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Top 20 Best Death Metal Albums OF ALL TIME

Metal Trenches | June 12, 2026



In this video, I’m counting down my Top 20 Death Metal Albums of All Time, focusing specifically on traditional death metal classics. To keep things interesting, I’ve limited it to one album per band, excluded overt melodic death metal, and cut things off at the year 2000. The result is a list packed with genre-defining records from legends like Death, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Immolation, Nile, Bolt Thrower, Entombed, Cryptopsy, and many more. @cannibalcorpse @MorbidAngelofficial @OfficialDyingFetus @decapitated @Suffocation @nile

#deathmetal #oldschooldeathmetal #cannibalcorpse #morbidangel

00:00 Immolation – Close to a World Below
01:15 Nocturnus – The Key
02:02 Cannibal Corpse – Tomb of the Mutilated
03:02 Carcass – Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious
03:42 Deicide – Deicide
04:30 Atheist – Unquestionable Presence
05:28 Monstrosity – Imperial Doom
06:13 Malevolent Creation – Retribution
06:57 Bolt Thrower – For Victory
07:50 Cryptopsy – None So Vile
08:37 Suffocation – Effigy of the Forgotten
09:26 Dying Fetus – Destroy the Opposition
10:15 Nile – Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka
10:56 Decapitated – Winds of Creation
11:41 Dismember – Like an Ever Flowing Stream
12:19 Demigod – Slumber of Sullen Eyes
13:01 Necrophagist – Onset of Putrefaction
13:49 Entombed – Left Hand Path
14:30 Morbid Angel – Domination
15:14 Death – Scream Bloody Gore

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I do not own the rights to any of the featured song clips on this video. All credit to the artists and labels with specific permission granted. These fall under fair use based on sufficient transformation for the purpose of review, promotion, and commentary.

Written by Metal Trenches

Comments

This post currently has 46 comments.

  1. @Spur1Denmark

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    I always preferred Dismember's debut to Entombed's. I feel the variety was much greater, and still is a cornerstone of swedeath. Been listening to it since the late 90's.

  2. @oregonwoodelf

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    Respectable list!🤘💀
    And I like the criteria. Keeps it to those albums that purely say DEATH METAL to me. Bludgeoning, ripping fast, disgusting, in your face aggression🙌
    Literally looking at my Scream Bloody Gore framed poster above my computer as I watch this. Good pick👏
    I'd try to fit Asphyx – Last One On Earth in my top 20. The production on it is FILTHY, so damn heavy🧙‍♂

  3. @lawrencefine5020

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    Good list.
    I'd put Leprosy over Scream Bloody Gore and Blessed Are The Sick over Domination.
    But not many disagreements on this list.
    Cryptopsy's None So Vile still stuns me to this day.

  4. @iamablowfish8531

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    1. Cryptopsy – None So Vile
    2. Morbid Angel – Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
    3. Dragged into Sunlight – Hatred for Mankind
    4. Infester – To the Depths, in Degradation
    5. Gorguts – Colored Sands
    6. Demilich – Nespithe
    7. Lykathea Aflame – Elvenefris
    8. Immolation – Close to a World Below
    9. Ulcerate – Cutting the Throat of God
    10. Defeated Sanity – Passages to Deformity
    11. Swallowed – Lunarterial
    12. Teitanblood – Death
    13. Devourment – Obscene Majesty
    14. Autopsy – Mental Funeral
    15. Intestine Baalism – Ultimate Instinct
    16. Mortal Decay – Forensic
    17. Pseudogod – Deathwomb Catechesis
    18. Disgorge – Consume the Forsaken
    19. Howls of Ebb – Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows
    20. Necros Christos – Domedon Doxomedon

  5. @jmalinjapan7786

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    Nothing after the year 2000 is a pretty hot take.

    How about another one for post-2000, and then a final selection that actually is the best of all time, in your opinion of course hehe.

    Love your videos, I’d watch all three.

  6. @cabalofdemons

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    A solid list. I own a few of these albums. I've never done a top death metal album list. However, my top 10 at the moment are:
    1. Entombed- Left Hand Path (1990)
    2. Nile- In Their Darkened Shrines (2002)
    3. Carcass- Heartwork (1993)
    4. Death- Individual Thought Patterns (1993)
    5. Morbid Angel- Altars of Madness (1989)
    6. Jungle Rot- Jungle Rot (2018)
    7. Behemoth- The Satanist (2014)
    8. Immolation- Atonement (2017)
    9. Amon Amarth- With Oden On Our Side (2006)
    10. Cannibal Corpse- Evisceration Plague (2009)

  7. @dtltmtgt

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    I included melodic…

    2000 and Before:

    1. Symbolic Death 95
    2. Heartwork Carcass 93
    3. Altars of Madness Morbid Angel 89
    4. Slaughter of the Soul At the Gates 95
    5. Onset of Putrefaction Necrophagist 99
    6. Left Hand Path Entombed 90
    7. Piece of Time Athiest 89
    8. Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka Nile 98
    9. Cause of Death Obituary 90
    10. Legion Deicide 92
    11. Nothing But Death Remains Edge of Sanity 91
    12. For Victory Bolt Thrower 94
    13. Vile Cannibal Corpse 96
    14. Like An Ever Flowing Stream Dismember 91
    15. Seven Churches Possessed 85
    16. Effigy of the Forgotten Suffocation 91
    17. Penetralia Hypocrisy 92
    18. Retribution Malevolent Creation 92
    19. Close to a World Below Immolation 2000
    20. Imperial Doom Monstrosity 92

    After 2000:

    1. With Oden on Our Side Amon Amarth 2006
    2. Annihilation of the Wicked Nile 2005
    3. Omnivium Obscura 2011
    4. Surgical Steel Carcass 2013
    5. Modern Primitive Septicflesh 2022
    6. Nija Orbit Culture 2020
    7. Exul Ne Obliviscaris 2023
    8. The Satanist Behemoth 2014
    9. Terrasite Cattle Decapitation 2023
    10. Accursed Vale of Pnath 2019

  8. @abyssregnum6852

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    Great selection of records… tomb of the mutilated and the key are also in my top… I would add some darker stuff like Unleashed where no life dwells and Miasma changes… Cancer the sins of mankind also makes it in the top 20… my favorite 3 are by bands you obviously included… but quite different records: Covenant, Heartwork and Individual thought patterns… Do you consider early Sepultura death metal? They were included in the at death's door compilation and I also have Beneath the remains as one of my all time favorites.

  9. @schizofrito

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    I remember i once read a review of Cryptopsy's None So Vile on a spanish metal review site. The reviewer gave it a 4.5/5 only because he said that Lord Worm's vocals sounded like he was swallowing a thousand d's per second 😂. And he also glazed Flo's drumming so much, but that's understandable, that album has goated drums.

  10. @TheCuttingBureau

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    Great list! I would personally have chosen Covenant for Morbid Angel (I think Domination's vocals sound like ass.) I am a sucker for those first three albums. Hmm, I might spin some Tucker MA today…

  11. @michaelsantangelo7997

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    Not in order
    Kataklysm – Temple of Knowledge
    Nile – In Their Darkened Shrines
    Dying Fetus – Destroy the Opposition
    Archspire – Relentless Mutation
    Cephalic Carnage – Misled by Certainty
    Cryptopsy – Whisper Supremacy
    Fleshgod Apocalypse – Labyrinth
    God Dethroned – Ravenous
    Krisiun – Apocalyptic Revelations
    Origin – Entity
    Suffocation – Despise the Sun
    Vader – Black to the Blind
    Vital Remains – Dawn of the Apocalypse
    Arsis – We are the Nightmare
    At the Gates – Slaughter of the Soul
    Deicide – Legion
    General Surgery – Necrology
    Exhumed – Gore Metal
    Lost Soul – Scream of the Morning Star
    Napalm Death – Utopia Banished

  12. @knockout3630

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    Why nothing after the year 2000 I get no melodic death metal but I don’t get why a traditional death metal album that came out a couple years ago will be discluded

  13. @travelling-solutions-architect

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    I’ve got two heretical hot takes…
    For one, I was never the biggest fan of Necroticism..Symphonies of Sickness always hit harder for me, especially on Exhume and Reek of Putrefaction.
    Second is that I will always acknowledge Entombed as the legend, but the entire Dismember Like An Ever Flowing Stream album is still in my playlist with 0 skips…Left Hand Path is solid but I tend to skip a couple like Revel in Flesh.

  14. @pascalbolduc3821

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    Wow, its difficult to disegree with any of these picks. Although I would have a different selection from Morbid Angel and Death, and I would certainly add some Gorguts in the mix. But overall a great selection.

  15. @lordvlygar2963

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    Xoth!!! I have a buddy in the band. I gotta let him know they made it to Metal Trenches.

    I agree with a lot of this list, although I feel there are some major albums left out.
    Convulse – World Without God
    Grave – Into the Grave
    Incantation – Onward to Golgotha
    Morpheus Descends – Ritual of Infinity
    Vader – Litany
    Disincarnate – Dreams of the Carrion Kind
    Gorguts – The Erosion of Sanity

  16. @aaroncoroner5915

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    Hard to argue with those choices, though personally I like Bolt Thrower's WarMaster album best. But why no Gorguts? You Did mention them so I would have though Erosion of Sanity would have made your list. Also I'd add Obituary's Cause Of Death and Morgoth's Cursed album and I couldn't Live in a world without Where No Life Dwells by Unleashed. And just for some obscure fun I'll add in a rare gem of a record by an obscure Illinois band called 'Morgue'. They released a single full length album in 1993 called Eroded Thoughts and It. Is. A. BANGER! Cheers!🤘🤘

  17. @deathmetaldalton6766

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    hell yeah, respectable as hell list. Massive props for bringing up The Key, one of the most criminally underrated OSDM albums of all time alongside The Blueprints For Madness and Horror of The Zombies.Demigod Mention is sick too, also in regards to scream bloody gore it's been my favorite for awhile as well purely because of Chris Riferdt and how underrated his influence within death metal as a whole is.

  18. @choralone9307

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    Love to see love for Domination. Thought it was fantastic ever since it came out. It always amused me over the years when metal elitists considered this to be their sellout album and compared them to Pantera, as if teenage girls had posters of Morbid Angel on their walls or something.

  19. @fabiano-f2d

    June 12, 2026 at 7:24 am

    The Bleeding – Cannibal Corpse.
    Once Upon The Cross – Deicide.
    Stop At Nothing – Dying Fetus.
    Blasphemy Made Flesh -Cryptopsy.
    Pierced From Within – Suffocation.
    Forever Underground- Vital Remains.
    Infernal Storm – Incantation. Psalms Of The Moribund – Defeated Sanity.
    Stabwound Orgasm – Avulsed.
    1.3.8 – Devourment.
    Voracious Contempt – Internal Bleeding.
    Conquering The Throne – Hate Eternal.
    Feasting On Blood – Severe Torture.
    Foreshadowing Our Demise – Skinless.
    RATED-X – Deranged.
    Intrauterine Cannibalism – Malignancy.
    Recounts Of Disembodiment – Beheaded.
    Sickining Erotic Fanaticism – Mortal Decay.
    Revealed And Worshipped – Insision.
    Reduced To Ashes – Deeds Of Flesh.

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