ARHONT Arhont CD (2007)

North Macedonia doesn't get nearly enough credit for its death metal output, and Arhont's 2007 self-titled full-length is exactly the kind of buried gem that rewards the diggers. This is Eastern European death metal doing what it does best, which is taking the genre's foundational brutality and wringing something distinctly raw and regional out of it.

If your collection skews toward the grimier end of the death metal spectrum and you've got a soft spot for underground releases that never quite got their due, Arhont fits right in alongside the mid-2000s wave of European death metal that was more interested in punishment than polish. ALT CVLT stocks this precisely because the good stuff doesn't always come with a press campaign.

Standard jewel case CD, 2007 pressing. Death metal, North Macedonia.