Deiphago - I, The Devil (2019)

Even more than with the previous one there's so much going on and it's so intense in this new Deiphago album, I, The Devil, that it took me some time to appreciate it. But I now understand it's another masterpiece. Their "war metal" style black/death hybrid is not only more brutal and intense than what others are doing, but they also have a more daring and complex songwriting. We could call it "technical war metal" but actually it has more a kind of "free war metal" feel. They are this time again in their own dimension, and it's inspired, inspiring and brilliant.

The Bandcamp page.

Gouge - Beyond Death (2015)

If you like old school death metal and thrash metal this one is not to be missed. Gouge is a Norwegian band playing some thrash / death that sounds like when thrash was turning into death metal. So it's between early death metal (like stuff from Paul Speckman for exemple) and early Slayer (Reign in Blood) or even early Sepultura as well. Fast, raw, death metal vocals, some blast beats and an aggressive thrash metal vibe. All that makes their album, Beyond Death, released last year on Hells Headbanger, a very enjoyable album, especially if you're fond of the early extreme metal era it evokes (I am!).


The Bandcamp page.

Embalmer - Emanations from the Crypt (2016)

You can't really make an album more death-metal than this one. Raw and brutal old-school death metal. Emanations from the Crypt is released in 2016 (by Hell's Headbangers records) but that could have been made in 1996. Timeless death-metal. The real deal. Embalmer is a band from Cleveland and they are making death metal since the early nineties, but it was mostly demos (but excellent ones!) and a first album that they felt was not really true to the band so this one can be seen like their first "proper" album even though they are far from juniors... The typical death metal vocals are great, the drummer is doing a great job with his non-triggered drumkit, the crazy guitar playing reminds the good stuff from Deranged, so it's all good. really cool stuff (well, on the rotten side of "cool" of course!), one of my favourite death metal release this year so far.

The Bandcamp page.

Deiphago - Into the eye of Satan (2015)

Deiphago, the filipino trio, one of the best brutal, raw and chaotic black / death metal band are back with their fourth album called Into the eye of Satan (released by Hell's headbangers). Deiphago's music is raw and chaotic in nature but it's never an excuse for poor production and approximative musicianship, quite the contrary. Colin Marston did an excellent job on production duty (the bass is MASSIVE, everything sounds powerfull and clearly distinguishable), and the musicianship is high class. The drumming is manic and relentless but also full of versatility and never messy. The bass, with it's huge sound and the power trio format, is able to bring something more interesting than just adding some bass frequencies to the music and is a full component in the songs and in the atmosphere of the album. But the most impressive is the lead guitar parts with some otherwordly weird soloing. It's really surprising to find, in such a brutal metal album, solos that are fast, dissonant and crazy but often sounds more like jazz than metal, they are excellent and really catch you off-guard, and are surprisingly fitting well the chaotic atmosphere of the album.If you are looking for radical and extreme metal, with a unique personnality, look no further, Into the eye of Satan is the real deal. One of the best and most interesting extreme metal album of the year.

The Bandcamp page.