Tag Archives: avant-garde death metal

Best of Death Metal 2021

by Dæv Tremblay


No need to introduce death metal, right? It’s death, and metal! There has been so many great death and death-adjacent records this year that this top 5 was one of the toughest to call! I could’ve easily extended it into a top 10, but for the sake of concision, I was able to keep only the 5 best in my opinion!

Number Five: Dagtum – Revered Decadence


Dagtum released an underground gem of dissonant death metal with Revered Decadence. The band is actually a supergroup hailing from the Philippines, and they truly deserve the “super” prefix, as everything they … Read more

The X-Files: Grave Upheaval – Untitled

by Dæv Tremblay

Yesterday morning, a new folder arrived on my desk. The sole name of Grave Upheaval made my skin crawl, but I opened it anyway, driven by my instinctive curiosity and my hunger for the unknown. What awaited inside was almost too much for me to bear, it almost broke me. Just recalling this is hard for me. However, I’ve agreed to testify in front of this comity, so here’s the complete story.… Read more

Altarage – Endinghent

by Dæv Tremblay

Altarage is a sickening death metal band from Spain. Their penultimate release – Nihl – was heavy and muddy and dissonant, and their newest one keeps that ball rolling. Endinghent was released on 13 October, and it’s ripe with forty minutes of the same breed of what’s commonly called avant-garde death metal. Think Ulcerate, Portal, you’re in the right frame of mind. While I would contest the avant-garde label, it’s a great album with a contemporary view on harmony and dissonance, and the chops to sit alongside other better-known names of the same ilk. The guitars are disgustingly heavy and … Read more

Coma Cluster Void – Thoughts from a Stone

by Dæv Tremblay



Thoughts from a Stone was actually the first ever teaser released for the Coma Cluster Void experiment, all the way back in 2014. Back then, I suppose it was going to end up on their upcoming full-length, with the slogan “Aural Representation of Pain and Suffering” – Mind Cemeteries –, but the composition probably expanded or reiterated to what it is now: a twenty-two-minute, six-part suite of contemporary death metal. Contemporary? Yeah, I feel that this adjective better suits their sound than the rather narrow definition of “tech-death” or the vague “experimental” and “avant-garde” tags. “Math metal” is a good … Read more