Ippocalyptica
Suffering Hourβs rather impressive debut, In Passing Ascension, should have received way more kudos than was the case, as I cannot readily recall a death metal debut album of such skill, power, and variety being released in 2017. While stalwarts such as Immolation and Nile, legendary though they are, remain content to revisit the same territory over and over (even if they do it really well), Suffering Hour is part of the new breed - think Convulsing, Abyssal, and their ilk - that is pushing death metal into new realms, even if they are admittedly all doing it through a blackened filter (as a bit of black metal always makes everything better). On Dwell, we are gifted with a perfect distillation of Suffering Hourβs sound, a twisting, adventurous take on blackened death metal that always shows us something compelling without ever forgetting the importance of the almighty riff. These gents kick a nearly immeasurable amount of ass here, and yours will be next if you do not support them.
Favorite track: Dwell.