Response: Death Metal Albums for Beginners!
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- Опубліковано 6 гру 2021
- #ThrallsofMetal #DeathMetal #NecroticNick
Decided to do a response video to thrashmaniac 99's video for Death Metal Albums for Beginners in terms of getting people into death metal. Definitely check out his original video and the music in the links below:
Patreon:
www.patreon.com/ThrallsofMeta...
Thrashmaniac 99's original video (SUBSCRIBE!!!)
• 20 Death Metal Albums ...
The Music:
Death- Leprosy
• DEATH - 'Leprosy' Reis...
Suffocation- Effigy of the Forgotten
• Video
At the Gates- Slaughter of the Soul
• At the Gates - Slaught...
Opeth- Deliverance
• Opeth - Deliverance (F...
Vader- Solitude in Madness
• Video
Hooded Menace- Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed
• Hooded Menace - Ossuar...
Behemoth- The Satanist
• Behemoth - Ben Sahar -...
Napalm Death- Harmony Coruption
• Video
Entombed- Left Hand Path
• Video
Carcass- Heartwork
• Video - Розваги
I would add Morbid Angel's "Covenant" as it's their most commercially succesful album and has a lot of hooks. "Domination" does too.
Necrotic Nick- Covenant was definitely a big one for me. I remember seeing the video for God of Emptiness on Beavis and Butthead and being blown away.
"Covenant" was actually my entrance to death metal cause of the "god of emptiness" Video
@@poeklee9981 it was for a whole generation of kids!
even fieldy from KORN loved that song and video.@@thrallsofmetal
My first Death Metal album was Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the Mutilated.
Necrotic Nick- Actually my first was Eaten Back to Life but I was honestly looking for Tomb of Mutilated I just grabbed the wrong one. lol.
First death metal album I ever heard all the way through was Symbolic by Death, and it remains my favorite to this day
Good call on Heartwork. Very catchy album and probably a little easier to get into, for someone not used to death metal
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! I figured the melodic guitar hooks would do the trick for most listeners... if they can get past the vocals. That usually takes more time though.
I'd say Bolt Thrower, especially IVth Crusade or Realm of Chaos are both great introduction albums to death metal. Both really heavy albums with great rhythms that many find enjoyable. And despite being true and iconic osdm, Bolt Thrower as a band is fairly accessible. Times I've gotten a friends into death metal, majority of the time it was through Bolt Thrower.
Necrotic Nick- I thought about putting Bolt Thrower on here but I'd probably go with For Victory since the anthemic vibe is so strong on it in particular. It's my favorite of their groovier era too. Karl's vocals aren't too harsh either so it gives people that whine about the vocals in death metal less to complain about too.
@@thrallsofmetal right, For Victory or 1/4 Crusade are a bit tamer Bolt Thrower compared to Realm of Chaos & Warmaster. 💯🖤
Mercenary was where I came in with Bolt Thrower. Still my overall favorite. For Victory is good too
WARMASTER is incredible!🤘
@@stevenvalenti3722 Warmaster and Realmbof Chaos are my fave BT albums
I came from a thrash and groove background (Megadeth, Havok, Pantera, Sepultura) and my intro to death metal was Gojira's Magma. It got me used to harsher vocals, and then I moved onto their earlier stuff like From Mars to Sirius, and then Death and Revocation and so on and so forth.
Great video man!
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! When I was a teen thrash metal was my main thing but I peppered in some early death metal namely Cannibal Corpse's Eaten Back to Life, Butchered at Birth and Obituary's World Demise. Those 3 were probably my biggest gateway into death metal at the time. I think Gojira in general is a great gateway into heavier music since their style still has a lot of chuggy heft to it.
Magma is great, but I wouldn't call it death metal, the early Gojira stuff- yes. One of my favorite bands. I first got into them about 15 years ago. I feel old lol.
Great list. For me personally Death Leprosy is THE starting place. “Born Dead” is such a catchy damn song that ear worms into your brain and leaves you wanting to find more.
My favorite DM album, and Born Dead is my favorite DM song!
Necrotic Nick- Agreed. It's the blueprint album for death metal in my mind.
LEPROSY is definitely a classic and a great pick I would agree🤘
Idk if its considered death metal but Tapping the Vein by Sodom got me into the more aggressive sound along with Death and Bolt Thrower.
Necrotic Nick- It's definitely a slightly more death metal-ish album by Sodom but I still think it's thrash. Still, it's a solid gateway album into death metal.
Sodom is Gemran thrash, not Death Metal
I would say tapping the vein is thrash with black metal vocals .
My wife and her friend wanted to try listening to something new they aren't familiar with so asked me for a death metal CD. I gave them Leprosy by Death and both said they were surprised by how much they liked it. About an hour after that I came across this video. So I can confidently say I agree with that choice!
Necrotic Nick- Wow! That's almost the atypical reaction in most scenarios so you married well, bro. lol. That's a pretty cool coincidence too. lol
Alters Of Madness by Morbid Angel was my intro into Death Metal. A classic album im the genre imo.
Necrotic Nick- Solid start, bro! The thrashier riffs on that one makes for a easier transition from thrash to death metal.
Death Leprosy forgot how much of an impact that one had on me back when...Left to Die/Pull the Plug...thx Chuck Shuldiner...great master plan with Death discography.
Necrotic Nick- That album pretty much contains everything I love about death metal. They laid the foundation for sure.
@@thrallsofmetal Leprosy pushed me to explore more death metal artists. Same way Ride the Lightning opened up more doors to thrash for me back in 1984. I'm older than you guys, 56. Metal since 1979/1980. Keep up the variety! New/Old acts, concert, album, band reviews, rankings. U guys rate a 10 for keeping Metal Alive! Dime would be proud) 🖤😎⭐
Albums for Death Metal Beginners
Morbid Angel-Altars of Madness
Death-Leprosy
Obituary-Cause of Death
Opeth-Blackwater Park
Gojira-From Mars to Sirius
Carcass-Heartwork
At the Gates-Slaughter of the Soul
Dissection-Storm of the Lights Bane
Hooded Menace- Never Cross the Dead
Swallow the Sun-New Moon
Suffocation-Effigy of the Forgotten
Joke
Necrotic Nick- Solid list, man!
Great albums! Storm of the lights bane is a black metal album though!
For me the hook to death and black metal was how melodic the band was. Coming from NWOBHM and Thrash, I went to Cradle of Filth's Midian, Soilwork's Chainheart Machine and Opeth's Blackwater Park. Over the years I got into Exhumation, On Thorns I Lay, Nightrage, Dimmu Borgir, Insomnium, Wolfheart, Winterfylleth, Windfaerer, Wintersun,The Holeum, Decaying Days and so many others and I never looked back.
Necrotic Nick- A lot of that I didn't get into until I was in my early 20's versus my teens which was when I was first getting into metal in general. I started with thrash and got into Cannibal Corpse and Obituary along the way but I didn't hear a lot of the European metal acts until I got out of my nu metal phase (yeah, I had one lol). I really dove headfirst into the Gothenburg melodeath scene in particular and just branched out from there. It really rekindled my love for extreme metal.
@@thrallsofmetal i never got into bands like Cannibal Corpse. The music to me is just noise and Corpsegrinders vocals (if you can call them that) just aren't appealing. I used to find myself primarily attracted to the guitar work and the melody and over the decades it's slightly pivoted to if I like the vocalists voice and if the music is melodic. I use to live at my local HMV Records and grew to become friends with one of the guys who worked the metal section. Everytime he had an order come in he would pull albums he thought I'd like and put them in my bin behind the counter. Between him doing that and the Knuckle Tracks sampler cd that came with the monthly Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles magazine that's how I discovered most of the European melodic death scene and in particular became quite fond of a lot of the melodeath coming out of Scandinavia. Lately though Bandcamp has been huge in helping me access new bands like Windfaerer, Fires In The Distance, Archaic Decapitator, Crapuscle, Primodial Rigor Mortis, Voidhra, Sentient Horror and so many more.
Fantastic picks. I second “The Satanist”, possibly for different reasons. Nergal had been battling cancer, and I hear it in his voice and lyrics. There is a dire, baleful, almost resigned sound to the record, which ties into the story that the lyrics tell. The devil wins. You will hook a philosophical type, deep, with that record.
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! I definitely tried going down a lot of different avenues here but The Satanist made a lot of sense for black metal fans getting into death metal. You still get all the chuggy riffs but the blackened atmosphere stays intact... and also Satan... because Satan. lol
That Behemoth record the Satanist is a great Listen 🎶
I Loved You at Your Darkest is also good pick. Bartzabel was my first extreme metal song that I like
Resigned? This whole record is nothing but a glorious triumph of his will over his carnal vessel and coming out the other side with a clear sense of identity and purpose (hence the title. I hear anger and intent. A churning Maelstrom of individual power. Certainly there are bits throughout the record indicating a struggle but there's no Nergal feeling sorry for him self here.
@@homunculusprime647 I think they mistook the “acceptance of one’s fate” theme for what they described as “resigned sound”.
Entombed Left Hand Path & Morbid Angel Altars of Madness were my gateway drug to death metal obsession! Obituary, Malevolent Creation & BoltThrower followed. I'm All In) 💯🖤🎸
Necrotic Nick- I think for me it was Eaten Back to Life, Butchered at Birth, World Demise and Covenant that were my first big death metal albums.
@@thrallsofmetal right on, nice choices, early CC, Obituary and Morbid.
My first death metal expiriences was Death, Obituary, Entombed and Deicide. Favorites quickly became Death, Entombed, Bolt Thrower and Brutality. Brutality still my favorite!
2 that i found easy to get into were Bloodbaths Nightmares Made Flesh(it's really catchy) and Dismembers Like An Everflowing Stream(pretty melodic in places and full of great thrash riffs)
Necrotic Nick- By the time I got into those albums I was already a massive death metal fan but I definitely agree with those picks.
Death metal is always an interesting subject for me because it is one of my biggest hit-or-miss subgenres. I think what a lot of it boils down to is I need to be able to clearly differentiate the individual tracks. So, I tend to like death metal that has a lot of catchy hooks, good riffing and maybe some "groove" to it. I also enjoy a lot of aggressive ferocity rather than just brutality if that makes sense. This is why I tend to enjoy a lot of thrash due to it's ferocity. IMO, a lot of your Finnish melodeth has that "ferocious bite" like in thrash which is probably why it's my favorite sub-genre of death metal. That being said, my favorite straight up death metal albums are:
1. Death: Leprosy
2. Amorphis: The Karelian Isthmus
3. Massacre: From Beyond
4. Autopsy: Mental Funeral
5. Skinless: Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead (probably obvious due to the chat, lol)
I also need my death metal to have hooks and to be able to differentiate between the songs. Funny enough, Death’s Leprosy is also my favorite death metal album of all time.
@@nickp3949 Leprosy is actually 2nd favorite Death album though. The Sound of Perseverance is my personal favorite but most people consider that a mix of tech death and melodeth so I didnt include it. But yeah, as far as DEATH metal, Leprosy takes the cake.
Necrotic Nick- I definitely agree with you, bro. Memorable songs with killer hooks that make you want to headbang stay with you. I want the whole rollercoaster for the most part: fast thrashy sections, blast beats, breakdowns and interesting riffs. That's a badass list and I totally agree about Skinless being a great one for deathcore fans to check out especially that album.
Slaughter of the Soul, Cosmogensis, Blackwater Park, and Epitaph got a mostly grunge listening mate of mine into death metal. Nile is now his favourite band.
I was a teenage fan of punk, thrash, and Saint Vitus in the 80s, but got out of metal in the 90s when death replaced thrash. And for the last 30 years I thought I didn’t like death metal. But a couple months ago I ran out of stuff to listen to so I dove into death metal and put in the work. The bands that got me are Autopsy, Obituary, and Pungent Stench. It didn’t take me long to make it to None So Vile. It’s been an awesome couple months.
my god, Thralls thank you. Ive gotten so many awesome albums to listen to because of you. Thanx a ton!!
Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka by Nile was my introduction to death metal coming from an Industrial background in the 90’s. Highly recommend that album to anyone on the same boat!
Necrotic Nick- I really didn't get into Nile until In Their Darkened Shrines came out and then I just backtracked from there. I was still a huge thrash fan and was getting back into death metal and melodeath at that point.
My first death metal album was Nile's Annihilation of the Wicked, that album scared me the first time I tried to listen to it at 15ish lol it will always hold a very special place in my heart
Thanks for taking the time to put this list up discovered a couple of albums I’d not listened too before which are superb cheers. 🤘🏻
My top 10 Death Metal albums for beginners is also sort of my favorite OSDM albums:
10. Utopia Banished - Napalm Death
9. Mental Funeral - Autopsy
8. Formulas Fatal To The Flesh - Morbid Angel
7. Heartwork or Necroticism - Carcass
6. Like An Ever Flowing Stream - Dismember
5. The Red In The Sky Is Ours - At the Gates (though Slaughter Of The Soul works too)
4. Left Hand Path - Entombed
3. Consuming Impulse - Pestilence
2. Cause Of Death - Obituary
1. Leprosy - Death
HM:
From Beyond - Massacre
Deicide's debut
Necrotic Nick- Those are some solid picks, bro. I almost went with Utopia Banished actually.
I really think Opeth was my gateway to Death Metal. Obviously the Bloodbath connection in the 2000's was a big thing, but I got used to more of that growling style with many of the Opeth albums; before Heritage. Great genre though. And thanks for some recs Nick!
I was always more of a thrash and progressive metal fan growing up from my dad being a metal guitarist for various cover bands in the 80s, and I learned the guitar on my own, with some tips from my dad. I would say exposure to death metal started with my dad listening to Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness, Carcass's Heartwork, and Death's Individual Thought Patterns/Symbolic. Metal music was all around me as a kid in the 90s, so I was always open minded to most metal music.
Necrotic Nick- That's some damn fine parenting but I might be biased. lol. My ma encouraged me to go out and find my own music as a teen and while she didn't always like what I found she loved that I was really into it the way she was about the music she grew up with as a kid.
Slaughter of the Soul was absolutely what got me in and while I don't think there was any doubt it'd show up, I'm glad to see it. I think my other steps forward were Behemoth - Satanica and the one that sealed the deal was Skinless - Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead. To me, that's like an untouchable achievement in Brutal Death.
I guess I kinda wedged Death Metal in between the proto bands such as early Sepultura, Slayer and Kreator and then Melodeath with Inflames, Bodom and Amon Amarth. I listened to those bands years before diving in to Death Metal and this probably prepared me for pretty much all the elements in Death Metal, so I just had to get used to them all combined at once.
Albums that won me over were; Leprosy, Symbolic, Heartwork, Left Hand Path, The Nocturnal Silence, Slaughter of the Soul, Those Once Loyal and Piece of Time.
Very interesting video. Good to hear other people's ideas. If they had a teenager who was getting into metal for the first time. This would be my top 10. I would start at the beginning of death metal and avoid modern classics to begin with.
Cannibal Corpse - The Bleeding
Death - Scream Bloody Gore
Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness
Suffocation - Pierced From Within
Asphyx - Last One On Earth
Benediction - Transcend The Rubicon
Burial - Relinquished Souls
Deicide - Once Upon The Cross
Entombed - Left Hand Path
Dismember - Like An Everflowing Stream
Necrotic Nick- That's a solid list. I went about this list a bit differently and based it on what a perspective listener might be into in terms of heavier music and went from there. I've actually done with with friends that were curious about death metal before and some of them got into it over the years because they found something that had elements they already liked.
@@thrallsofmetal if I was totally honest I would add some modern DM bands to the list.
Gatecreeper
Entrails
200 Stab Wounds
Frozen Soul
Skeletal Remains
Outre-Tombe
Necrot
Ah shit. I missed Massacre - From Beyond in my first list. 🤦♂️
@@stevenanderson3936 Well you did mention Burial 'Relinquished Souls' (pretty close to Massacre -haha). Both are great bands!!
Last One On Earth is a very good pick. That album is fuckin' Awesome! The sound of that album is so heavy it crushes🤘
@@stevenvalenti3722 You mean like heavy enough to "crush the cenotaph" ??? (sorry...had that one up my sleeve -haha)
Thanks Nick. You definitely approached this better than I did. Perhaps for next one, I'll adopt your approach and see where it goes. Debating on whether to do thrash, black, prog, or classic metal next.
Necrotic Nick- I wouldn't say better, just differently. You still did a great job and recommended some of the best death metal albums out there in my opinion.
Nice list! I started my daughter on death metal at 2yo and a lot she could care less about but without question, she connected with Bolt Thrower immediately. Those riffs on those once loyal got her so stoked and keep us headbanging to this day
Necrotic Nick- Sounds like you awakened the metalhead within, bro! That's gotta be a proud papa moment. She's already got great taste.
Still watching, but Death, Suffocation and ATG are perfect suggestions. Behemoth are one of my all time fav bands live, record I adore certain songs but can give or take, but live, I will never miss them ever. Great suggestion on Entombed, such a great Death 'N' Roll band (RIP LG). Heartwork is a perfect album, great list.
When I started listening to deathmetal as a 15 year old kid, I heard, Dark Tranquillity "The minds I", Konkhra, At the Gates, Lobotomy (small band from Stockholm), Unleashed, Dismember - "death metal" it was a very catchy album, Cannibal Corpse.
I did start with DT, and some months later I heard Cannibal Corpse.. And that took some time to digest.. But in the end.. C C is now one of mine favorite deathmetal band. 👍
@@SecretAgentBeans Konkhra's 'Sexual Affective Disorder' 1993 and 'Spit or Swallow' 1995 both smoke that album man. 'Weed Out The Weak' is a cool but is honestly pretty commercial sounding for death metal. 'Sexual Affective Disorder' packs a punch like nothing else!! You'll get the "thousand yard stare" after listening to that one -haha!!
Necrotic Nick- I think melodeath is a great gateway into more extreme death metal in general. The melodic hooks keep it catchy and sort of lessen the blow slightly of the heavier stuff.
@@SecretAgentBeans Don't be surprised if your neck hurts te next day man...'Sexual Affective Disorder' is impossible 'not' to headbang along to (haha). -Devon
Death - Spiritual Healing. I say this because it was the first death metal album I heard and I loved it right away.
Necrotic Nick- I love that album too and I pretty much loved it from the second I heard it.
@@thrallsofmetal I totally agree that having a thrash background makes getting into death metal easy/easier. That's how it went for me. It's like death metal is the next logical step from thrash. Don't get me wrong, I love both genres pretty much equally. I'll never understand fans who bow out at say, Slayer in terms of extremeness, heavyness etc.. I'm like "there's this band Deicide who you may like...". They're missing out on an amazing genre of music. To each their own though. Btw Harmony Corruption is my favorite Napalm Death album. Utopia Banished is right up there as well. They're one of the few bands where I prefer the replacement singer over the original. I prefer Barney in Napalm Death and Lee in Cathedral.
To me, Obituary's "Slowly We Rot" and "Cause of Death", and nearly anything by Bolt Thrower (Those Once Loyal is my favorite) are what got me further into death metal tbh.
Death's later stuff was rather melodic but still rather brutal. I think for people into prog metal, and melodic stuff, Death's "Symbolic" is a great starting place to get into heavier stuff.
I think for people interested in more atmospheric varieties of metal (black metal and doom metal being 2 big examples), Autopsy's "Mental Funeral" is a great album. It's death metal with a LOT of atmosphere, and like BM and doom relies less on technical guitar-work and more about bringing an atmosphere of fear. I didn't get into Autopsy until I was very well into my death metal enjoying and wanted to look for more, but I imagine myself enjoying their work when I was just getting into it.
It's often I see people interested in melodic stuff hating on death metal because of its lack of melody. I was one of them actually lol. As I said, Symbolic by Death is a great album for those folks, but here's another good one.
Another band for fans of more melodic metal subgenres (metalcore, melodeath, folk metal, black metal, etc) is Intestine Baalism. Their "lightest" record is imo "Banquet in the Darkness" but "Ultimate Instinct" is the album with in my opinion the most meat. Great mix of melodic riffs and brutality, just like Death's "Symbolic".
It's oft
Necrotic Nick- I think melody and solid repeated hooks are kind of a uniform thing here in terms of winning over new listeners regardless of what camp their coming from. There has to be an earworm but a bit of familiarity helps. If it sounds kinda close to something they already enjoy listening to that's pretty much the foot in the door.
I love intestine baalism, I wish they were more popular
love that VADER made the list!!! though solitude is a much more accessible sound, but "welcome to the morbid reich" which was Spyder's first appearance is also awesome, and DECAPITATED's "anticult" is pretty accessible with its hyper Pantera influences on display.... YMMV :)
Necrotic Nick- For a flat out death metal band Vader is like the perfect band for thrash fans to get into death metal in my mind. Welcome to Morbid Reich was the one I had to decide between with Solitude in Madness for modern Vader for this one. It was a tough choice and honestly both fucking rip. I'm still not the biggest fan of the last 2 Decapitated releases but I think they would be solid gateways into death metal though.
@@thrallsofmetal like minds🤔 i 🖤🖤🖤 it!! thank you ToM and Necrotic Nick for another kick ass vid🤘🔥
Great to see you picked the newest VADER album l really love it. I believe The Empire would have also been a really great choice also. Another awesome! Newer VADER album🤘
Obituary's 'Cause of Death' is a good one to start with too. Groovy, heavy, melodic solo's, simpler songstructures then a Morbid Angel or later Death, no blastbeats and generally easier to the ears compared to others. At least my mom thinks so, and she's always right! Pestilence's 'Testimony of the Ancients' is another gem she digs a bit better than 'Dawn of Posession' or 'Into the Grave' to name a few.. 'Symphonies of Sickness' is a perfect fit for apres-ski parties with lots of Jägertea und Schnapps..vomit on the charlêt floor.. Cheers from The Netherlands!🍺🍺
Necrotic Nick- I definitely considered Obituary's "Cause of Death" or Bolt Thrower's "For Victory" as recommendations since their very groove laden and not overly complex. Pestilence in general is a solid band for thrash fans getting into death metal. Your ma sounds like a badass lady, bro! Cheers, man!
I can remember back in the MySpace days trying to introduce scene kids who liked deathcore into stuff like Purification Through Violence by Dying Fetus and few, if any, got into it. I really don't get it at all. It's like the perfect album for deathcore fans that want to experiment with more traditional death metal. It has that alternate scream/gurggle style vocals, it has breakdowns, it's catchy and has cool hooks...it's basically a deathcore album with more complex guitaring and drumming 😐
Maybe if Dying Fetus was fronted by a teen heart-throb and not a scary bald man they would like it more 😅
Nice phobo shirt, man! Fargo metal! Crazy to see; your video just came up undersuggestions! I live in fargo, and I myself am in a fargo metal band. I'll have to check your videos out. Cheers!
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! I was lucky enough to find this shirt on Night Shift Merch awhile ago. I actually reviewed their Undimensioned Entities EP awhile ago too. Killer EP.
Immolation can easily be one of the essential bands that you Need to get use to it, Paganizer - Beyond the Macabre will convince many people for sure the sounds and the hooks damn it, one of earliest Morbid Angel, for the Doom side early Amorphis can do the job, Gojira also and I will not mentioned any melodic death or Doom Gothic cause it's obviously a gateway but if the goal is to make someone discovering pure death metal then
Obscenity - where sinners bleed or summoning the circle.
Memoriam - Requiem for Mankind or to the end.
Sinister - the carnage ending.
Lifeless - the Occult Mastery.
Dawn of disease - worship the grave or ascension gate or procession of ghosts.
Nyktophobia - any records.
Individual thought patterns. Perfect mid-period Death album. Has everything you need in a death metal album. Chuck Shuldiner, Gene Hoglan, technical ability without losing "the jam" so to speak, melody, and Steve's signature fretless bass sound that has been copied since. While it's not my favorite Death album, it represtents best, what came after.
Also Leprosy, because I feel that best represents early death metal.
Necrotic Nick- I took a lot of different approaches on this one. I kinda based it on what the interested party was into (in terms of metal) and then went with a choice that had some of those elements in it. I figured that was the best way to approach it while also throwing in stuff that pretty much embodies death metal's sound in general.
Then Spiritual Healing lol.
Individual Thoughs Patterns for me its their best! Thats the one i recomend from the get go! 🤘
This was actually my first death metal album 🤘
Being basically a lifelong Metallica, Megadeth and Pantera fan, I came to death metal much later. My gateway albums into death metal were "Cause of Death," "Left Hand Path," and "Altars of Madness." I also hit on Blood Incantation "Hidden History of the Human Race" pretty early on, and I found their approach quite accessible as a newbie to the genre. I knew I was a goner when I was totally hooked on "Abhorrent Manifestation" by Ascended Dead. For death/doom, it's hard to beat Mortiferum for my money.
Thanks for the starter kit! Lol.. I started off thrash in my early teens, went to punk and have stayed punk since then. I love Operation Ivy, The Suicide Machines, Rancid, Pennywise NOFX etc.. I wanted to try something new so I will give these albums a try. Thanks Nick
Nice work, Nick. Great list. I’d have to throw in at least Obituary, Bolt Thrower, and Morbid Angel. But I like your methodology of bridging the gaps for people into different genres
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Yeah, I wanted to cover a lot of bases on this one and since I was only doing 10 I was limited in all the albums to throw in. I figured Leprosy would cover a lot of the classic death metal sound in general.
Great list Nick, certainly can't argue with those choices. I couldn't help but laugh at your Breaking Benjamin analogy as the 2nd death metal album I ever bought was Death's Symbolic and I bought that along with....Cold's 13 Ways To Bleed Onstage lol.
Cheers!
Would like to see a video in this style, but for black metal! I’ve been trying to get into black metal, but sometimes is hard to get recommendations that directly connect to the styles of music that I already like! Keep up the great work guys, can’t wait to see those end of the year lists!
Necrotic Nick- I thinking about returning to this subject in the future and covering different subgenres as well so there might be a chance we do this again relatively soon.
Interesting choices, I agree with a few of them keeping in mind every one of us has different experiences/choices. Keep the videos coming as these are deadly !
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! I wanted to vary it a bit since there's a lot of different styles in death metal. It was tough but I think I made some decent picks overall.
Nice approach and list, Nick. I saved a couple of the suggestions for later listening. I got back into heavy metal close to 6 yrs ago and for me I got into the lighter side first -- power and symphonic metal. The first heavier band I stumbled onto was Arch Enemy. Initially I was shocked by the harsh vocals but morbid curiosity kept me coming back until I began to prefer harsh vocals.
I'd suggest anything melodeath (you touched on it with Carcass -- Heartwork). Dark Tranquility's 'Atoma' would be a great intro for a newb, I figure, a good mix of mellow and heavy. I went to town with melodeath but for a long time I wondered if I ever would like full-on death metal. Took me a few years too, but I pretty much am a full-on DM fan for about 2 yrs now. Geez, I even like stuff like grindcore, deathgrind and brutal/tech death now. Woulda been too much for me just 3 yrs ago. Cheers.
It seems so rare to meet other metal heads of your caliber!
sick collection 🤘
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man!
Great picks, I think this was a really good angle to use! Love all these albums. I’m a big Prog fan so my gateway to Death Metal was Opeth and my gateway to Black Metal was Ihsahn.
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! I've actually heard a lot of people say that Opeth was a big gateway band in to extreme metal in general as well so I thought that would be a great on to include.
Love the Phobophillic shirt. They fucking rule. Their EP is one of my favorite modern DM releases
My journey through metal started around 10 years ago with Disturbed and Avenged Sevenfold (still a guilty pleasure), followed by Megadeth, Slayer, Pantera, and some Slipknot. Once I wore those ones out I got into Exodus (only the Souza stuff though), Testament, and a little Annihilator. Then I took an unexpected turn to Dream Theater, and I just recently got into Opeth, although I've still only dipped my toes in with Blackwater Park and Ghost Reveries, but those albums are absolutely fantastic.
I feel like my biggest struggle getting further into death metal is that a lot of the albums that get suggested just aren't mixed in a way that sounds good to me. The guitar is just background white noise that's almost unintelligible, the vocalist sounds like they're in another room down the hall, the drums aren't balanced well and the snare just pokes through everything and is super distracting, or as a whole it just sounds thin like I might as well be listening in mono.
Perhaps I'm just spoiled by mainly listening to stuff from more popular bands after they became successful and could afford better production.
Just finished listening to Vader's album as I write this, and so far it's definitely the best suggestion for me. Nothing really caught my ear in just a single listen though, and I can't specifically recall a single thing that I heard in the last half hour. I'll have to give it another chance to sink in tomorrow, along with checking out the 2nd half of this list.
I wish someone had done this for me in the mid nineties when I started to branch out to heavier music than thrash and traditional. Grunge, nu metal and industrial were THE thing. I slept on the great releases of the time and didn’t see those pivotal Beavis n Butthead episodes with The Philosopher and God Of Emptiness until about 99 in the UK.
The music press of the time obviously just focused on whoever was popular and you had to really dig to get to what I definitely consider now as ‘the good stuff’.
Awesome vid! I have most of those albums 😊
Been really busy listening to All of Deaths albums, along with Heartwork by Carcass. Such great albums man. I started listening to Entombed awhile back, but I'm really starting to listen to their albums more in depth now a days.
Awesome list. Heartwork was the album that got me into Death Metal back in the days.
Necrotic Nick- That album had such a huge impact on me but I was already a big death metal fan by the time I heard it.
When I was a young ignorant kid in the ways of metal I liked slipknot and genuinely thought that they were the death metal everyone talked about. so I was like yes please more of that and I clicked on the death metal station on Pandora and the first song that played was dying fetus " beaten into submission" and then I was freaking hooked to real death metal
Don’t feel bad about being ignorant, over 20 years ago Death didn’t appeal to me but years later I heard Acheron cover Evil Dead and gave them a second chance when the Death Deluxe Reissued Albums came out.
Necrotic Nick- I think Slipknot did a good job reminding the a generation that metal can be abrasive and brutal and not just poppy like most of nu metal had become. They got me to go back and jam all the death metal that I had pushed to the side in favor of death metal for awhile so I respect them for that. Beaten Into Submission is a favorite of mine. That opening riff is impossible not to headbang too.
The first 2 Autopsy albums are essentials!
I always loved showing Disembowelment 'Transcendence Into The Peripheral' (1993) to friends who were curious to hear the most extreme music that was out there back in the late 90s. Their reactions to that album's unorthodox style was always priceless!! Distinctively infernal and blasting death metal into soul-eroding doom dirges, but also incorporating elements of ethereal mysticism and ambient textures. The production is also very unique (blending filthy and clear tones together). Still highly respected, mysterious, and influential to the ever-growing death-doom genre to this day!! -Devon
Necrotic Nick- That album would definitely do the trick. I don't own that album but I do have the first 2 releases from Inverloch which is kinda close. It's definitely more accessible that Disembowelment, but that isn't saying much. lol
@@thrallsofmetal Actually, I would say Inverloch is still pretty dingy sounding compared to what most death metal band's production was like 10 years ago man (yes, not as ground-breaking, but still great band!!). It is so cool (and strange -ha) that the old-school 'demo' style recording sound is resonating with the newest generation of death metal fans. I got into this stuff in 1995...so I've lived through the desolate "tumbleweeds era" (haha) of the metal underground of the early 2000s. It was not a great time for metal...but my small-town circle of death-head friends were hitting those old-school album 'thanks lists' (Gorguts, Carnage, Disincarnate, Suffocation, Revenant, etc!!) in both cds and cassettes and buying all sorts of great obscure releases that were being traded back to the record stores in the area. Our minds were immersed with what seemed like an invisible music genre in our area (Peoria, IL). It wasn't until Suffocation started touring again for the their excellent 2004 comeback album 'Souls To Deny' in 2005. Things were slowly happening again and in 2008, Daniel Ekeroth's 'The History of Swedish Death Metal' book was released and really got the Swedish DM 'reissue craze' going. Now obscure death metal is easier to access more than ever with these UA-cam recommendation videos!! I could go on all day about the classic 90s underground but wanted to ask if you were familiar with any of these impressive newer DM bands???... Mephetic Corpse (US), Funeral Vomit (CO), Gosudar (RU), Shrieking Demons (IT), Cryptworm (UK), Infested (US), or Torso (FIN)? -Devon
Slipknot's self titled was the bridge that crossed me over when it came out. Bought Emperor's "Anthems..." album soon after and never turned back.
Necrotic Nick- Slipknot's debut and Iowa got me back into death metal in the late 90's/ early 2000's. While they were nu metal they were brutal as hell for the style and definitely had some death metal influence. I got pretty big into melodeath after those two albums as well.
Holy Moses ‘Finished With The Dogs’….not so much in the instruments but the vocals by Sabbian
2013 was the year I got into death metal. I'll always remember Deicide, Amon Amarth, and Carcass's albums from that year that opened my ears to death metal.
The Satanist is ridiculously good, great pick. As a newish listener to DM i loved it immediately. Such great production. The drums especially.
The new Carcass album is a good starter too, it's solid but still kinda chill. Classic solos and some Death n Roll vibes.
Necrotic Nick- I'd agree. It's a well rounded offering and delivers some seriously catchy but heavy as hell songs and the death n' roll moments are solid as well.
i bought the torn artories lp as a blind buy , its fantastic
Not a favorite list, but a list for beginners:
- Morbid Angel: Covenant
- Sarcófago: The Laws of Scourge
- Excoriate: On Pestilent Wings...
- Obituary: Cause of Death (or the first album with the Demos ...)
- Entombed: Left Hand Path
- Job for a Cowboy: Sun Eater
- Behemoth: The Satanist
- Autopsy: Severed Survival
- Asphyx: Last One On Earth
- BoltThrower: IV Crusade
- Gojira: From Mars to Sirius
- Krypts: Unending Degradation
- Maleficarum: Across The Heavens
- Death: Leprosy
Hahaha I was watching to see who you recommended for doom fans and you picked EXACTLY the album I would have. Really good video, and we should always be trying to find ways to get people to understand and appreciate the stuff we like. My daughter, who is 7, always wants to listen to Khemmises "Hunted" because "it's pretty"; we gotta keep it going into the future.
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Yeah, I really couldn't think of a betting pick that Hooded Menace for doom fans especially with their more recent stuff being more melodic. Dude, you kid already has solid instincts. There is hope for the future despite how bleak doom metal lyrics are. lol
@@thrallsofmetal I like that a lot of the sadder doom is sad because of an appreciation of the beauty of the time we have :)
Hey nick, my vote for song of the year must be monolord ' the weary' that tone! Also I've been listening to Vista Chino ' barcelonian' every day before work for the past 2 weeks! Love that song! Also 'sweet remain' so good!
Necrotic Nick- I love that one as well but I'll Be Damned is one I repeat pretty often too. It's just such an awesome album but honestly Monolord hasn't missed yet in my opinion.
@@thrallsofmetal for sure! On the death metal kick my band still jams ' blinded by fear' a kinda rough version though! I would add 'annihilation of the wicked' by Nile for anyone, but maybe not ' portal' lol
Due to limited access to this kind of music back in the 80's and early 90's in my country. At the beginning i don't listen and know much about it. But i manage to listen few of them, and my first encounter with death metal are Slowly we Rot by Obituary and From Beyond by Massacre
I started off with thrash like the big 4 debuts and exodus bonded by blood. But what really got me into the more death like ones are Kreators “Pleasure to Kill” and Demolition Hammers “Epidemic of Violence”. I found the vocals more harsh and I loved how heavy it was. And the first three death metal albums I purchased were Suffocations “Effigy of the Forgotten” Cannibal Corpse’s “Tomb of the Mutilated” and Death’s “Symbolic”. Good stuff.
I found Swedish death metal, particularly the Stockholm bands like Entombed, Dismember, and Unleashed were how I got into more extreme metal subgenres. I'd recommend those bands to most people that are new to the genre as well as some very approachable/catchy classics like Symbolic, Heartwork, and Slaughter of the Soul.
I've been listening to metal since the '90s, but a lot of death metal was over the top for me. I always listened to it here and there, but not as much as recently. Recently, with the resurgence of Old School Death bands, like Gate creeper, Skeletal Remains, Necrot ...I've been listening to a lot of death metal. I like a lot of the albums you listed here. I'm gonna have to go back to some of the 90s stuff. Saw Morbid Angel back in the 90s, but it was too much for me. Heartwork is great. Opeth is too, but I might go with blackwater park or Ghost Reveries to start out. I enjoy your reviews.
Napalm Death Harmony Corruption is an awesome! Death Metal album. In my book a true classic. I'm glad to see you mentioned it. I believe alot of people eather don't know about that album or just forget about it? Verygood idea for a video🤘
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Harmony Corruption is a very underrated album of theirs but I can see why since it really moved away from grind almost entirely so it can be a bit divisive. Still, they executed death metal really well and it still has a bit of that punky flair to it.
Your list was great and on point! I had 3 bands in mind when I clicked on this. Entombed, Carcass and Bolt Thrower! That was my gate way …but great picks! Not really a newer band but I think anyone into metal can throw down if they hear “Origin “Echoes of Decimation””
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Bolt Thrower was close to making the list but I left it off in favor of some others that covered some different variables. Origin is a fucking beast of a band and put on some of the most insane live shows in terms of tech death.
@@thrallsofmetal I love the concept u brought up here. Showing people who love other genres that haven’t been exposed to something they grab onto. So here is another…any hardcore punk…should love Aborted “Only tools and corpses” It’s basically Black Flag meets death metal! Great riffs🤘💀🤘
I started with Queen when I was 10 and then progressed to Guns n Roses and Metallica in my early teens. From then it was onto stuff like Sepultura,Fear Factory and Cradle of Filth. Now I’m listening to Cannibal Corpse ( who I’m seeing in April ). As well as At The Gates,Opeth,Allegaeon amongst others.
I think you could do other [Insert Metal Genre Here] for Beginners videos as a series. Maybe even black metal or thrash metal for beginners?
Necrotic Nick- I'm thinking about doing something like this again but I'm still trying to figure out where I want to go next. We might do metal in general for beginners.
Great list. I totally agree with the picks that I have heard. Weirdly I'd heard the radio hits of Metallica, Holy Wars by Megadeth, and Raining Blood by Slayer but had never listened to a full album by a thrash band. I had also heard a few metalcore songs and the first 4 albums by Suicide Silence. Then one day after watching the Punk Rock MBA video on death metal I decided to listen to Scream Bloody Gore by Death and the rest is history. I still have yet to listen to all the classic bands but I am really enjoying exploring the genre. I do agree that Leprosy is probably the best Death pick for getting someone into the genre as it has the best mixture of old school death metal instrumentals and horror lyrics in Death's catalogue.
A pick that I would go with would be either Nija or the Shaman EP by Orbit Culture. Orbit Culture are a melodic death metal band with some groove metal and thrash metal in their sound that at times sound straight up like Metallica and Testament, especially vocally. Their vocalist's cleans sound like a mixture of James Hetfield and Chuck Billy.
Dark Tranquility - Damage Done for a person whos not generally into any extreme form of music although I got in through Amon Amarth and Arch Enemy. I needed that very melodic stuff first.
Dark Tranquillity is fucking amazing.
Necrotic Nick- I thought about throwing Dark Tranquility in the mix or even Paradise Lost for the more "gothic" sound overall. The strong melodic hooks in those bands and occasional cleans definitely make them more approachable for new listeners.
Necrotic always puts thought into his stuff. He’s always on point. Thralls of metal is classic.
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! I appreciate that. I don't know if we're classic yet but we're working on it. lol
I'm in for that Vader album.
I'd throw in Deicide's debut
Bolt Thrower's Warmaster
Morbid Angel's Altars of madness
And for sure, something from Obituary's first 3 albums
Good call with Harmony Corruption. That certainly has more death elements than their other offerings.
I would add the first Deicide.
Necrotic Nick- There's still just enough grindcore influence on the album so it gave their brand of death metal a bit of a punky edge in some respects. The first 2 Deicide albums were in consideration for this one for all the thrashy influence they have.
The best and easiest way to transition a thrash head into Death Metal, is to get them to listen to Morbid Saint, that band is basically the first thrashed death Metal bands, I'd say they are what got me interested to bands like morbid Angel, Death, and Deicide. Also, if they like Metalcore, then Melodic Death Metal is definitely a good place to start, and while Ate The Gates, and In Flames are good first choices, I would actually get them to listen to either Heaven Shall Burn or Arch Enemy, those are great entry bands for people who are not yet ready for the more extreme end of death Metal, that way you can slowly but surly ease them in. If they are into Industrial Metal, then anything aggrotech is the best way to go, bands like Suicide Commando, Hocico, and especially Psyclone Nine, they are more Blackend Industrial, but still they heavily incorporate Death growls in their music.
No dying fetus love? They'r one of the first death metal bands that really grabbed me. And opeth of course still one of my favourite bands period.
My intro to death metal was from the band on that giant autographed poster right behind you. Obituary - Slowly We Rot
Necrotic Nick- They were one of the early ones for me except it was World Demise that I got first and then worked my way back.
@@thrallsofmetal I got a few years on you
Arise by Sepultura was my gateway from Thrash to Deathmetal. I was listening to reign in blood when youtube autoplayed arise. I was sold immediately. The first full deathmetal album i listened to was altars of madness by morbid angel. Still the oldschool thrashy deathmetal is my fav type of deathmetal. Bands like Obituary, and Pestillence are my favs
Leprosy got my into death metal recently. i heard cannibal corpse when I was younger and just didnt make a connection but after just browsing the web I came across leprosy.... been diving deep the last few months since then... such a rich genre!
Very cool video and very cool list... A few additions, if I may:
Pestilence - Testimony Of The Ancients: Very clean production with great riffs. I think it's a good gateway to death metal for thrashers.
Massacra - Signs Of The Decline: Total riff madness. I call this album 'The Rust In Peace of death metal'. :) Again, clean production and easy to grasp for beginners.
Paradise Lost - Lost Paradise. Great album for doom enthusiasts.
Gorefest - Erase. Fast paced, mid paced, slow paced songs. It's got everything.
Malevolent Creation - The Ten Commandments. I've met a lot of metal fans who are not into death metal but like this album.
Unleashed - Where No Life Dwells. A great representation of European death metal.
Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal. Bolt Thrower's style is very suitable for a death metal newbie. Not too fast, not too technical, not too chaotic, simple, to the point, yet chrushing death metal. And this album has the best sound and great songs with catchy hooks.
Definitely have a new subscriber! I do have some different points of view than you do on certain releases
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Welcome aboard! Hey, if all agreed on everything this channel would get boring quick so we encourage talking about our different tastes here.
I would include Altars of Madness, and for fans of thrash: Demolition Hammer - Epidemic of Violence is kind of a good bridge between the two genres, also Solstice’s debut.
Necrotic Nick- All three of those would be solid. I'd even say throw in Solstice's second album too and Demolition Hammer's debut.
Any of those old trashy/proto death metal records would be a good start for a thrash fan. Then they would have the added experience of starting from the beginning that so many of us missed.
Getting into Death metal bands was a slow process for me because I'm from a small town in Nova Scotia and there were only a few metal heads in my school in the 80s/early 90s. So there was no real finding out about bands from other dudes, and no scene at all. Honestly I think a lot of people found out about bands from borrowing my cassettes/CDs. I found out about bands from Muchmusic and buying the monthly metal mags. Metal magazines were cool, and sometimes I'd buy an album based on a review, but more times than not it was by seeing a music video on Power Hour/Power 30/Loud. My introduction albums to death metal were Obituary Cause of Death/Slowly We Rot. Then I saw the music videos for Entombed's Stranger Eons and Wolverine Blues on muchmusic. So I picked up Wolverine Blues. Then I got into Carcass because of the music video for No Love Lost so I picked up Heartwork. I loved the music video for Napalm Death's Mass Appeal Madness. That turned me on to them and I picked up From Enslavement to Obliteration. I really dug the music video for Morbid Angel's Immortal Rites but I didn't get into Morbid Angel until around 2006. Same with Morgoth, I loved the video for Isolated, but I didn't get any Morgoth until a couple years ago. I didn't get into Death until I saw a used copy of Symbolic at a CD store around 2001, I always heard of Death but wasn't exposed to them.
My first albums were different, but being from a small town in New Brunswick, I agree with sooooo much of what you said and followed your path of exposure almost to a T!
Necrotic Nick- Metal mags were a huge part of me getting into more extreme metal especially Metal Maniacs. That's where I fist heard of bands like Celtic Frost, Broken Hope and even Morgoth. Headbanger's Ball also contributed pretty heavily early on as well but it was mostly those metal mags in the early to mid 90's.
@@thrallsofmetal I won an autographed glow in the dark vinyl copy of White Zombie's Le Sexercisto in Metal Maniacs. I entered an art contest they had and was one of the winners.
As a prog fan, the album that opened the door to death metal for me was From Mars to Sirius by GOJIRA.
Necrotic Nick- That would definitely do it. It has some of their heaviest riffs and there's definitely a huge death metal influence to their sound at that point and on earlier albums.
I would pick from GOJIRA - The way of all flesh. in my opinion it would be a great gate way album.🤘
I’m a big thrash fan who was a teenager in the late 80s. Especially crossover (SOD, Municipal Waste, Vitamin X). Never had any death buddies. Only death I got into big were Bolt Thrower and Carcass. Lately I’ve been trying out death in the form of Blood Incantation, Vader and Baest. Usually I discover death metal bands when I happen to see them in concert. Need recommendations, thanks for providing them.
Necrotic Nick- Thrash was definitely a great gateway into death metal for me. I was kinda listening to both at the same time early on but I got more into thrash. When I heard stuff like Beneath the Remains it kinda pushed me back into death metal. I hope you find some killer stuff on this one.
Cancer- Hung Drawn and quartered. I started listening to them a couple months ago
Great Video! I wanted to pick up a record, that is not really known because I think the band is not really known either. It is „Ascension Gate“ by Dawn of Disease, which brought me into death metal. Has some touches on the more melodic death metal, but reaches out to many genres like some black and thrash metal as well. My beginner record and still listen to it today!
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! I know that album well actually. I started with Damn of Disease's discography with the album before that one "Worship the Grave". It's a bit more Entombed-ish and less melodeath but still a ripper for sure. You picked a solid band to start with, bro.
@@thrallsofmetal nice to hear that you know this band. I likes their records before as well. Thank you very much for your comment and your approving!
Bolt Thrower for Victory!!
One of the best!!
Kataklysm Shadows and Dust!!
Two Masterpieces of Death Metal!!
💀💀💀💀
Necrotic Nick- Agreed. Both of those are pretty accessible to when it comes down to new death metal listeners as well.
I’ve also showed a friend of mine who’s big into hardcore some Obituary, particularly World Demise and he actually seemed to get into it. Not sure if he still listens but he seemed pretty stoked when Don’t Care started playing lol
Necrotic Nick- World Demise was my first Obituary album and I was really into the more groove metal sound as well as thrash at that time and it really gelled with me as well. It's definitely one of my personal gateway albums into death metal for sure and there's definitely a big hardcore vibe on that one as well.
Just for fun, I’d love to see a video “pop songs that death metal fans admit they like”
Great lists! Don't know a few of those will definitely check them out and I would add - Opeth - Orchid is an amazing album. Better then Deliverance imo and easy to listen to - brutal, melodic, intricate and if it is possible, simple and straight forward at the same time... and Carcass - Necroticism is a MUST but maybe a bit hard for a newbie the DeathMetal.
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! I went with Deliverance namely for it being one of their heaviest but still including some killer clean sections that way they there's a comfort zone in between all the brutality. Deliverance was my first Opeth album so it's pretty special to me. As much as I love Necroticism it might be a bit much for a first time listener. If they like Heartwork though they may really dig Necroticism if they keep pushing for heavier music.
figured i would just name the actual 9 first death metal bands i listened too,as i really didnt like death metal till i heard these
Death individual thought patterns Dark Tranquility the gallery(gorgeous guitar melodies for the iron maiden fan)Paradise Lost Gothic (for the sabbath head and sisters of mercy fan who is ok with going into darkness)Possessed 7 churches Entombed Left Hand Path Bolt Thrower realm of chaos (for your local warhammer fan who wants a good band to listen to while playing a chaos army)Carcass-Heartwork- Atheist -Unquestionable Presence (for your local jazz snob who you might want to scare) Morbid Angel ,Alters of Madness (for your local lovecrafrt fan)
Necrotic Nick- Those are some solid selections and definitely showcase a variety of styles of death metal. I pretty much started with Eaten Back to Life, Butchered at Birth, Covenant and World Demise when I was teen. Those 4 laid the foundation and from there I really got into Suffocation and Decide as well.
Death Symbolic and the Jester Race were my bridge into death metal (mostly listened thrash and Nwobhm at that point, some industrial too). I give In Flames a huge amount of the credit. Whoracle, clayman and colony had such a huge influence on my tastes. Children of Bodom and Amorphis were other early influences.
Necrotic Nick- By the time I heard those I was already into death metal but Jester Race and Whoracle in particular where huge for me getting into melodic death metal in the early 2000's. From there I got huge on Dark Tranquility, At the Gates, Hypocrisy and Soilwork among a ton of other bands.