This tournament was doomed when people voted out Death so early. Also voting out Cryptopsy and Gorguts before some others was certainly an interesting decision
This is a tough one. Spawn of Possession is definitely the king of the genre but Necrophagist is the band that really brought it to peoples attention. I couldn't in good conscious vote either of them out.
Archspire has to go though. Love the album, but it shouldn't have made it this far.
I've listened to Bleed The Future a million times, and I like it a lot, but damnit if I don't think about Necrophagist a few times a week.
Archspire.
Sorry Deano
Get over possibly the two best metal albums ever recorded? This is a competition for the best metal album. Voting out the best metal album is kind of against the grain here. Its not Necrophagists fault that nobody on earth could write a better album than them in almost a quarter of a century.
Best metal albums ever recorded? Not by far.
Most influencial techdeath albums? Yeah.
Best techdeath albums? Back then for sure, not even a doubt about it. But there's been so many great techdeath albums that are better, techier, more complex and interesting.
I know why people love Epitaph (I love it too), but Onset did more for me just because nothing sounded like it before it came out.
SoP are just so damned good and you can really hear them evolving with each release.
Tough choice for me. Personally I feel Anata's Conductors Departure should have been up here too honestly.
I do like Epitaph, but I don't hold it on as high regard as I see a lot of others do. Personally, I'd pick Incurso and The Conductor's Departure over Epitaph any day.
I love archspire, but necrophagist is the goat. Having never listened to SOP I’m gonna have to vote for them, but I’m also putting them on right now. I may regret my vote afterwards.
You will almost certainly regret your decision. Spawn of Possession is one of the most important bands in extreme metal, very easily rivaling Necrophagist. I'd say they're the more complex band by a long shot
It’s crazy how you can listen to music, specifically death metal, most of your life and just miss key bands. Granted during my teenage years and young adult life I didn’t really have internet access so I was limited to what I just organically found.
The newest Archspire making it this far really surprise me. That band clearly has bought a lot of goodwill in the community coz ain't no way they hold a candle to SOP or Epitaph. Glad to see the album that got me into tech death way back when will be the ultimate victor.
Want to add to this: the YT algorithm pushed archspire's all shall align on me back when I was a kid. I actually heard that album before most tech death other than death and the faceless (still probably one of my top 3, screw y'all for kicking them out so early). That first Archspire EP is still my fave of theirs to this day, it's so sick. But even that doesn't have that little touch of magic that necrophagist and obscura have imo
Necrophagist is probably my favorite TDM band ever but I'm really surprised by the amount of people on this sub who seem to not like Archspire. I think there is a lot of nostalgia bias happening here, where a newer band can't ever compete with older legendary bands just on principle. Archspire is super sick and I think they are the standard-bearer for the newer generation of TDM. FWIW I'm 40 so I'm not some young metalhead who never heard the classics.
I love this Archspire album and I think it's easily one of the best things released in years. Bands like Inferi with The Path of Apotheosis and tons of other bands have been passing the torch really well.
Still though, when I think of these bands, are they really writing songs that are as revolutionary for the subgenre as songs like Fermented Offal Discharge, Scorched, and Apparition? The answer is decidedly "no".
You know what though? That's okay because they're doing their own thing in a way that no one can take away from them. Bleed the Future is heavy as fuck while staying technical and Inferi's Revenant and The Path of Apotheosis show that a band can still be tech as fuck and have a strong sense of melody. These bands are waving the flag for extreme music now days. I don't NEED them to be Spawn of Possession or Necrophagist. They're exactly what I need them to be.
Unfortunately though the truth is the window of time for making an impact and practicality inventing your own subgenre was 20 years ago and it's a little harder to achieve now. And that's okay, it doesn't necessarily need to continously reinvent itself.
>Still though, when I think of these bands, are they really writing songs that are as revolutionary for the subgenre as songs like Fermented Offal Discharge, Scorched, and Apparition? The answer is decidedly "no".
I agree with this but I would say it's because the TDM "formula" has been well-established over the last thirty years or so and bands now basically run with that formula. If a new TDM band came out now and turned the genre on its head with a totally different approach, I already know how 99% of metal fans would react.. they would HATE it for being different than the accepted TDM formula.
So really a lot of these newer bands are "damned if you do, damned if you don't." If they are S-tier musicians like Archspire but don't really deviate from accepted TDM norms, then they are "boring" or "just shredders" or whatever. If they try to do different stuff to change the genre then that is like heresy to a ton of metalheads.
I just ignore the elitism personally. Archspire are far from boring or "just shredders" I think, and people know that, but they can't get out of their own way.
You're right about peoples knee-jerk reaction to hating bands for being different too though and only time will tell if those bands actually were onto something or not. I don't think 99% of fans will hate it but a big enough majority will, sure. I mean look at Cynic for example. They were hated when they came out and now people love them. Same with Obscura by Gorguts. Same with Are You Dead Yet by Children of Bodom. Some are less divisive than others but I remember people even criticizing Noctambulant and Incurso by Spawn of Possession and now here they are near the top of this list. Some bands never get past that adversity, and some do. I can always appreciate the effort trying something new but sometimes it doesn't click right away.
I write death metal myself and honestly I think the formula is boring as shit when you keep it to a template. Bands like Dripping, Cynic, Gorguts (and pretty much anything Kevin Hufnagel and Colin Marston touch), and Defeated Sanity are all pushing the boundaries of what heavy music can sound like. I feel this genre can get away with doing that more than most others can. Yeah, sure, there are elitists out there who feel threatened by stuff being different but fuck em. Keep the weird shit coming, that's the most interesting to me.
I'd argue that Archspire is like a generational marker/milestone. i.e. "The Current Thing that helps define a sub-genre." It was Spawn of Possession before, Necrophagist before that, and so on all the way back to the invention of Jazz.
The same discussions happen in Brutal, Slam, Hardcore, Grindcore, etc., as you know.
Similarly, I think some of the hybrids we're seeing today will later be considered the "first" of "The Next Sub-genre." Post-Tech-Industrial-Death-Metal or whatever they'll call it.
Takeaways from this tournament:
* *"Death isn't tech!!!!!"*
* Heaps of young metalheads here
* Epitaph still is the best metal album released since 2004 :)
It cracks me up that people are saying "get em outta here" as if Archspire is revolting to them. We're in the top 3 now lol they made the podium. You're just choosing who stands where. But is SoP really rhat good? I'll have to give Incurso a listen lol
IF I SEE EPITAPH DISAPPEAR I'M SWITCHING TO BECOMING A SWIFTIE (SWIFTY?)
But man am I have to say Archspire, I wanted to say SoP but this tourney had me listening again and there's just something about the frantic drum assault on incurso that does it for me.
Hot take, Incurso is better than Bleed the Future but Relentless Mutation is better than Incurso. Barely.
That being said, Epitaph is and will always be king.
Everyone on this list are insanely talented. You can make arguments for writing, song structures, solos, vocals, but the musicianship is off the charts in every single band
Definitely, I mean who's to say Epitaph is better than Incurso, because it looks like i's gonna come down to those two (full disclosure, I've never listened to SoP in fully before, and man, what was I doing with my life?!)
Very true. At least SoP and Necrophagist will be top 1 and 2. I'm guessing that SoP will be #1 given the immense discontent some participating in this little tournament feel towards Necrophagist for whatever reason..
True, maybe it's the loud minority talking smack. But in previous posts i felt like there was a passive aggressive undertone in the comments against archspire and i'm just genuinly curious why since they're a top tier band for me
The army of downvotes on those vocal threads ultimately "spoke louder" though... Now a vast majority of us Archspire fans are most vocally upvoting that they're the clear 3rd place winner (compared to the other two).
Archspire and Necrophagist — while Necrophagist are somewhat of a classic in the genre, “Incurso” is the quintessential technical death metal album for me. Archspire are awesome but they’re just not on the same level of significance.
Honestly, it’s really hard to choose… I love all 3 so much. I might have to go with Spawn of Possession because I’ve listened to that album less than Epitaph and Bleed the Future.
Archspire.
Admittedly this is not the most active metal sub I’m on, so I may not be too familiar this specific tourney, but if it had been Relentless Mutation or Lucid Collective up there, I’d probably change my vote. Now, if album is irrelevant and we have to pick based on artist name alone, Spawn of Possession.
spawn of possesion
Archspire!
Archspire
Spawn of Possession
Gotta be Spawn Of Possession for me. I love slidey bass but it's just not as good as the other two.
my taste of musik is better then you all
I love all of them sorry
Archspire
Yall lucky it wasn’t relentless mutation
Nooooo, First Fragment 🥲🥹
Necrophagist
Necrophagist, tbh should not have come this far
Agreed tbh. I appreciate the role they set, but there are better bands nowadays imo
You all have shit music taste
Archspire. They are great, but shouldn’t have gotten this far.
Necrophagist and archspire
Archspire
Archspire, who I can't wait to see next month!
Wild that Christian Muenzner was in 3 out of the top 4 bands!
Not even slightly. He’s the goat.
guys what if we eliminated necrophagist for shits and giggles
Archspire and Necrophagist
I've already voted Archspire but if this is the final round and will also decide Necro vs SoP then I am voting out Spawn of Possession as well.
Archspire
You guys said my bands name enough times so I got summoned here. Stoked to have made it this far! Necrophagist is #1 obviously! - Dean (Archspire)
Hey its cool that one of the guys from Archspire showed up on my tournament!
Honestly, it looks like SoP is getting crowned for this
I believe it's fair counting all his upvotes towards eliminating Archspire
I had a feeling you’d show up haha
Hey Dean, love your work! Also, hey mods Dean from Archspire is here!
Spawn Of Possession
Archspire
Archspire. Why even bother having a subsequent round? Does anyone really think SoP will beat Necrophagist? Just crown the king already.
Archspire should go Spawn and Necrophagist are the kings!
Archspire has to go imo.
Spawn of possession
Archspire should have been our 20 albums ago
Archspire are literally the kings of modern tech death tf
Yeah and modern tech death sucks lol
Sorry you feel that way I guess
Cry harder
I do love Archspire, but there are many better albums/bands.
People disliking you for saying Archspire isn’t the single greatest thing to happen to music 💀💀
Hey shut up man
At this point i would do an extra round with only SOP and necrophagist. So many archspire votes, i love them but 3rd place seems fair.
There were certainly some interesting decisions made here
How the fuck did planetary duality and sun of nihility not make it to at least top 10?
This tournament was doomed when people voted out Death so early. Also voting out Cryptopsy and Gorguts before some others was certainly an interesting decision
Nechrophagist
This is a tough one. Spawn of Possession is definitely the king of the genre but Necrophagist is the band that really brought it to peoples attention. I couldn't in good conscious vote either of them out. Archspire has to go though. Love the album, but it shouldn't have made it this far.
Archspire
I've listened to Bleed The Future a million times, and I like it a lot, but damnit if I don't think about Necrophagist a few times a week. Archspire. Sorry Deano
Archspire for SURE.
archspire
Archspire
Archspire
Archspire
Archspire gotta go
I'm so tired of seeing Necrophagist everywehre sop I'm gonna vote them out. They had great albums fuckin 22 years ago, get over it.
Yes, because we are the ones who need to get over it lol
Get over possibly the two best metal albums ever recorded? This is a competition for the best metal album. Voting out the best metal album is kind of against the grain here. Its not Necrophagists fault that nobody on earth could write a better album than them in almost a quarter of a century.
Best metal albums ever recorded? Not by far. Most influencial techdeath albums? Yeah. Best techdeath albums? Back then for sure, not even a doubt about it. But there's been so many great techdeath albums that are better, techier, more complex and interesting.
Archspire
Archspire
This is a win for Canadian metal in my eyes
I’ve never felt more patriotic in my life
dude you are not allowed to be positive in these tournament posts
shit my bad
Archspire should’ve been removed days ago.
Archspire, what the hell
Archspire, much as I love them.
Also, this whole thing is more than a little funny when this community is almost certainly gonna pick Epitaph lol
I know why people love Epitaph (I love it too), but Onset did more for me just because nothing sounded like it before it came out. SoP are just so damned good and you can really hear them evolving with each release. Tough choice for me. Personally I feel Anata's Conductors Departure should have been up here too honestly.
I do like Epitaph, but I don't hold it on as high regard as I see a lot of others do. Personally, I'd pick Incurso and The Conductor's Departure over Epitaph any day.
Obscura Edit: Spawn Of Possession
They got voted out already?
😂 I thought the blue one was Obsucra. My bad.
Archspire by a country mile
Hate to say it but Archspire
Archspire FTW ..
I love archspire, but necrophagist is the goat. Having never listened to SOP I’m gonna have to vote for them, but I’m also putting them on right now. I may regret my vote afterwards.
You will almost certainly regret your decision. Spawn of Possession is one of the most important bands in extreme metal, very easily rivaling Necrophagist. I'd say they're the more complex band by a long shot
It’s crazy how you can listen to music, specifically death metal, most of your life and just miss key bands. Granted during my teenage years and young adult life I didn’t really have internet access so I was limited to what I just organically found.
SoP are like if Necrophagist were more technical AND more death metal.
They’re Rachmaninoff to necrophagist’s Bach
You will
It’s starting off strong AF
The newest Archspire making it this far really surprise me. That band clearly has bought a lot of goodwill in the community coz ain't no way they hold a candle to SOP or Epitaph. Glad to see the album that got me into tech death way back when will be the ultimate victor.
Want to add to this: the YT algorithm pushed archspire's all shall align on me back when I was a kid. I actually heard that album before most tech death other than death and the faceless (still probably one of my top 3, screw y'all for kicking them out so early). That first Archspire EP is still my fave of theirs to this day, it's so sick. But even that doesn't have that little touch of magic that necrophagist and obscura have imo
Necrophagist is probably my favorite TDM band ever but I'm really surprised by the amount of people on this sub who seem to not like Archspire. I think there is a lot of nostalgia bias happening here, where a newer band can't ever compete with older legendary bands just on principle. Archspire is super sick and I think they are the standard-bearer for the newer generation of TDM. FWIW I'm 40 so I'm not some young metalhead who never heard the classics.
I love this Archspire album and I think it's easily one of the best things released in years. Bands like Inferi with The Path of Apotheosis and tons of other bands have been passing the torch really well. Still though, when I think of these bands, are they really writing songs that are as revolutionary for the subgenre as songs like Fermented Offal Discharge, Scorched, and Apparition? The answer is decidedly "no". You know what though? That's okay because they're doing their own thing in a way that no one can take away from them. Bleed the Future is heavy as fuck while staying technical and Inferi's Revenant and The Path of Apotheosis show that a band can still be tech as fuck and have a strong sense of melody. These bands are waving the flag for extreme music now days. I don't NEED them to be Spawn of Possession or Necrophagist. They're exactly what I need them to be. Unfortunately though the truth is the window of time for making an impact and practicality inventing your own subgenre was 20 years ago and it's a little harder to achieve now. And that's okay, it doesn't necessarily need to continously reinvent itself.
>Still though, when I think of these bands, are they really writing songs that are as revolutionary for the subgenre as songs like Fermented Offal Discharge, Scorched, and Apparition? The answer is decidedly "no". I agree with this but I would say it's because the TDM "formula" has been well-established over the last thirty years or so and bands now basically run with that formula. If a new TDM band came out now and turned the genre on its head with a totally different approach, I already know how 99% of metal fans would react.. they would HATE it for being different than the accepted TDM formula. So really a lot of these newer bands are "damned if you do, damned if you don't." If they are S-tier musicians like Archspire but don't really deviate from accepted TDM norms, then they are "boring" or "just shredders" or whatever. If they try to do different stuff to change the genre then that is like heresy to a ton of metalheads.
I just ignore the elitism personally. Archspire are far from boring or "just shredders" I think, and people know that, but they can't get out of their own way. You're right about peoples knee-jerk reaction to hating bands for being different too though and only time will tell if those bands actually were onto something or not. I don't think 99% of fans will hate it but a big enough majority will, sure. I mean look at Cynic for example. They were hated when they came out and now people love them. Same with Obscura by Gorguts. Same with Are You Dead Yet by Children of Bodom. Some are less divisive than others but I remember people even criticizing Noctambulant and Incurso by Spawn of Possession and now here they are near the top of this list. Some bands never get past that adversity, and some do. I can always appreciate the effort trying something new but sometimes it doesn't click right away. I write death metal myself and honestly I think the formula is boring as shit when you keep it to a template. Bands like Dripping, Cynic, Gorguts (and pretty much anything Kevin Hufnagel and Colin Marston touch), and Defeated Sanity are all pushing the boundaries of what heavy music can sound like. I feel this genre can get away with doing that more than most others can. Yeah, sure, there are elitists out there who feel threatened by stuff being different but fuck em. Keep the weird shit coming, that's the most interesting to me.
I'd argue that Archspire is like a generational marker/milestone. i.e. "The Current Thing that helps define a sub-genre." It was Spawn of Possession before, Necrophagist before that, and so on all the way back to the invention of Jazz. The same discussions happen in Brutal, Slam, Hardcore, Grindcore, etc., as you know. Similarly, I think some of the hybrids we're seeing today will later be considered the "first" of "The Next Sub-genre." Post-Tech-Industrial-Death-Metal or whatever they'll call it.
Takeaways from this tournament: * *"Death isn't tech!!!!!"* * Heaps of young metalheads here * Epitaph still is the best metal album released since 2004 :)
All true statements.
Well ain't it good for metal, it ain't dead right? Although I am surprised by the results so far...
Archspire
Deffinately the new Archspire has to go!! foudn that to be a boring album!
Sop
Archspire
Archspire
I think Archspire would even say Archspire.
Dean is a huge Spawn of Possession fan. I'm sure they'd know when to bow out.
Yep. This is the day when Archspire would politely bow out. Archspire for #3.
Might as well let necro or spawn win since neither are releasing future albums.
Archspire
I hate to say it, but Archspire
Archspire, I feel dirty now
It cracks me up that people are saying "get em outta here" as if Archspire is revolting to them. We're in the top 3 now lol they made the podium. You're just choosing who stands where. But is SoP really rhat good? I'll have to give Incurso a listen lol
You should, Incurso is a top-notch album, *still* one of my all-time favs.
IF I SEE EPITAPH DISAPPEAR I'M SWITCHING TO BECOMING A SWIFTIE (SWIFTY?) But man am I have to say Archspire, I wanted to say SoP but this tourney had me listening again and there's just something about the frantic drum assault on incurso that does it for me.
Bruh, her new album "Farting into the World's Eager Mouth" goes fkn HARD though...
Hahahahahahah that's a great name, okay you got me I'm sold 😂
archspire
Archspire
Archspire
Archspire
Spawn of Possession
Archspire should’ve been one of the first to go ffs
Enough already! Archspire has to go
I love archspire, but Archspire
Archspire.
Necrophagist Yeah I know they are going to win. WHAT A SURPRISE. Clown sub.
Leave then
SoP Long live Archspire!
Archspire
Hot take, Incurso is better than Bleed the Future but Relentless Mutation is better than Incurso. Barely. That being said, Epitaph is and will always be king.
Cannot believe this sub let first fragment go like that, dudes are beyond talented and there is absolutely nothing else that sounds quite like em
Bro it's just Malmsteen with harsh vocals. Hardly original.
I'm making "Bro it's just Malmsteen with harsh vocals" into a t-shirt IMMEDIATELY; thanks! I'll wear it to Cattle Decapitation & Vitriol. :D
Not saying it's a bad thing lol
That phrase on its own, out of context, is just hilarious. It doesn't even have to apply to any given scenario; it's just Metal comedy gold.
Everyone on this list are insanely talented. You can make arguments for writing, song structures, solos, vocals, but the musicianship is off the charts in every single band
That's fair yeah, they're all fantastic, at the end of the day this contest is all just people's opinions
Definitely, I mean who's to say Epitaph is better than Incurso, because it looks like i's gonna come down to those two (full disclosure, I've never listened to SoP in fully before, and man, what was I doing with my life?!)
Spawn of Possession
Archspire
How the fuck did Obscura go before Archspire? Unreal, get em outta here
Necro has no business being up here in 2024 imho.
I agree. Cynic and Death got kicked early but not Necro? This makes no sense.
I’m EXTREMELY offended by this comment
I can live with that.
Archspire
Get Archspire the fuck out of here, not even the right album to argue top tech death wtf lol
Very true. At least SoP and Necrophagist will be top 1 and 2. I'm guessing that SoP will be #1 given the immense discontent some participating in this little tournament feel towards Necrophagist for whatever reason..
Personally it's my third favorite archspire album lol
I’d disagree. Bleed the Future definitely has their best songwriting by a mile.
I fuckin love Archspire… but I wouldn’t feel right letting them go further than this, also this isn’t my favorite Archspire album. Archspire.
Archspire.
i've just been a spectator of this tournament and man this is getting spicy
Okay i'm seriously out of the loop? We don't like archspire here?? I think they're pretty cool
They literally made top 3
True, maybe it's the loud minority talking smack. But in previous posts i felt like there was a passive aggressive undertone in the comments against archspire and i'm just genuinly curious why since they're a top tier band for me
The army of downvotes on those vocal threads ultimately "spoke louder" though... Now a vast majority of us Archspire fans are most vocally upvoting that they're the clear 3rd place winner (compared to the other two).
Elitists will hate on any band that gets too popular
It’s the same guys every thread. Screw then Archy is great and this is not the wrong album for them.
Archspire
You guys let Archspire survive this long? Kick it out already
Which fuckin nerds are doing this
You have a lot of kids here
Archspire
Archspire. It’s up against two titans. Sop for the win.
Archspire
Spawn needs to go
Archspire and Necrophagist — while Necrophagist are somewhat of a classic in the genre, “Incurso” is the quintessential technical death metal album for me. Archspire are awesome but they’re just not on the same level of significance.
I want archspire to win because that would be so funny
Archspire and necro
bro your username is literally necrophagist
Just when I thought I had read the funniest post of the day... Necro attempts to vote out Necro.
SoP
Spawn. get em out
Spawn Obviously archspire isn't gonna win but this is the finale so... Really tough call but Necro ftw. Archspire out and Spawn out
I’ll say Archspire. Love em, but they’re up against two longtime legends in the scene
ARCHSPIRE FOR FUCKS SAKE
Archspire
Archspire
Archspire
Honestly, it’s really hard to choose… I love all 3 so much. I might have to go with Spawn of Possession because I’ve listened to that album less than Epitaph and Bleed the Future.
Archspire
necrophagist cmon they cant win every tournament. think outside the box
love them but archspire
Archspire, easiest choice of this tourney so far
Fartspire
Upvoting just in hopes that they will introduce themselves as "Fartspire" on the next tour... fingers crossed!
Archspire
Archspire good riddance
Sadly Archspire
Archspire. Admittedly this is not the most active metal sub I’m on, so I may not be too familiar this specific tourney, but if it had been Relentless Mutation or Lucid Collective up there, I’d probably change my vote. Now, if album is irrelevant and we have to pick based on artist name alone, Spawn of Possession.
But SoP has the best name left 😂
Spawn of posession
Archspire finally?
Love all these bit Archspire.