I have always been intrigued by the intros that death metal bands use on their albums. Throughout the history of the genre, beginning in the late 1980s, an album intro has become an almost standard feature to introduce the listener to the brutal, horrific atmosphere of the forty-or-so minutes that are about to follow. They pull you into a musical narrative of pain, fear and suffering. Lots of suffering. Hence the screams, the rattling of chains, the death bells, the low-toned and deep drones, the satanic voices, the sound of wind and of raging storms, the pompous synths and the samples out of old horror movies.

Sometimes there’s a relationship with the album’s content or with its title. A clear example of this is Bolt Thrower’s intro to “Realm of Chaos” which serves as the beginning of a tale of a total war between worlds. For “Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious”, Carcass put in an intro that is part of an array of short fragments that also function as intermezzos, thereby creating a certain coherence on that album. Often, bands also created instrumentals as intros like Unleashed did for their “Where No Life Ends”.

So I started assembling quite a few death metal intros and ultimately made a mix of them, as a kind of homage. You can find the result here.

Popperola’s Death Metal Album Intro Mix featuring:

1. Bolt Thrower: “Realm of Chaos” (Earache 1989)
2. Marduk: “Panzer Division Marduk” (Osmose Productions 1999)
3. Sentenced: “Amok” (Century Media 1995)
4. Disharmonic Orchestra: “Expositionsprophylaxe” (Nuclear Blast 1990)
5. Grave: “Back From The Grave” (Century Media 2002)
6. Sentenced: “Down” (Century Media 1996)
7. Nocturnus: “The Key” (Earache 1990)
8. Obituary: “Cause Of Death” (R/C Records 1990)
9. Darkthrone: “A Blaze In The Northern Sky” (Peaceville 1992)
10. Gorefest: “Mindloss” (Foundation 2000 1991)
11. Sinister: “Cross The Styx” (Nuclear Blast 1992)
12. Grave: “As Rapture Comes” (Century Media 2006)
13. Morbid Angel: “Blessed Are The Sick” (Earache 1991)
14. Benediction: “Subconscious Terror” (Nuclear Blast 1990)
15. Xasthur: “A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors” (Profane Productions 2001)
16. Edge Of Sanity: “Nothing But Death Remains” (Black Mark Production 1991)
17. Sinister: “Aggressive Measures” (Nuclear Blast 1998)
18. Morgoth: “Cursed” (Century Media 1991)
19. Suffocation: “Suffocation” (Relapse 2006)
20. Carcass: “Necroticism – Descanting The Insalubrious” (Earache 1991)
21. Shining: “VII – Född Förlorare” (Spinefarm Records 2011)
22. Unleashed: “Where No Life Dwells” (Century Media 1991)
23. Skitliv: “Skandinavisk Misantropi” (Season Of Mist 2009)
24. Shining: “V – Halmstad” (Osmose Productions 2007)
25. Immolation: “Majesty And Decay” (Nuclear Blast 2010)
26. Deicide: “Legion” (R/C Records 1992)
27. Possessed: “Beyond The Gates” (Combat 1986)
28. Xasthur: “To Violate The Oblivious” (Total Holocaust Records 2004)
29. Sinister: “Creative Killings” (Hammerheart Records 2001)
30. Entombed: “When In Sodom” (Threeman Recordings 2006)