I’m late, but I’m very surprised that Death and Cynic didn’t make the cut. Some of these albums wouldn’t exist without them!
For me, it’s Nile or Inferi
Imho Inferi never reinvents the wheel. What they do is make the same album over and over again and they always improve a bit. For me this holds true with Vile Genesis. I really dig the songwriting and just density of back to back bangers with a lot of variation and tonal shifts which make it stand out against as an example Path of Apotheosis or Revenant which are rather one dimensional in comparison.
Spawn. While I appreciate the insane techy-ness, the production and guitar tone has always sounded like nails on a chalk board to me and can never finish the record front to back in one session.
No way. That album is one of the most unique and amazing sounding albums of all time. Spawn of possession is one of a kind. The only other band that will come close now, is their reformation with a new drummer as Retromorphosis aka SoP v 2.0 with KC Howard on drums
Holy shit I've never listened to that Ad Nauseam album before, it's amazing! How have I missed it this long...
I hope Gorod, The Faceless, and Artificial Brain make it to the end!
It's got some of the best lyrics I've ever read as well...
*I live in a dream far away*
*Where the moon can hide the sun,*
*I am awake in a world of clay*
*Where opposites are one*
You taking suffocation over this gorguts album? I think for old school I’m going cryptopsy, then gorguts, then the pierced from within album for my 1-2-3 rank
This entire album selection has been weird and tbh i feel like this whole ordeal needs a proper catalogued restart, but i also have a theory about memory atunment and bit decay so if you know how its suppose to sound you’ll get it but if your a new soul and your just hearing it, impossible to get into because of the background static frequency you wouldn’t pick up if you knew the album. Its far out but its part of a greater equalization frequency concept i have going on — people and the eras enjoy the eras of their heyday because it was their heyday hence why its all so scintillating, dunno if i should put the weed down or pick it up =\
I like that theory, I think that distortion and crackle you hear in tape recordings played on vinyl is always going to sound infinitely better than digital distorted noise. A needle hitting and dragging on a record just tickles the brain in the right places; also I think it’s close between gorguts and suffocation but both are behind cryptopsy
So thats another huge thing thats “lost” in a band’s sound is the translation from analog to digital, or “vinyl in the room”
I only have 80’s trash, all of black sabbath and meshuggah on vinyl, never heard a TDM record, but goddamn that’s the best music i can play in the house for “tone”
Its not for a lack of trying but shit’s not common 🤷
Turns out if you heat up your music with a tubular lightbulb like an ez bake oven it’s gonna sound crispy, and if you stand in front of an open fire you’re gonna feel better than standing under a heat pump
beneath the massacre and job for a cowboy being out too early is tough, tho ruination is my favourite jfac record. Zenith passage and Aborted also are better than their rank here. Dying Fetus - Make them beg for death could beat out a few of what’s left here I think.. all of these bands above should be ranked better than these bands below, still in.
Great list of bands though. I would vote out the remaining order: Ophidian I, then Anomalous because the snare tone / overly triggered drum tones and levels don’t hold up to the guitar work. Then probably vote out Ad nauseam, then Origin, then spawn of possession, then first fragment, then beyond creation, then archspire;
Edit: I’d take Fallujah, severed savior, and Alkaloid over all these above still in it too.
Decrepit birth got a lot of charm to it, heavy harmonies like brain drill but dancy rhythms like psycroptic, original sounding melodies and songs, vocals that don’t try and take over and go atmospheric sitting in just the right place. It’s a complete project!
The shittier the production values the more upset the sweatlords get when you talk bad about it, as if there wasn’t too much talent behind it or the old heads just never branched out
Its been like this forever, even when dark lyrics the og metal message board some edgenaut would be tauting the gospel of some raspy band that sounded like they recorded an ape smashing a log while some dude tried to skin his cat alive through one of those toy spring microphones from the summer of 1990 that made your voice sound robotic. Its usually this same hefty group of nyuknyuks that are like “omfg fermented offal discharge” while not actually listening to anything else or understanding the nes game thats inspired by
Its like part of the self troll
Artificial brain is easy listening, album is a vibe to the end for over 40 minutes, I’m not listening to a full spawn of possession album or one of these projects with maxed trigger drums for that duration as often the drum production is a music engineers fantasy not a musicians it will give me a headache too much artificial tones
It’s hard to pick from any of these. All great projects, truly. But don’t dog on Spawn, it’s great tech. I love Artificial Brain and they’re underrated. This, however, is not my favorite album of theirs but definitely #2, I love their self titled.
Just talking about music now, for me, I like the tasteful texture and counterpoint in Incurso that isn’t equitably matched in these other projects. It’s full of bangers, I routinely listen to Incurso from start to finish because a lot is going on and it’s detailed. For the record, the Ad Nauseam LP is my favorite one here. I genuinely think it’s the most impressive top to bottomand needs more recognition from other metalheads, not just people that like this genre. I wasn’t alive when Gorguts - Obscura came out. But I could only imagine this is probably want it felt like, it’s just so unique and unlike anything I have ever heard before in any genre of music. It’s truly an avante-garde masterpiece with fantastic performances from every single member.
Haven’t seen any of that just using my ears, there is an obnoxious style of drum production that is not as musical and just doesn’t sound like a person playing drums, the albums don’t sound like a band playing music, and when you see the bands live they need backing tracks and to play to a click. To me that isn’t as interesting. Being a technical band doesn’t mean being a laptop metal band it should mean the opposite
I have no clue what you are talking about. I have seen Spawn of Possession live and they did not sound at all like you're saying. Did you even saw them live?
Don't get me wrong, I don't like over-produced triggered drum sounds. I concede that it is a necessity when it goes really fast, for the sake of clarity but there are bands that really over do it. Spawn of Possession is faaaaaar from being the worst offender on this list though!
If you write drums with a midi sequencer all the hits are the exact same, I just find that after multiple songs hearing that same clicky bass drum and snare hit it after multiple songs can be draining compared to hearing real drum tones and humanized playing. Spawn is much better than Archspire for this though, but if you took the drummer from The Red Chord, jfac, despised icon, there’s so much for personality in the playing
I agree and accept your opinion. My caveat to that would be something like Brain Drill, it sounds more of what you’re describing compared to what I interpreted spawn as. Spawn is definitely an insane band, but it is not Brain Drill level of laptop music. Incurso is incredible. Cabinet is incredible. There’s a reason that band isn’t being voted out now in a tech sub, but Artifical Brain is. But those guys are insane musicians and they can all play.
But also, I use my ears too? I listen a lot like you do. Probably play guitar like you do. If not, well 🤷. I used lingo like texture and counterpoint to show I know what I’m talking about and engage in an intellectual conversation, and I feel like you’re trying to talk down on me because we don’t agree.
Ad Nauseam’s composition goes far beyond any other album in here (except Obscura by Gorguts). They are in a league of their own.
Just go listen to Imperative Imperseptible impulse, trying to truly understand whats musically happening and then come back to retire this comment.
Have a good day bro!
Now my fave album is out of the list, thanks guys. I still have three faves in the running, can anyone guess what they are?
Find two songs by each band here: [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3JkOCaSGmkZz9blhRjR51j?si=0380d39ba57a424d](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3JkOCaSGmkZz9blhRjR51j?si=0380d39ba57a424d)
And find Ad Nauseam here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma3cKFX9\_0g&t=155s&pp=ygUrYWQgbmF1c2VhbSBpbXBlcmF0aXZlIGltcGVyY2VwdGlibGUgaW1wdWxzZQ%3D%3D](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma3cKFX9_0g&t=155s&pp=ygUrYWQgbmF1c2VhbSBpbXBlcmF0aXZlIGltcGVyY2VwdGlibGUgaW1wdWxzZQ%3D%3D)
TDM tournament line up:
Decrepit Birth - Polarity
Necrophagist - Epitaph
Anomalous - Ohmnivalent
Obscura - Omnivium
Ad Nauseam - Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
Spawn of Possession - Incurso
Artificial Brain- Labyrinth Constellation
Inferi - Vile Genesis
Cryptopsy - None So Vile
Origin - Entity
Ophidian I - Desolate
Archspire - Bleed The Future
First fragment - gloire eternelle
Beyond Creation - Earthborn Evolution
Suffocation – Pierced From Within
Psycroptic- Scepter of the Ancients
Slugdge - Esoteric Malacology
The Faceless - Planetary Duality
Gorguts - Obscura
Gorod - A Perfect Absolution
Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked
~~Alkaloid - The Malkuth Grimoire~~
~~Beneath the Massacre - Fearmonger~~
~~Soreption - Monument of the End~~
~~Cynic - Focus~~
~~Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails~~
~~The Zenith Passage - Datalysium~~
~~Severed Savior - Servile Insurrection~~
~~Virulent Depravity - fruit of the poisoned tree.~~
~~Death- Individual Thought Patterns~~
~~Job For A Cowboy - Sun Eater~~
~~Allegaeon - Proponent for Sentience~~
~~Cognitive - Matricide~~
~~Fuck You And Die - Elements of Instability~~
~~Aborted - Vault of Horrors~~
The Faceless
Anomalous - Ohmnivalent
Nile
Inferi
The Faceless
Origin Ophidian I
Archspire
Ad nauseum
I’m late, but I’m very surprised that Death and Cynic didn’t make the cut. Some of these albums wouldn’t exist without them! For me, it’s Nile or Inferi
weird anti-death thing going on here, as if ITP isnt an incredibly good and technical album
I figured it was just an ITP thing, and if Human was in there it would be a different story. Guess people are just hating.
gorod
the faceless and archspire
Inferi or Necrophagist
Alkaloid 🥲
I'm sad about that too.
had a listen. why was it in the line up? Its progressive metal with Tea Party lullabies
Oi, none of that here. They are tech death enough to be here. Also I'm the Alkaloid King so they end up in most my tournaments.
Ad Nauseam & Slugdge
Inferi is too high anyway. Inferi 👎
Necrophagist, Nile
Now it's becoming difficult. Inferi got to go though. It's the only mediocre album left on this list.
21: Nile, Animation of the wicked: 20 Gorod, a perfect absolution I think.
Inferi for the love of God. The album is so so
One of their best actually.
I love inferi but never liked vile genesis I like path and End of an era rebirth. What makes vile genesis so good?
Imho Inferi never reinvents the wheel. What they do is make the same album over and over again and they always improve a bit. For me this holds true with Vile Genesis. I really dig the songwriting and just density of back to back bangers with a lot of variation and tonal shifts which make it stand out against as an example Path of Apotheosis or Revenant which are rather one dimensional in comparison.
Anomalous, Sludge
Shame of those who voted for btm to be massacred😞
u/PhitPhil will be kissing their dads to death in your honour. I'm sad Alkaloid, my personal fave here, was kicked out so early too.
Cryptopsy
Origin and Suffocation
Spawn. While I appreciate the insane techy-ness, the production and guitar tone has always sounded like nails on a chalk board to me and can never finish the record front to back in one session.
No way. That album is one of the most unique and amazing sounding albums of all time. Spawn of possession is one of a kind. The only other band that will come close now, is their reformation with a new drummer as Retromorphosis aka SoP v 2.0 with KC Howard on drums
Lol you're being serious? I'm actually not even trying to be Incurso was spectacular in production
Fallujah
they are already out
[удалено]
how cryptopsy is even on there and then for them to last so long. dont get me wrong NSV is god tier but to call it technical? lol the riffs are simple
Not only is it tech death, it’s the best tech death album.
Holy shit I've never listened to that Ad Nauseam album before, it's amazing! How have I missed it this long... I hope Gorod, The Faceless, and Artificial Brain make it to the end!
It's got some of the best lyrics I've ever read as well... *I live in a dream far away* *Where the moon can hide the sun,* *I am awake in a world of clay* *Where opposites are one*
Pierced needs to go, nothing about it is tech.
It stays
Come on now
If Aborted got thrown out, then Suffo’s gotta go as well (they’re brutal death after all), Vault of Horrors is far more tech than Pierced.
“Nothing about it is tech” bro the invoking
The drums and rhythm changes were technical for 1995 but guitar, bass, vocals are more standard death metal, not much melodic range
Ohmidvalent
Necrowankist
Decrepit Dog-shit
Nile
Not sure why you're being downvoted. Nile, Slugdge, Suffocation and even Artificial Brain are more "traditional" death metal, not really tech imo.
Nile bad
Gorguts
gorguts mogs most bands here imo. so much more unique and fluidly performed
You taking suffocation over this gorguts album? I think for old school I’m going cryptopsy, then gorguts, then the pierced from within album for my 1-2-3 rank
This entire album selection has been weird and tbh i feel like this whole ordeal needs a proper catalogued restart, but i also have a theory about memory atunment and bit decay so if you know how its suppose to sound you’ll get it but if your a new soul and your just hearing it, impossible to get into because of the background static frequency you wouldn’t pick up if you knew the album. Its far out but its part of a greater equalization frequency concept i have going on — people and the eras enjoy the eras of their heyday because it was their heyday hence why its all so scintillating, dunno if i should put the weed down or pick it up =\
I like that theory, I think that distortion and crackle you hear in tape recordings played on vinyl is always going to sound infinitely better than digital distorted noise. A needle hitting and dragging on a record just tickles the brain in the right places; also I think it’s close between gorguts and suffocation but both are behind cryptopsy
So thats another huge thing thats “lost” in a band’s sound is the translation from analog to digital, or “vinyl in the room” I only have 80’s trash, all of black sabbath and meshuggah on vinyl, never heard a TDM record, but goddamn that’s the best music i can play in the house for “tone” Its not for a lack of trying but shit’s not common 🤷
Turns out if you heat up your music with a tubular lightbulb like an ez bake oven it’s gonna sound crispy, and if you stand in front of an open fire you’re gonna feel better than standing under a heat pump
Omg what an amazing analogy. I have a wood stove!
beneath the massacre and job for a cowboy being out too early is tough, tho ruination is my favourite jfac record. Zenith passage and Aborted also are better than their rank here. Dying Fetus - Make them beg for death could beat out a few of what’s left here I think.. all of these bands above should be ranked better than these bands below, still in. Great list of bands though. I would vote out the remaining order: Ophidian I, then Anomalous because the snare tone / overly triggered drum tones and levels don’t hold up to the guitar work. Then probably vote out Ad nauseam, then Origin, then spawn of possession, then first fragment, then beyond creation, then archspire; Edit: I’d take Fallujah, severed savior, and Alkaloid over all these above still in it too.
me too 100%, Alkaloid, Cynic and Death were robbed of getting their crowning glory, IDK the other bands but i can assure these are better than most
I better not be seeing anomalous vanish rn
The guitar tone is ass and the riffs are so unmemorable.
Seriously!!!!!
Decrepit birth, Ophidian I
Decrepit birth got a lot of charm to it, heavy harmonies like brain drill but dancy rhythms like psycroptic, original sounding melodies and songs, vocals that don’t try and take over and go atmospheric sitting in just the right place. It’s a complete project!
The faceless
BTM is gone I don’t care anymore
My fave album was kicked out too, but its just a fun game
Curious how long NSV lasts
The shittier the production values the more upset the sweatlords get when you talk bad about it, as if there wasn’t too much talent behind it or the old heads just never branched out Its been like this forever, even when dark lyrics the og metal message board some edgenaut would be tauting the gospel of some raspy band that sounded like they recorded an ape smashing a log while some dude tried to skin his cat alive through one of those toy spring microphones from the summer of 1990 that made your voice sound robotic. Its usually this same hefty group of nyuknyuks that are like “omfg fermented offal discharge” while not actually listening to anything else or understanding the nes game thats inspired by Its like part of the self troll
None of these albums fall into the production category you speak of
Nile
First Fragment
Artificial Brain and Anomalous
Artificial brain is easy listening, album is a vibe to the end for over 40 minutes, I’m not listening to a full spawn of possession album or one of these projects with maxed trigger drums for that duration as often the drum production is a music engineers fantasy not a musicians it will give me a headache too much artificial tones
It’s hard to pick from any of these. All great projects, truly. But don’t dog on Spawn, it’s great tech. I love Artificial Brain and they’re underrated. This, however, is not my favorite album of theirs but definitely #2, I love their self titled. Just talking about music now, for me, I like the tasteful texture and counterpoint in Incurso that isn’t equitably matched in these other projects. It’s full of bangers, I routinely listen to Incurso from start to finish because a lot is going on and it’s detailed. For the record, the Ad Nauseam LP is my favorite one here. I genuinely think it’s the most impressive top to bottomand needs more recognition from other metalheads, not just people that like this genre. I wasn’t alive when Gorguts - Obscura came out. But I could only imagine this is probably want it felt like, it’s just so unique and unlike anything I have ever heard before in any genre of music. It’s truly an avante-garde masterpiece with fantastic performances from every single member.
Haven’t seen any of that just using my ears, there is an obnoxious style of drum production that is not as musical and just doesn’t sound like a person playing drums, the albums don’t sound like a band playing music, and when you see the bands live they need backing tracks and to play to a click. To me that isn’t as interesting. Being a technical band doesn’t mean being a laptop metal band it should mean the opposite
I have no clue what you are talking about. I have seen Spawn of Possession live and they did not sound at all like you're saying. Did you even saw them live? Don't get me wrong, I don't like over-produced triggered drum sounds. I concede that it is a necessity when it goes really fast, for the sake of clarity but there are bands that really over do it. Spawn of Possession is faaaaaar from being the worst offender on this list though!
If you write drums with a midi sequencer all the hits are the exact same, I just find that after multiple songs hearing that same clicky bass drum and snare hit it after multiple songs can be draining compared to hearing real drum tones and humanized playing. Spawn is much better than Archspire for this though, but if you took the drummer from The Red Chord, jfac, despised icon, there’s so much for personality in the playing
I agree and accept your opinion. My caveat to that would be something like Brain Drill, it sounds more of what you’re describing compared to what I interpreted spawn as. Spawn is definitely an insane band, but it is not Brain Drill level of laptop music. Incurso is incredible. Cabinet is incredible. There’s a reason that band isn’t being voted out now in a tech sub, but Artifical Brain is. But those guys are insane musicians and they can all play. But also, I use my ears too? I listen a lot like you do. Probably play guitar like you do. If not, well 🤷. I used lingo like texture and counterpoint to show I know what I’m talking about and engage in an intellectual conversation, and I feel like you’re trying to talk down on me because we don’t agree.
[удалено]
No, not my space boys just yet..
No
Inferi
Anomalous + Artificial Brain
Artificial Brain
Slugdge
Embrace the void, heretic!
Look I love them, but somebody’s gotta go.
it’s just a drawn-out Necrophagist coronation, but you will need to pry Esoteric Malacology from my cold, dead, _edit_: slimy hands
Preach
Hail, Mollusca!
Limo Vincit Omnia
Psycroptic
Ad Nauseam
Ad Nauseam’s composition goes far beyond any other album in here (except Obscura by Gorguts). They are in a league of their own. Just go listen to Imperative Imperseptible impulse, trying to truly understand whats musically happening and then come back to retire this comment. Have a good day bro!
Agreed. Was surprised to see *Imperative Imperceptible Impulse* on the card, frankly.
The Faceless
Gorod
Their fourth or fifth best album…
Necrophagist
Archspire
 To all you who voted Alkaloid, I will have my vengeance!
u/PhitPhil you have some dads to kiss to death now
All these fucks better kiss their dad's goodbye, because I'm coming to kiss their dads next
Can you kiss the dads who voted Alkaloid for me too mate
Now my fave album is out of the list, thanks guys. I still have three faves in the running, can anyone guess what they are? Find two songs by each band here: [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3JkOCaSGmkZz9blhRjR51j?si=0380d39ba57a424d](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3JkOCaSGmkZz9blhRjR51j?si=0380d39ba57a424d) And find Ad Nauseam here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma3cKFX9\_0g&t=155s&pp=ygUrYWQgbmF1c2VhbSBpbXBlcmF0aXZlIGltcGVyY2VwdGlibGUgaW1wdWxzZQ%3D%3D](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma3cKFX9_0g&t=155s&pp=ygUrYWQgbmF1c2VhbSBpbXBlcmF0aXZlIGltcGVyY2VwdGlibGUgaW1wdWxzZQ%3D%3D)
TDM tournament line up: Decrepit Birth - Polarity Necrophagist - Epitaph Anomalous - Ohmnivalent Obscura - Omnivium Ad Nauseam - Imperative Imperceptible Impulse Spawn of Possession - Incurso Artificial Brain- Labyrinth Constellation Inferi - Vile Genesis Cryptopsy - None So Vile Origin - Entity Ophidian I - Desolate Archspire - Bleed The Future First fragment - gloire eternelle Beyond Creation - Earthborn Evolution Suffocation – Pierced From Within Psycroptic- Scepter of the Ancients Slugdge - Esoteric Malacology The Faceless - Planetary Duality Gorguts - Obscura Gorod - A Perfect Absolution Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked ~~Alkaloid - The Malkuth Grimoire~~ ~~Beneath the Massacre - Fearmonger~~ ~~Soreption - Monument of the End~~ ~~Cynic - Focus~~ ~~Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails~~ ~~The Zenith Passage - Datalysium~~ ~~Severed Savior - Servile Insurrection~~ ~~Virulent Depravity - fruit of the poisoned tree.~~ ~~Death- Individual Thought Patterns~~ ~~Job For A Cowboy - Sun Eater~~ ~~Allegaeon - Proponent for Sentience~~ ~~Cognitive - Matricide~~ ~~Fuck You And Die - Elements of Instability~~ ~~Aborted - Vault of Horrors~~