50% Stoner metal, 30% heavy metal, 20% thrash, these guys from California are another of my recent collection from my sludge metal journey. Let me know if all this has been too same-y, I can post something different!
EDIT: shit I linked the wrong track lol, fixed now.
Fantastic reccs my good man. ๐ง That Stenched album reminds me a bit of Cerebral Rot. Skeletal Remains reminds me a TON of a more energetic modern Suffocation, if that makes sense. I was never big into Bolt Thrower for some reason, but I'll attempt to give Jungle Rot a good listen. You've given me a shit load to chew on and I'm grateful!
I realize I've been spending a lot of time in the Scandinavian melodeath scene a perhaps a bit too long as I have never heard of any of these before lol. Outside of fairly popular touring bands like Behemoth, Nile, Belphegor, Decapitated - bands like that, my knowledge lacks. I do listen to a lot of the older acts from when the genre was forming but that's in part cuz of my recent thrash research. Found Cancer, Ripping Corpse, and Solstice this way. There really is so much more than one expects to find out there.
No problem, I really like the Cerebral Rot comparison, structurally and thematically they're very similar. I think Stenched shows what just changing the production to make it fuzzier and more malodorous can achieve. A lot of people usually go for the low hanging fruit of just comparing Skeletal Remains to Death/Obituary, or any other Florida Death Metal group. This can get a bit silly because they're very obviously gesturing towards a lot of euro/swe-death constantly, it's part of what makes them so enjoyable. Thanks for admitting Bolt Thrower isn't your cup of tea, I'm more than a bit tired of Bolt Thrower circlejerking you see online, and I'm saying that as a huge fan of theirs. The main reason I compare them is mostly because I feel like they both put a premium on rhythm in their song structure, and they both have a long, very consistent discography that doesn't change a lot from album to album.
The fact that you can spend countless hours listening to, and seeking out new metal, and still have enormous gaps in your listening history, is part of what I love so much about metal as a whole. It always feels like there is more out there to find, you honestly feel like you could find your new favorite band at any moment.
(Also thanks for the solstice recommendation, these guys have such an awesome punk-thrash sound with some legit death metal-ism that fit PERFECTLY.)