There have been an awful lot of variations on metal on this list and I have used the words dark and contemplative a hell of a lot. What we have had is less meat and potato communal garden nasty heavy metal. Well here comes American death metal legends Cattle Decapitation to do some heavy lifting in that particular direction.

This is grinding heaviness personified. It is an absolute brute of an album. It is a relentless pounding affair that never lets up. The guitars are like a chorus of raging chainsaws and the drumming is utterly insane. There is a bewitching beauty to primal heaviness and this is an ecstatically wonderful example of the majesty of really well-done death metal.