It’s been a week. I found myself when it was all done slumped on my couch in my den, a pile of cassettes I’ve accumulated over the past year, blasting scuzzy death metal to chase away the fog and stress and depression. It worked (to a degree), and I started to think about doing a playlist of just the cassettes I’ve amassed. That’s probably make a future playlist, especially once I start getting down to the business of actually reviewing them, and thinking about why I started collecting cassettes again (nostalgia I’d guess). For now I want to focus on music that’s loud, fast, and filled with filth.

• Cannibal Corpse – “Hammer Smashed Face”
• Undeath – “Disputatious Malignancy”
• Ripped to Shreds – “Perverting the Funeral Rites, Stripping For The Dead”
• Begravement – “A Horrific Illusion”
• Laceration – “Strangled By Hatred”
• Oxygen Destroyer – “Thy Name Is Legion”
• Deceased – “Children of the Morgue”
• Gatecreeper – “The Black Curtain”
• Horrendous – “Cult of Shaad’oah”
• Cadaver – “The Age Of The Offended”
• Celestial Sanctuary – “Biomineralization (Cell Death)”
• Afterbirth – “Tightening The Screws”
• Incantation – “Homunculus (Spirit Made Flesh) IX”
• Cruciamentum – “Abhorrence Evangelium”

One stone cold classic aside (how do you NOT start with Cannibal Corpse), most of these are 2024 releases, with a few other favorites from the past couple years. Much as I love the old school death metal of my youth, I’d be lying if I said there was no good modern death metal. There’s plenty of good new metal and even more GREAT death metal being made right now. That’s about the extent of my commentary this week – each of these bands absolutely rip insane riffs, double kicks, and solos that will peel the skin off your skull.

Even better news? They’re all on Bandcamp (even Cannibal Corpse!), so you can support your death metal titans by checking out my Bndcmpr playlist here.

Be safe, be good to each other. See you next week.