The Death Chamber's Best of 2017

I have been really struggling to get up for compiling a 'Best of' list this year. Obviously, there are SO MANY worthy candidates and it would be easy to create a very long list, but I usually try to pare it down to my favorites and that is what I have been wrestling with for a while now. I am not saying that the overall quality of this year's crop of death metal releases was greater than in years past, but I think it will be difficult to surpass the sheer volume of quality releases that 2017 has spawned. I guess we will see what 2018 has to offer in the coming months. So much death and so little life to enjoy it.

As I said, within the putrid mass of 2017 death metal releases there were so many entertaining offerings from established bands such as Immolation, Obituary, Broken Hope, Dying Fetus, and Cannibal Corpse who seem to keep getting better as they age, as well as Decrepit Birth, Engulfed, Resurgency, Insurrection and Entrails just to name a few who have created quality material this year. As many of you know I love to discover new bands and there was a lot of new stuff to love in 2017 with releases from newer entrants such as Kremlin, Disappear, Massive Bleeding, Dayum, Dysmorfectomy, Misanthrope Monarch and don't sleep on Slovakia's Bloodcut either. There were also many excellent tech releases this year with new material from bands such as Hour of Penance, Arkaik, Spectrum of Delusion, Virulent Depravity, Inverted Serenity, Unbeheld and Oblivion just to mention a few.

I could continue to name drop a ton of bands who I liked in the past year and still didn't make the list but I might as well get on to the bands who did make it into repeated rotation on my digital media devices throughout the year. As I've stated in the past, my list is not an attempt to judge what were the best releases of 2017, it is just me telling you what I really liked with the hope that you may discover something that you really like as well.

Death Metal - All Styles:

Cytotoxin - Gammageddon

Genre: Technical Brutal Death Metal

Country: Germany

Purchase: https://uniqueleaderrecords.bandcamp.com/album/gammageddon

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/Cytotoxinmetal / TDC Link

Hideous Divinity - Adveniens

Genre: Technical Brutal Death Metal

Country: Italy

Purchase: https://uniqueleaderrecords.bandcamp.com/album/adveniens

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/hideousdivinity / TDC Link

Suicidal Causticity - The Human Touch

Genre: Brutal Death Metal

Country: Italy

Purchase: https://amputatedveinrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-human-touch

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/suicidalcausticity/ / TDC Link

Archspire - Relentless Mutation

Genre: Technical Death Metal

Country: Canada

Purchase: https://archspire.bandcamp.com/album/relentless-mutation

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/Archspireband/ / TDC Link

Scordatura - Self-Created Abyss

Genre: Brutal Death Metal

Country: United Kingdom

Purchase: https://gorehouseproductions.bandcamp.com/album/self-created-abyss

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/Scordaturaofficial/ / TDC Link

Narcotic Wasteland - Delirium Tremens

Genre: Brutal Death Metal

Country: United States

Purchase: https://www.narcoticwasteland.com/store

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/narcoticwasteland / -[*]-

DeathAwaits - Solve Coagula

Genre: Death Metal / Thrash Metal

Country: France

Purchase: https://deathawaits.bandcamp.com/album/solve-coagula

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/deathawaitsband/ / TDC Link

Bloodphemy - Bloodline

Genre: Death Metal

Country: Netherlands

Purchase: https://sleaszyrider.bandcamp.com/album/bloodphemy-bloodline

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/Bloodphemy / TDC Link

Seduced - Discarding the Mask

Genre: Death Metal / Thrash Metal

Country: Austria

Purchase: https://seduced666.bandcamp.com/album/discarding-the-mask

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/seducedband/ / TDC Link

Sinister - Syncretism

Genre: Death Metal 

Country: Netherlands

Purchase: https://www.value-merch.de/en/SINISTER

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/SinisterOfficial / -[*]-

Hereza - I Become Death

Genre: Death Metal 

Country: Croatia

Purchase: https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/i-become-death

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/herezametalband/?ref=ts&fref=ts / TDC Link

Gutslit - Amputheatre

Genre: Brutal Death Metal 

Country: India

Purchase: https://gutslitindia.bandcamp.com/album/amputheatre-brutal-death-grind

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/gutslit / TDC Link

Lower Than Zero - X

Genre: Brutal Death Metal / Grindcore 

Country: Germany

Purchase: Contact the band @ Facebook link below

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/lowerthanzero/ / TDC Link

Undead Vision - Modern Slave

Genre: Death Metal / Thrash Metal 

Country: Switzerland

Purchase: Contact the band @ Facebook link below

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/UndeadVisionBand / TDC Link

Thread of Omen - Vindicta

Genre: Technical Melodic Death Metal 

Country: South Africa

Purchase: https://threadofomen.bandcamp.com/album/vindicta

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/threadofomen/ /  TDC Link

Slups - Rituals Beyond the Oniricous

Genre: Death Metal 

Country: Spain

Purchase: https://slupsdeathmetal.bandcamp.com/album/rituals-beyond-the-oniricous

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/slupsdeath?fref=ts /  TDC Link

Nasty Surgeons - Exhumation Requiem

Genre: Death Metal / Grindcore

Country: Spain

Purchase: https://xtreemmusic.bandcamp.com/album/exhumation-requiem

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/nastysurgeons/ /  TDC Link

Horror of Horrors - Rust Flesh Dust

Genre: Death Metal

Country: United States

Purchase: Contact band @ Facebook link below

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/Horror-of-Horrors-216364303873/ /  TDC Link

Massive Assault - Mortor

Genre: Death Metal

Country: Netherlands

Purchase: https://massiveassault.bandcamp.com/album/mortar / CD available January 19, 2018

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/massiveassault/ /  -[*]-

Creeping Fear - Onward To Apocalypse

Genre: Death Metal

Country: France

Purchase: http://creepingfearmerch.bigcartel.com/product/pre-order-onward-to-apocalypse

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/creepingfear /  TDC Link

Soulrot - Nameless Hideous Manifestations

Genre: Death Metal

Country: Chile

Purchase: https://soulrot.bandcamp.com/album/nameless-hideous-manifestations

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/soulrotchile /  TDC Link

Order ov Riven Cathedrals - The Discontinunity's Interlude

Genre: Technical Death Metal

Country: Italy

Purchase: https://orderovrivencathedrals.bandcamp.com/releases

Preview: ??? /  TDC Link

Mass Burial - Breeding Plagues

Genre: Death Metal

Country: Spain

Purchase: https://massburial-isp.bandcamp.com/album/breeding-plagues

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/Mass-Burial-115395335235420/ /  -[*]-

Perfidious - Malevolent Martyrdom

Genre: Death Metal

Country: Italy

Purchase: https://deathmetalindustry.bandcamp.com/album/malevolent-martyrdom

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/PerfidiousDeathMetal/ / TDC Link

Dead Centre - Fractured Memories of Grotesque Butchery

Genre: Death Metal

Country: United States

Purchase: https://deadcentredm.bandcamp.com/album/fractured-memories-of-grotesque-butchery

Preview: https://www.facebook.com/DeadCentreDM/ / TDC Link

As I stated earlier I could continue to go on and on with what I liked in 2017, there were so many quality releases that this list could easily be 50 instead of 25 and I didn't even get to the Ep's. It was a very good year for death metal and I am hopeful that you will find something in this list and the others that will be posted here that you were not aware of and you will thoroughly enjoy. As always please support these bands and buy their CD's and other merch and go to the shows. We must keep Metal in all of its forms alive and well.