Greetings, Decibel readers!
I can’t believe it’s December already. It’s already time for the last standard edition of this column for the year! For the next couple weeks I’ll be doing my annual takeover in which I rattle off my favorite death metal and black metal albums of 2024. But in the meantime, there’s still plenty of both to enjoy for this week. In fact, this week goes kind of hard, especially that new Ungfell release!
Enjoy!
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Ghoulhouse – Fresh Out of Flesh
Ghoulhouse is the perfect death metal band for anyone with two major obsessions: horror movies and HM-2-pedal-style guitar distortion. Of course, the band are no gathering of newcomers, but a combination of scene veterans Rogga Johansson (Paganizer and like 50 other bands), and Håkan Stuvemark (Wombbath and like 10 other bands). They also have a drummer who goes by Mr. Meatbeater. Yes, yes, we’re all thinking of the same joke, shut up.
Stream: Apple Music
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Infernalivm – Conquering the Most High
Death metal like this just doesn’t get old to me. It’s the combination of cutting guitars, crushing rhythms, and ruthless vocals that recalls Formulas-era Morbid Angel, Close to a World Below-era Immolation, and the whole panoply of cavernous death metal. If you death metal at its most evil and dark, you need to hear this.
Stream: Apple Music
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Old Forest – Graveside
As you can surmise from the album description and just a few moments of listening, Old Forest set out on a clear mission with this album: to make straightforward black metal with no apologies. Still, what they make is no simple retread of the early-90s classics, but a combination of several influences blended with the band’s own voice. Although there’s definitely a few bands that jump out at you like Satyricon and Gehenna, interesting moments emerge that recall Grand Declaration of War-era Mayhem as well (listen to “Soil the Martyrs,” you’ll notice it).
Stream: Apple Music
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Sarcophagum – The Grand Arc of Madness
Actually, speaking of really evil and dark death metal, you should totally check this out too. In fact, someone should get Sarcophagum and Infernalivm on a bill together, that’d be so sick. Anyway, here’s what we said in our album premiere for these guys:
Sarcophagum crafts their angular brand of death metal with unrelenting dissonance and an oppressive atmosphere that fans of Ulcerate, Immolation, and Adversarial will find hauntingly familiar yet uniquely their own. Tracks like “Ritual Pillars Burn” and “Feudal Futures” seamlessly fuse chaotic primal crush with eerie melodic flourishes, forging a soundscape that feels both cerebral and devastatingly visceral. From the slow, suffocating churn of “Vermiform” to the epic, narrative-driven title track, The Grand Arc of Madness is a journey into a bleak, harrowing abyss.
Stream: Apple Music
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Ungfell – De Ghörnt
The latest emanation from the Helvetic Underground Committee features perhaps its most prominent and influential voice (though I’m a little partial to Ateiggär myself). Ungfell is one of the coolest bands out there because they don’t sound quite like anyone else, and this album shows them at the absolute top of their game. It’s an unpredictable sound, but one that still feels grand and anthemic in a way few bands can match.
Stream: Apple Music
