Top 40 death metal albums of 2010

Yes it's that time again. This year's death metal has been rather so so I must say. I always find albums to like though and I have found 40 worthy of my time though of course not everyone's!

40. Decimation - Anthems Of An Empyreal Dominion
Cool death metal with intricate riffing.

39. Diluvian – Epidemic
Tight and clinical tech death blastathon.

38. Made of Hate - Pathogen
Great riffed up melodeath with slightly raw production but tons of riffs to enjoy.

37. Revolting - The Terror Threshold
Old school death metal is king.

36. Heaving Earth - Diabolic Prophecies
Morbid Angel worship is king.

35. A Loathing Requiem - Psalms Of Misanthropy
Necrophagist worship is win but production is lose.

34. Synperium - Elemental Disharmony
Aussie staccato tech death but not quite as good as the best but solid nevertheless.

33. Ichor - Benthic Horizon
Brutality and death metal music with songs fixated with the sea.

32. The Absence - Enemy Unbound
Top quality melodic death metal a genre which I have slowly fallen out of love with but when it's done properly well who can resist.

31. Solerrain - Fighting The Illusion
Super dooper Bodom worship from the icy Russian wastes. Fast, melodic and well produced.

30. Cerberus - Redemption Of Demigod
Clinical and tight brutal death from our Chilean amigos. Comprende?

29. Overoth - Kingdom Of Shadows
Morbid Angel worship is king and then some as far as this band's concerned.

28. Fleshwrought – Dementia-Dyslexia
Well played tech death.

27. Sarcolytic - Thee Arcane Progeny
Super brutal and tight tech death.

26. Demiurg - Slakthus Gamleby
Classic old school death with Dan Swano and the man man Rogga Johannson

25. Inherit Disease - Visceral Transcendence
The most brutal album by far in my list. Not for the weak of will or heart. I know everyone hates it.

24. Sothoros - Flood The Stone
Again well played tech death with some melody as well.

23. Fleshrot – Traumatic_Reconfiguration
Standard cool death metal like Cannibal Corpse but faster.

22. Element - The Energy
Sci-fi tech death with clean sound. Like Detachment or Psyferia or bands of that ilk.

21. Atheist - Jupiter
I have very mixed views on this come back. The production sounds good but the arrangements sound very messy and disjointed to me. There's not much flow. I have never liked the vocals in Atheist and I continue to dislike them in fact I think he completely sucks as a "death metal growler singer or whatever". Having said that there are some amazing riffs on the album so all is not lost but for my ears this album could have been so much better if the songs were more catchy and focused.

20. Dawn Of Demise - A Force Unstoppable
Cool and heavy riffing death metal plain and simple.

19. Dark Tranquillity - We Are The Void
The kings of the genre gets darker and more blackened but still have class in spades.

18. Arsis - Starve for the Devil
Good solid melodic death metal with pristine production. I'll take them over Arch Enemy any day.

17. Zilla - Pragmatic Evolution
Melodic and tech death with slightly bad vocals but nice music. I'll get over the vox.

16. Entrails - Tales From The Morgue
Hahahaha! (that was supposed to be an evil laugh by the way!) Killer old school death with Sunlight guitar sound and all round catchy, deathly, ghostly, gravely, evilness.

15. Diskreet - Engage The Mechanicality
Brutal and tech death guys with much more tech sound than before with a cleaner production. Like it cerebral? Listen to Diskreet!

14. Flesh Consumed - Ecliptic Dimensions of Suffering
Brutal and tech death machine, very well played.

13. Hideous Deformity - Defoulment Of Human Purity
Really solid brutal tech death with great separation in the production and really solid all round.

12. Kalmah - 12 Gauge
The best melodeath album of the year with ease. Kalmah are real stalwarts of this genre now.

11. Severe Torture - Slaughtered
The European Corpse Worship Machine as I like to tag them. They know what the fuck they are doing and deliver brutality and hig precision level death metal.

10. Annotations Of An Autopsy - The Reign Of Darkness
Ex UK deathcore merchants leave that bullshit behind and deliver solid and heavy pounding death metal with strong Morbid Angel licks and slowish groove riffs.

09. King Of Asgard – Fi'mbulvintr
The new Amon Amarth so to speak.

08. Arkaik - Reflections Within Dissonance
Brutal and high quality tech death from this underground band. A brilliant and well played album with cool intuitive riffs.

07. Colonize the Rotting - Composing the Masticated
One of the best productions I have ever heard on a brutal death metal album. the sound is totally monstrously massive and yet crystal clear. The songs are short groovy and to the point with high precision level drums and riffing.

06. Aeon - Path Of Fire
Swedish uber satanists deliver their usual catchy death metal with stomps, grooves and cool vocals with lyrics which to me seem slightly tongue in cheek.

05. Stigmatized - Whispers of the Dead
German mob return after great first album and do not disappoint. The production is fabulous and there are some totally brilliant passages here. The vocals are a bit too mixed up and I wish they would stick with the Chuck/Tardy mix of the first album. Musically these guys can hold their head with the best that death metal has to offer.

04. Jack Slater - Extinction Aftermath
One more for our Deutsch friends in Jack Slater. Clean riffed heavy tech death with quality sound. What more can you ask for as a fan of death metal I say.

03. Decrepit Birth – Polarity
Not sure if Polarity is as good as the previous album but it sure as hell kicks ass in it's own right. These guys have the most amazing solos I've heard all year.

02. Soreption - Deterioration Of Minds
Wow what top quality Decapitated worship this is. If you like stop start clincal riffathons then this band is for you. The songs are very catchy to boot.

01. Son of Aurelius - The Farthest Reaches
This is just a stupendous album of death metal magic. Yes it has links to the deathcore scene and I will say that the vocals took a damn lot of getting used to from my perspective (and i still don't like them by the way), however the music in this band is just amazing to say the least. Free flowing not overly busy or brain damaging but with superb musicianship. I just love the flow and the melodies these guys use in their riffs. It all seems so effortless though I'm sure it's as complex as hell. I also like the fact that they don't try to be too brutal and just let the music flow so well so that it doesn't sound disjointed like in many death metal bands.

So that's it for death metal in 2010. Cannibal Corpse will release in 2011. Let's hope it rips face!