Welcome once more to Death’s Door. I’ll cut to the chase. Death metal is having one of its best years in recent memory. We’re not even done with the year yet and I have a top ten to rival even the most incredible years since I started writing with the blog nearly a decade ago. There are several albums yet to be released that I predict could be contenders for list space, which in October is a pretty wild reality to be living in.
The Golden Age of Death Metal is not yet dead. Thank our infernal underlords.
A few of the albums covered here are most likely making my year-end list, as September was an uncommonly strong month for the genre. Next month’s entry will be even more insane (you know why). So strap in and prepare your body for the glut that is late-year 2024 death metal. There’s an incredible amount of quality material that has already been covered here, and still a good deal more to come.
Death metal. Forever.
-Jonathan Adams
Cream of the Crop
Pyrrhon - Exhaust
A new Pyrrhon album never fails to get the death metal fanatics (and most of us at Heavy Blog HQ) frothing at the mouth for their latest concoction of complexity and disorder. So, when Exhaust, the NYC crew’s fifth full length, dropped without fanfare or warning on September 6th, the underground death metal scene predictably lost its shit entirely. Even Brendan Sloan of Convulsing was posting about his joy at this epic ghost drop. Nobody knew Exhaust was coming and what a sumptuous surprise it was. Over four years had passed since Abcess Time was released and the world needed new Pyrrhon, probably more than we even realised.
I’ve always respected Pyrrhon for what they do and how they do it. Their disturbing and intense sound is not just unique, it’s often truly innovative. However, I will admit that I don’t come back to their previous albums too often. I have to be in the right mood and appropriate frame of mind to dive into their murky world. At the time of writing, Exhaust has been out for nearly a month, and it’s already become an album I want to revisit and explore in more detail. But why is this release resonating with me in a different way to their previous albums? It’s still twisted and deranged in all the ways you’d expect, but it feels like a layer of dense mist has been removed, allowing some clarity to shine through. The compositions feel more focused and there's also a huge amount of variety throughout the ten tracks.
This could be down to the writing process for Exhaust, which saw the band retreat to a cabin in rural Pennsylvania and try to reconnect after a lot of time apart. The results were three songs that felt right for Pyrrhon in 2024, and these were the foundations they built on. The band say this process brought them closer together and helped the music pour out more naturally. This really does feel like a fresh take on their sound, almost as though they don’t need to prove anything. They trusted their instincts and experience
Pyrrhon have always been eclectic, but they take it to new levels on this album. For instance, there are Burnt By The Sun and Discordance Axis influences littered all over the first two tracks, from the furious razor-like guitars on opener “Not Going To Mars”, through to the pinched harmonics and tortured screams of “First As Tragedy. Then As Farce”. Whilst some of these grindcore elements have raised their head on previous releases, nods to bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Drowningman were not on my bingo card, but I’m most definitely here for them. “Strange Pains” is a stand out track showcasing some of these mathcore vibes, and I swear it could easily masquerade as an unreleased B-side from One Of Us Is The Killer.
There is a point halfway through the album that stopped me in my tracks, and it comes in the form of “Out Of Gas”. Damn, this is one seriously dark tunnel of a song, and I’m pretty sure that’s the point, to take you on a particularly unpleasant journey. It feels and sounds like something Khanate would come up with if they attempted to write anything closely resembling death metal. Its eerie opening of distorted, warbling bass slowly builds into something utterly claustrophobic and harrowing. Possibly my favourite track on the whole album.
I could go through every track and list the various elements and captivating moments that jump out, believe me there are many (such as the melodic middle section on “Luck Of The Draw” that melts away to leave you with one of the most disgusting riffs you’ve ever heard), but I won’t do that, because you need to hear this for yourself. All the performances are mind blowing. Colin Marston’s production is ridiculous. Even the album artwork is sick. Seriously, this is one of the best releases of the year so far and if you appreciate heavy music you need this in your life.
-PK
Best of the Rest
Interloper - A Forgotten Loss
It’s been a long road for Interloper. From their gestation as a somewhat bright and technically focused band, Interloper have dug deeper and deeper into their death metal roots. 2021’s Search Party was when the band first made its mark on me, shedding much of the affectations which came with the particular scene they were embedded in and producing an expansive and rich progressive death metal album. I was expecting more of that when I hit play on A Forgotten Loss but maybe I should have been paying closer attention to the album’s cover (not to mention the pre-release singles): this album is a much darker, and more aggressive, affair than anything Interloper have done before.
At its core lies a denser, more meaty approach to death metal, conjuring comparisons to Gojira, especially when you bring to bear the “shouty” style of the harsh vocals. However, much of the Interloper DNA is still pumping beneath the surface of this release. The clean vocals have been a staple of the band and they are far from abandoned here, even if they are relegated to more of a backing role. This makes sense amidst the chuggy riffs, industrial pick sweeps, and overall more metallic tone of the album. They’ve become a sort of balm, a ray of chromaticism in a forest made of edges and velocity.
There are other hints of this color in the remnants of Interloper’s penchant for sweeping guitar leads and big transitions, further serving as “flagposts” amidst the otherwise pummeling delivery of this release. The main thing which Interloper have kept from their previous sound, however, was their agility in writing songs; no track on this album is quite the same as the previous or next ones, leading to a lot of much needed variety alongside the more straightforward approach of the notes themselves. By keeping hold of these crucial parts of their identity and melding them with a more violent sound, Interloper have taken the next step of their career deeper into the treasure trove of death metal’s aggression. And, I for one, love to see it.
-Eden Kupermintz
Cyborg Octopus - Bottom Feeder
Interestingly enough, my other pick for this month is also for a band with which I have a lot of history. Cyborg Octopus have been slinging their brand of over the top and unapologetic progressive death metal for years now and my infatuation with them started all the way back with 2016’s Learning to Breathe. However, I felt like they have struggled in the past few years to really find their identity; everything they’ve made has been competent but I’ve found myself questioning its necessity. That has been thankfully dispelled on Bottom Feeder, as the band have returned to unleashing their progressive grandiosity on the listener. Through intricate riff, cheesy synth, and wild song structure, Bottom Feeder feels like an album I needed Cyborg Octopus for. It homes in on their niche and unique sound and executes that to a tee, never stopping for too much breath as it spirals downwards and downwards into the band’s musical imagination.
P.S “Afterburner” for “Best Opening Riff 2024”
-EK
Ingurgitating Oblivion - Ontology of Nought
Writing about metal is an interesting exercise in language. As a reviewer, my principal task is to convey in words what a track or album sounds like and whether such sounds are interesting enough for you to spend time digesting them. Which, in and of itself, is a somewhat strange enterprise when you think about it. But here we are, doing the thing. With such visceral, extreme sounds constantly pummeling the ears, one has to develop a sort of lexicon of sorts to let listeners know what they’re getting themselves into. Words like brutal, pummeling, punishing, vicious, intense, and violent all pop up pretty frequently particularly in conjunction with death metal, and get used far too liberally by yours truly. But it’s all language based in the familiar tropes of a subgenre we all love, and while interpretations on the appropriate application of these words will vary, frequent readers can paint a pretty clear mental picture of how an album might sound based on the catchphrases and common descriptors included.
Why do I write out all that boring shit? Mainly because my job gets increasingly difficult when records so thoroughly buck conventions that they become difficult to describe. There are a few bands that come to mind in this strange space, like Igorrr, Ad Nauseam, and Imperial Triumphant, whose music is so strange that it becomes an exercise in advanced linguistics just to describe what we’re hearing. Such is the case with Germany’s Ingurgitating Oblivion and their third and monumental record, Ontology of Nought. Filled to the absolute brim with a very unique brand of death metal experimentation, it’s a record that’s difficult to put into words. But try I shall, because this album is worth the investment.
It’s been seven years since the band released Vision Wallows in Symphonies of Light, one of the most criminally underrated progressive death metal records of the past several years. While that album had plenty of experimental moments, it doesn’t come close to touching the unique brand of madness that is Ontology of Nought. Feeling simultaneously improvisational and meticulously crafted, it’s a wildly unpredictable and never dull ride through a progressive death metal and free jazz landscape that’s as wild and inspired as anything I’ve heard this year. Featuring five tracks and clocking in at a whopping one hour and thirteen minutes, there’s plenty to unpack, and this is a record you’ll want to spend a hefty chunk of time with. After several careful listens, I can assure fans of the band that your patience will be amply rewarded.
If you're looking to get an emblematic taste of Ontology of ought before diving in headlong, opening track “Uncreation’s Whirring Loom You Pry with Crippled Fingers” should give you all you need to determine whether or not this record is for you. Trust me, this is far from your standard, universal death metal fare. The guitars are belligerent to the extreme, the vocals are abhorrent but constantly captivating, the vocal samples are eerie, the jazz breaks are sudden and masterful, and the production is harsh and suffocating. Vacillating between mid-tempo instrumental sections and warp speed death metal insanity, the songwriting reveals itself to be both deeply intentional and masterful on a nearly prodigious level. There’s so much to unpack here, but I’ll recommend you dive in and find out for yourself.
If Ingurgitating Oblivion’s last record captivated you at all, there’s plenty to love in Ontology of Nought. That said, it’s definitively its own beast, undulating and surging to its own manic pulse that’s equal parts perplexing and arresting. Is it their best album yet? Only time will tell. But it’s clear either way that Ingurgitating Oblivion belong in the upper echelon of progressive/experimental death metal bands working today. I may not have the right words to describe it, but if you’re in the mood for inexplicable and nightmarish jazzy death metal insanity I cannot recommend it highly enough.
-JA
Glacial Tomb - Lightless Expanse
Between 2015 and 2017, the little Scandinavian island country of Iceland unleashed a storm of black metal that has been unmatched in the genre since. Bands like Misthyrming, Sinmara, Svartidaudi, Wormlust, Zhrine, and a host of others released a string of records with a quality level that was almost mind-boggling. While the scene has cooled off a touch since its heyday, there are a couple factors at play that I think made this period so special for the regional scene. The first is a coherent, recognizable sonic signature. The second, and possibly the most foundational of the two, is sharing extremely talented musicians among projects. This combination tends to serve a regional scene well under the right conditions, and it seems that such a magical amalgam of talent and geographic centralization has blown west across the Atlantic and straight down the spine of the Rocky Mountains. Denver, Colorado is in a season of metallic mastery among the likes the US hasn’t seen from a single city in a minute. Blood Incantation, Khemmis, Wayfarer, Primitive Man, Spectral Voice, Allegaeon, The Flight of Sleipnir, Black Curse, Stormkeep, Vale of Pnath, the list goes on and on. There is an incredible wealth of talent coursing through the craggy veins of the mountain range over the last half decade and change, and Glacial Tomb are one more band to stack onto an already overflowing pile of fantastic acts. Their sophomore album, Lightless Expanse, is a marked improvement over their promising debut, and the type of record that cements a band as more than a playful side project, but a fully fledged beast in and of itself.
Comprised of David Small and Ben Hutcherson (both of Khemmis) on bass and guitar respectively and the equally talented Michael Salazar on drums, Glacial Tomb is a deathier, more punishing version of the doomy goodness presented by Small and Hutcherson’s sister band, replete with sludge/doom/black metal-adjacent viciousness and enough riffs to fill even the most skeptical of metalheads’ cup. As alluded to above, one of the record’s main features and strengths is in its songwriting, with the band here bringing to bear a cohesive sonic narrative that features enough unexpected flourishes to never once feel stale or one-note. That being said, from the rip it’s clear that Glacial Tomb are presenting brutalization and audio destruction as their principal imperatives. Opening track “Stygian Abattoir” sets this precedent perfectly, featuring a central death riff (complete with a delicious guitar tone) that feels both nuanced and grimy, and allows these talented musicians to play with the margins of their death metal aesthetic in ways that never stray too far from the genre’s core tenets but open their sound just enough to stay uniformly interesting. As we delve further into the record, the band’s willingness to genre-bend and experiment becomes apparent. “Voidwomb” incorporates some deeply charred blackened elements into the mix as well as some atonal, dissonant passages that add a perfect amount of flavor to the record. Such flourishes can be found in tracks like “Abyssal Host,” which bounces back and forth between progressive death metal solos, sludge-adjacent riffs, and a filthy Incantation-style death-doom finale. “Sanctuary,” one of the stand-outs on the record, is as progressive as Glacial Tomb has ever sounded, throwing in a centerpiece of cosmic Blood Incantation-esque prog rock that fits perfectly into the overall vibe of the track. On top of being stellar musicians, Lightless Expanse showcases Glacial Tomb’s songwriting maturity, resulting in their most coherent and dynamic release yet.
Denver metal is on an absolute tear, and the year isn’t even over yet for the scene. But if the only record we got from the Rocky Mountains this year was Lightless Expanse, we could consider the year a categorical success. This album absolutely rips, and with a runtime of 36 minutes presents a tight listening experience that’s as focused as any genre release you’ll hear this year. I’m head over heels for this record, and the seemingly interminable six year wait between releases was more than worth it. A standout death metal release for 2024, and a record I cannot recommend highly enough.
-JA
