Last year’s crop of metal albums certainly showed off the genre’s diversity, with newcomers like Alcest, Rwake, Grayceon, Begraven and Baroness filling out yearly top album charts alongside heavyweights such as Pelican, Nile, The Red Chord, Neurosis and The Dillinger Escape Plan.  One thing 2007 didn’t give us much of is that which metal is perhaps most famous for: uncompromisingly brutal, nihilistic slabs of violent music.  For that we look to 2008, when many of the genre’s most talented death metal bands are gearing up to unleash their latest blocks of audio havoc onto the public.

This year’s list of releases is headed by two of brutal death metal’s best known bands, New York’s Suffocation and Montreal’s Cryptopsy.  Suffocation’s next offering is tentatively titled "Blood Oath", and Cryptopsy’s "The Unspoken King" will be their first release to feature new vocalist Matt McGachy and keyboardist Maggie Durand. 

Many of death metal’s veteran acts are somehow still cranking out quality music in 2008.  Most notably, Poland’s Vader is planning to release "XXV" to commemorate their 25 years in the business, which means that they started making music while many of their fans were still mastering breathing.  Deicide’s "Till Death Do Us Part", Sinister’s "The Silent Howling", and Dismember’s "Dismember" will all be released soon, and should satisfy fans’ nostalgia for the genre’s glory days of the early 90’s. 

Great death metal releases this year also include Hate Eternal’s "Fury And Flames" and Decrepit Birth’s "Diminishing Between Worlds," which are both already in stores.  The next few months will bring albums from Emeth, Origin (talk about bad-ass cover art) and Bloodbath.  Canada’s vibrant death metal scene will also be pumping out new albums from Kataklysm, Neuraxis and Augury. 

So basically, if you’re tired of all this crap about sludge metal, progressiveness, and whatever else, and you just want some brutal-ass metal, you’re going to have a very good year.