One thing that makes me feel optimistic about the near future of the music of darkness is the seemingly endless wave of real death metal bands. I am already fed up by having to use the word 'real' but death metal has suffered in the hands of awful plastic/technical/deathcore/shitcore bands with four or five or more word names.
The genre's decline that started with the coming of the 90's, triggered the birth of the second wave of black metal that came to reinforce the basic foundations on which death metal was created and were abandoned by the bands of that period.
Whether the recent resurfacing of death metal is part of the cyclic resurgence of music genres or a genuine revival caused by the needs of the true underground, remains to be seen. It is probably the former but the important factor here is the great amount of quality bands that deliver outstanding music. Having leaved the golden era of death metal I would even dare say that the quality of those new bands is higher than of those of late 80's early 90's. Of course it is unlikely that we are going to see any classics created by those new bands. The classics are always those that come first and provide the blueprints for those that follow. This doesn't mean that those that follow cannot compete in talent, will and creativity.
Of course many things are yet to be proven as most of the hopefuls are still to the demo stage of their career and the whole thing will show its seriousness in the near future. All the same, the return of death metal in all its glory, filthy, raw, immersed in the swamp of decay, is only to be celebrated.
Whoever is interested in having an idea of the scene back in mid 80's to early 90's shall have a look at the excellent deathmetal.org were he can find a collection of scans from fanzines of that period (go here or fucking die).
Holy Death...
Antediluvian - Under Wing of Asael
Adversarial - Thralls
Disma - The Vault of Membros
Interment - Into The Crypts Of Blasphemy
Vanhelgd - Cult Of Lazarus
Bastard Priest - Merciless Insane Death
May you all die a painful death...
