Germany’s Best Metal Bands Ever, Per the Country’s Native Death-Metal Sons Fleshcrawl
Seven years after their last full-length album, German death-metal deacons Fleshcrawl slithered out of hibernation earlier this month with a new record, Epitome of Carnage, on Reigning Phoenix Music. The quintet surprised everyone with their 12-song collection of gospel songs that preach the word of God and aim to convert their fanbase, which until now has largely consisted of heathens, into devout worshippers of the one and only Lord.
Kidding, of course. Epitome of Carnage lives us to its billing, providing no respite from torturous riffage and brutal blast beats during its 48-minute duration. From the merciless “Grave Messiah” to the punishing “Orphan God” to the blood-curdling “Heralds of Death,” torture is the name of the game on the relentless rampage of sacrilegious slaughter.
Because the record pretty much speaks for itself, when we were given the opportunity to check in with Fleshcrawl about their sick and twisted newborn record, we declined to bore them, ourselves and you with the same old rote questions. Instead, we used the opportunity to ask the band – which started 35 years ago, although almost all its current members weren’t there from the beginning – what they consider to be the greatest German metal bands of all time. After all, they have slightly more authority on the matter than we do, considering we’re not German, aren’t in any bands and are younger than they are (we’re pretty sure).
So get a taste of Fleshcrawl’s new material by watching the video below, then check out the 10 bands that each member of the group consider to be Germany’s finest metal masters, and bicker among yourselves by sharing this article with your friends who are dead wrong or dead right about who they’d put on their own top 10s.
Bastian Herzog (drums, vocals):
1. Scorpions – Early ones are classics; lots of hits.
2. Helloween – Timeless and gold.
3. Ideal – Masters of NDW.
4. Kreator
5. Sodom
6. Herbert Grönemeyer
7. Accept – Early ones = timeless classics.
8. Victory
9. Rammstein – A few songs are top-notch; together with the Scorps, the biggest German music export.
10. Bonfire – German hard-rock classics.
Borisz Sarafutgyinov (vocals)
2. Necrophagist
3. Debauchery
4. Dew-Scented
5. Kanonenfieber
6. Accept
7. Rammstein
8. Destruction
9. Sodom
10. Kreator
Apu Justin Reisch (guitars)
1. Occvlta – Because of their pure Darkthrone worship and great live madness.
2. Dungeon Keeper – Because their sound is just so incredibly evil and massive.
3. Sulphur Aeon – Highly sophisticated death metal that is always worth watching and listening to.
4. Mantar – Two guys delivering absolute, unstoppable energy onstage.
5. The Ruins of Beverast – Pure, pitch-black darkness combined with a stunning atmosphere.
6. Sodom – Absolute, undeniable legends of the scene!
7. The Night Eternal – Brilliant, well-thought-out and unique heavy metal with a beautifully dark vibe.
8. Graven – Absolutely killer, primitive and unforgivingly raw black metal.
9. Venenum – Mind-bending, progressive death metal that feels like a dark psychedelic trip on record.
10. Horns of Domination – Always great Shows and great blackened death metal.
Christian Kalbrecht (guitars)
1. Kreator – Classic
2. Necrophagist – I like this senseless brutality and they have the very best guitar solos in death metal
3. The Spirit – Great black metal band that reminds me of Dissection (one of my all-time favorite bands)
4. Imperium Dekadenz – My favorite atmospheric black metal band
5. Endseeker – They kinda got me into HM-2 death metal (and the old Fleshcrawl stuff, before I joined).
6. Fateful Finality – Great melodic thrash metal.
7. Kanonenfieber – That’s also one of my favorite black metal bands.
8. Macabre Demise – A death-metal, one-man project that delivers really brutal energy on stage (and studio).
9. Mental Cruelty – I love the combination of black metal and slamming death metal (from beginning until 2021).
10. Soul Grinder – When I saw this band live, I was almost “forced” to headbang.
Manu Markowski (bass)
1. Kreator
2. Sodom
3. Destruction – Thrash is always an option.
4. Heaven Shall Burn
5. Caliban
6. Neaera
7. Callejon – “Good old times,” when I started to listen more to extreme metal 20 years ago.
8. Electric Callboy
9. TBS – If it’s OK to be a little trashy.
10. WIZO – Perfect if you want to show your political stance.
For more lists, check out these:
• Edge of Sanity Frontman Dan Swanö Reveals 10 Swedish Bands That Made Their Way Into His Musical DNA
• 10 Best Portuguese Heavy Bands Ever, According to Portugal’s Own Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell
• 10 Best Swedish Heavy Bands Ever, According to Native Sons Prime Creation
• 10 Best Finnish Bands Ever, According to Natives the Feral Kids
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