggot Twat of course. This song was all I needed to hear and long before I finally got my lazy ass out to actually see them live, I loved these guys like I love donuts. Meaning I can have them and just them every day of my life and be plenty happy. Just like we aspire to be in my death metal band Gorphanage, the Twat is a comedy act that just so happens to be retardedly heavy. The riffs here are whammy madness and any song with the lyric "Remember that one time I made you fuck that horse? I put the tape inside a box and left it on your parents porch!" is worth your time.
69. Episode 666 - In Flames
In Flames has been active for years though I stopped after 1997's undoubted masterpiece Whoracle. And it wasn't just because said album was a highwater mark for Swedish melodic death metal that can't be topped, (unless you're At the Gates), but it was actually in fact because this band got boring as all get out immediately afterwards. Shame. "Episode 666" is my In Flames inclusion here basically because of the moment that happens at the 1:40 mark which may be the greatest breakdown in all of metal. I'll probably say that again at several points here after, but these words beith true. This whole album as well as The Jester Race are perfect though. It's just the other eight that came after it that stroke.
68. She Never Noticed Me - Vehemence
Dallas Toler-Wade offers up a phenomenal stand-out with "Winds of Horus" off In Their Darkened Shrines, Nile's third masterpiece of an album in a row. This guy really should write a lot more in this band. "Horus" begins all Egyptian creepy but quickly kicks into arguably the best Nile riff of all time. And in typical fashion, it's fast as balls. Drummer powerhouse Tony Laureano makes his only appearance on a Nile album here and if every other drummer they've had wasn't AS if not MORE incredible, this would be a sad thing. Far as I know, this song never got the live treatment and is just humbly hiding as an album only track. Guess they still feel the need to play stuff off their current albums. The nerve.
66. Christ Denied - Deicide
I think most death metal purists could all pick a different album that represents Scott Burns at the peak of his production prowess and I'd go with Once Upon the Cross from Deicide. Far as the band goes, the self-titled debut or Stench of Redemption would probably rank as the peak of THEIR prowess, but Cross is plenty excellent so basically it's the best meeting of both worlds. The low-end here is just pummeling, perfectly representing what death metal in general is supposed to sound like. At only twenty-eight minutes, drummer/riff writer Steve Asheim has said that originally the album was even shorter but they recorded most of the songs at a slower tempo to stretch out the length. Good move as the extra groove seems to help the evil.
65. Epitaph - Vader
Speaking of groove, Vader's fifth album Revelations is their South of Heaven. Vader has and remains one of the most consistent and reliable death metal outfits almost since the beginning of the genre's formation, with stand-out songs on all of their albums to this day. "Epitaph" opens Revelations and establishes right out the bat that it was time to let the riffs breathe a bit. The only time I saw Vader live was on this tour, which was also drummer Doc (Krzysztof Raczkowski) last before his sad departure from the band and eventual death. They opened with "Epitaph" and me and my guitar player both gave a "Oh fuck yeah" look to each other and headbanged accordingly.
64. Sentenced to Burn - Cannibal Corpse
So many classic death metal bands up in here. "Sentenced to Burn" was the single off Gallery of Suicide which was the first Corpse album to feature Pat O'Brien and also the first to not have Scott Burns behind the boards as he had recently and permanently retired from such board running. It's ultimately not the best sounding Corpse album, but much stellarness is on it. Namely of course this song. Most of "Burn" sticks to one headbangingly comfy tempo and as usually the case with CC, once the pitch harmonic riff shows up, the entire thing transcends mere good territory and enters "Holy dick this is awesome" territory. Few moments in any metal song kick as much ass as the one at the 1:50 mark here.
When Annihilation of the Wicked was set to be released and Nile pimped out "Lashed to the Slave Stick" as the first single I was certainly tantalized. Kind of unfortunately, that ended up being by far the best song on said album even though Annihilation still is probably above average overall. It was just nowhwere near as solid as the three albums proceeding it. "Lashed" was another one of the few songs written by Dallas Toler-Wade instead of Col. Karl Sanders as per usual so maybe that's why it stands out so much. Though the fact that these riffs here are utterly fantastic probably has more to do with it. "Lashed" is also the only full song on the album to not be dominated by blast beats and in this case, mo groove equals mo betta.
62. God of Emptiness - Morbid Angel
Pete Sandoval hilariously ripped on the best part of this song when I met him once after a show, but then again he loves Jesus now so what does he know? The said Pete Steele-esque "Bow to me faithfully" end to "God of Emptiness" I at least sing along with every time. The opening, long as shit riff though is hell metal excellence. I wrote my own ode/rip-off of it in my old death metal band Wretched Disciple and you guessed it, "God of Emptiness" is way better. David Vincent's vocals overall here are as excellent as the slow, odd, and evil riffage. Also the music video kicks ass and showed up on Beavis & Butthead. What better of an honor can you get?
61. Stabwound - Necrophagist
The very best wankery fueled tech-death yet produced appears on Necrophagist's Epitaph. Me and my friends usually describe this band as sounding like Yngwie Malmsteen playing brutal death metal. Turkish/German born Muhammed Suiçmez offers up a dazzling bit of songwriting here and the whole thing kicks off with "Stabwound". This song pretty much tells you everything you need to know about Necrophagist. The riffs are even more complex than the leads, the drumming is superhuman, there's bass solos, and above all, it's all hooky as fuck and incredibly punishing.
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