In But Not Of is a title that could be applied to Afterbirth themselves: they have their obvious associations, but they don't really belong to any one descriptor. Here they are, up for Best Death Metal Album of 2023, and they spend half the time slip-sliding around jarring scales and harmonies, off-kilter atmospheres, and a whole host of musical non sequiturs. The beautiful ugliness of the production, denseness of the sound, and complexity of the compositions render In But Not Of an album that’s as challenging and unpredictable as the best of progressive death metal experiments. Oh, but if you thought these guys were nerds who listen exclusively to Yes and arrange all their songs alphabetically or something, think again: they’ll drop you to the pavement instantly and drag your carcass across broken glass. Afterbirth is still as slamming and gurgly and meat-headed as the best brutal death metal: just in a way you can't fully understand.

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With dissonance becoming so commonly used in death metal, there’s a lot of up-and-coming acts that use dissonance more for texturing and atmosphere. Then you have acts like Anachronism, whose oddball tech-death is as discordant, cacophonic, and challenging as one might expect from the concept of dissonant death metal. There’s subtle levity woven into some of the compositions here, but the frenetic, jazzy complexity underlying these punishing songs ultimately defines the listening experience; it’s not inherently accessible, but it's intriguing and enthralling for those able to withstand its uncompromising nature.

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Astral Tomb live both on the periphery of death metal and of the human experience. There's something odd and otherworldly about how the band approaches death metal, and while their debut album, Soulgazer, merged primitive death metal with space-themed psychedelia, Total Spiritual Death takes the opposite approach by feeling earthly and ritualistic instead of cosmic. Expect off-kilter production, electronic injections, Voivod-esque oddity, ethereal female vocals, and some of the most unconventional percussion you'll find in a death metal album. There's barely a moment where you can sit down and properly understand what's going on.

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Back when it was released in February, many predicted that this sophomore release by Carnosus could well end up being amongst the most memorable death metal releases of the year; the year's end having come, those predictions have been proven right. Visions Of Infinihility is a ferocious and enjoyable effort that strikes that perfect balance not only between melody and technicality but also between thrash and death metal. Perhaps the most compelling aspect of the album is the relentless flow it has from beginning to end; Visions Of Infinility will have listeners headbanging from the start and throughout and tempt them to repeat over and over again courtesy of the short running time. As a metalhead, what more can you ask for?

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Everyone's favourite metal band returns with yet another slab of nihilistic brutality that matches intensity with reality. Cattle Decapitation's Terrasite marks the group's continuing ascent and growing experimentation with damning statements railing against the human condition that are as poignant as they are powerful. Death metal should always unnerve listeners, and Cattle Decapitation do that in spades... unfortunately, the same spades that may end up digging humanity's own grave.

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Most of us may not have experienced Texan winters, but if they are as brutal as Frozen Soul, then mercy go to the people of Dallas. Glacial Domination is the perfect mix of old-school death metal with modern sonics and sensibilities, managing to blend the classic sound without sounding like a mere imitation. From the razor-sharp guitars to the pounding drums and hoarse, demonic vocals, Frozen Soul know what a great death metal album needs, and they hit that sweet spot with a sledgehammer repeatedly.

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Boy, dying of everything is certainly how it feels these days. Can’t trust anybody, can’t catch a break, can’t see further than your hand without seeing something horrible that reminds you of your own mortality. Well, Obituary have come back to validate your fears more than assuage them, but the grandaddies of the BLECH have always been valued more for their savage, primitive, slam-head-on-wall approach to music than for any kind of philosophical sophistication. Whether it’s a slow, ugly, and gruesome decay or a violent splash of red on concrete, whether a doomy dirge or a punky hit-and-run, Obituary can still put the “death” in death metal, and Dying Of Everything is their harshest eulogy in a long while. They aren’t the ones who are “Barely Alive” these days… it’s you.

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Dissonant death metal has been on the ascent in the past decade or so with the likes of Ulcerate and other bands, but it’s one thing to start playing a popular style and another thing entirely to nail it as quickly as Omnivortex have on Circulate, their sophomore album. Disso-death influences a lot of the riff-writing here, but there’s also a subtle tech-death element to the album, along with some progressive songwriting that takes the band into more unsettlingly quiet territory from time to time. However, it’s ultimately the strength of the riffs and impeccable flow of the songwriting that turn Circulate into such a compelling listen.

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Sulphur Aeon aren’t in the business of what we would typically call melodic death metal – there’re no Viking horns, no plaintive Finns, no secret metalcore – but they do play a kind of death metal with a well-developed sense of melody, one that has become distinctly personal over four albums. The guitars tend to hold back just a bit from full brutal domination, leaving space to get flexible with sour black metal reverb and anchors of chunky doom, and the occasional applications of clean vocals are one of the band’s more recognizable features; even while digging its heels into death metal’s more traditionally rampant side, with just a bit of symphony for flavor, Seven Crowns And Seven Seals balances all the merits of death metal’s potential: the belligerence, the grandiosity, the tunefulness, the eeriness. And Sulphur Aeon’s fondness for the Lovecraft setting remains as appropriate as ever for this selection of weird tales.

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Threads Of Unknowing is progressive death metal meant for those listeners who wish to be beaten senseless by an avalanche of metal before being swept away by a storm of glorious technicality. Every song displays mastery of both complex melodies and chugging, doom-drenched riffs. The occasional solos thrown in give off a jazzy, experimental flair, while the bass work provides an eerie (and aurally soothing) foundation to support the intricate guitar riffs. On top of that, the growling vocals add an unnerving, sickly layer to the oppressive instrumentation. In short, VoidCeremony offer here an onslaught of technical wizardry that's guaranteed to enchant any and all fans of prog death.

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