Death metal

Death Metal
Stylistic origins	Thrash metal
Cultural origins	Early-Mid 1980s United States, England, and Sweden.
Typical instruments	Guitar - Bass guitar - Double-bass drum
Subgenres
Melodic death metal - Technical death metal - Brutal death metal
Fusion genres
Deathgrind - Death/doom - Deathrash - Deathcore - Blackened death metal - Progressive death metal
Regional scenes
Florida death metal - Texas death metal - New York death metal - Scandinavian death metal - United Kingdom death metal
Other topics
Death grunt - Extreme metal - Blast beat

Death metal is an extreme metal subgenre. It is one of the major subgenres of heavy metal, which began as an evolution of thrash metal in the 1980s. Death metal is usually fast, low, powerful, intense, and played very loudly.

Characteristics

The genre is often identified with downtuned rhythm guitars, fast percussion, and dynamic intensity. Blast beats and exceedingly fast drum patterns are frequently used to add to the ferocity of the genre. The vocals are often grunts, snarls, and low gurgles colloquially called death grunts or death growls. Death grunts require use of the throat and guts, unlike traditional singing styles which discourage this technique. Some people consider it an overtone style of singing. Music journalist Chad Bowar notes that, because of the similarity of the vocals to those of the Sesame Street character, the style is sometimes called "Cookie Monster vocals". This term has become commonly used as a show of disdain for the genre.

Death metal is known for abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes, as well as extremely fast and complex guitar and drumwork. Death metal may include chromatic chord progressions and a varied song structure without a standard verse-chorus arrangement. These compositions tend to emphasize an ongoing development of themes and motifs. Bands of this genre frequently utilize downtuned and distorted guitars, a downtuned, sometimes distorted bass guitar, and a drum kit almost universally using two bass drums or a double bass drum pedal. Although this is the standard setup, bands have been known to incorporate other instruments such as keyboards and saxophone.

Death metal lyrics usually address more violent themes than other forms of metal music (with a few exceptions such as Satanism and Nihilism), often using gruesome metaphors to explore a larger concept. It also involves singing about necrophilia, torture or murder. The genre, originally an offshoot of thrash metal, was established to celebrate the darker underlying ideas that lay dormant in metal music. The focus on mortality along with the extreme nature of the music likely inspired the naming of this genre.

There are three common theories on the origin of the term "death metal." The first being is the title of the Possessed song Death Metal, which was featured on their 1985 debut album Seven Churches (an album widely regarded as the first death metal album, predating Morbid Angel's and Death's works). But in the same year, a song called Death Metal appeared on the debut album Power from Hell by thrash metal band Onslaught. A 1985 demo by Death was also called Death by Metal. The second theory is that the name of genre pioneers Death was the origin of the genre's name, since their 1987 debut album Scream Bloody Gore made death metal a more recognised form. Their austere name has said to have been adopted as the genre's title. A third theory emerged in 2003 when the late Thomas "Quorthon" Forsberg of black metal band Bathory claimed in an interview with the British journalist Joel McIver that he had invented the term 'death metal' as far back as 1984, even though his band never pursued a death metal approach.

The 1984 compilation release Death Metal is also another possibility.

Early history (up to 1989)

Death metal is an offshoot of thrash metal. Thrash metal is a genre of extremes; fast tempos, blaring distortion, yelled and/or shouted vocals, and unpredictable song structures. Thrash bands experimented with new techniques and ideas in order to push the genre further away from mainstream rock music. The most extreme of these thrash bands (most famously, Slayer) created a proto-death metal sound by playing a faster, heavier, and darker version of standard thrash.

Around 1983, aggressive U.S. bands such as Florida's Death & Morbid Angel , California's Possessed, and Chicago's Master began to form. If one would call this diffuse genre "early death metal", the first recorded examples of this would be Possessed's album Seven Churches from 1985, Messiah's album Hymn to Abramelin and Strappado by Slaughter, both from 1986, followed by Death's album Scream Bloody Gore and Season of the Dead by Necrophagia in 1987. Morbid Angel is another band that largely influenced the death metal scene, releasing numerous demos and rehearsal since 1983. To their credit, these "early death metal" bands did push the format forward, something that would ultimately pay off in a new form of music that was substantially different from their closest forefather, thrash metal.

The late 1980s saw the rise of death metal in Scandinavia, and in particular in Sweden with bands like Entombed (then Nihilist), God Macabre, Carnage (later Dismember), Grave and Vomitory. The debut albums of these bands were mostly released in the early 1990s and characterised by a distinct guitar sound, which is heavily inspired by the sound of the UK grindcore act Unseen Terror.

The alternative standpoint is that the modern concept of death metal — the point when it clearly decouples from the origins in heavy metal and thrash metal — can be set to 1989 or 1990. Just as the original creation of NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) by Iron Maiden and other bands was sparked by the youthful energy of punk rock in the late 1970s, so did cross-fertilisation between metal and punk once more create something new in the late 1980s. The chaotic and often confusing development that took place around this time is well illustrated by the British band Napalm Death, often characterised as a "grindcore" band (see below). This band was simultaneously always part of the hardcore punk scene. However, Napalm Death themselves changed drastically around or before 1990, leaving grindcore behind.

In particular, on 1990's Harmony Corruption, Napalm Death can be heard playing something most fans would call death metal today, i.e. "modern death metal" by the above characterization. This album clearly displays aggressive and fairly technical guitar riffing, complex rhythmics, a sophisticated growling vocal delivery by Mark "Barney" Greenway, and thoughtful lyrics. Other bands contributing significantly to this early movement include Britain's Bolt Thrower and Carcass, Buffalo's Cannibal Corpse, Sweden's Entombed, New York's Suffocation, and Florida's Morbid Angel.

To close the circle, the band Death put out the album Human in 1991, an example of modern death metal. The band Death's founder Chuck Schuldiner helped push the boundaries of uncompromising speed and technical virtuosity, mixing in highly technical and intricate rhythm guitar work with complex arrangements and emotive guitar solos. Other examples of this are Carcass's Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious from 1991, Suffocation's debut Human Waste from the same year and Entombed's Clandestine from 1992. At this point, all the above characteristics are clearly present: abrupt tempo and count changes, on occasion extremely fast drumming, morbid lyrics and growling delivery.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, various record labels began to sign death metal bands at a rapid rate. Earache Records and Roadrunner Records became the genre's most important labels, with bands such as Carcass, Napalm Death, Morbid Angel, and Entombed, and Obituary, Sepultura, Pestilence, and Deicide respectively. Although these labels had not been death metal labels to start with (Earache was founded for grindcore and Roadrunner for thrash), they became the genre's flagship labels in the beginning of the 1990s. In addition to these, other labels formed as well, such as Nuclear Blast, Century Media, and Peaceville; many of these labels would go on to achieve successes in other genres of metal throughout the 1990s.

Later history (1991-)

Death metal's popularity achieved its peak between the 1992-93 era, with some bands such as Morbid Angel enjoying mild commercial successes; however, the genre as a whole never broke in to the mainstream owing to its extreme nature. Nevertheless, rather than fading away, death metal diversified in the '90s, spawning a rich variety of subgenres, including the following:

Melodic death metal

Melodic death metal, sometimes referred to as melodeath, is a less extreme form of death metal. Songs are typically based around Iron Maiden-esque guitar harmonies and melodies with typically higher-pitched growls, as opposed to traditional death metal's brutal riffs and much lower death grunts. Grindcore band Carcass are sometimes credited with releasing the first melodic death metal album with 1994's Heartwork, although Swedish bands In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, and At the Gates are usually mentioned as the main pioneers and popularizers of the genre and of the Gothenburg metal sound. Since the genre's creation, Finnish melodic death has also risen, with a more thrash metal/neoclassical influenced sound, such as those of bands like Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Kalmah, Norther, and Children of Bodom's more recent material.

Scandinavian death metal

Scandinavian death metal could be called the forerunner of melodic death metal. Bands like Afflicted, Entombed, Dismember, Unleashed, and the aforementioned At the Gates helped to define the sound that would evolve into melodic death metal. This term is generally interchangeable with melodic death metal. Entombed (ex-Nihilist) was the band, which started to combine punk and death/thrash riffs and set a trademark "Sunlight studios" guitar sound - mainly created by the use of the Boss Heavy Metal distortion pedal, creating a raw, mechanical, electric buzz, which many bands of this genre later tried to reproduce. Nevertheless, this sound was inspired by British deathgrind band Unseen Terror on their debut album Human Error.

Florida death metal

Florida death metal is more rigid and percussive than the Scandinavian variant, more precise, refined and traditional; in many ways this style can be seen, at least in the early days as an extension of thrash metal, especially the Kreator/Destruction variety, but with added complexity and brutality. It tends to be more direct and brutal than the "technical death metal" pioneered by bands such as Cynic and Atheist. Bands include Deicide, Malevolent Creation, Monstrosity, Obituary, Abatu, Resurrection, Brutality, Morbid Angel, and Death though later Death's albums fall more into the category of progressive death metal (see below).

Technical death metal

Technical death metal, a narrow but influential subgenre, refers to bands who are particularly distinguished by the virtuosity of their musicians. Technical death metal is musically characterized by chaotic riffs, atypical rhythms, polished production, and rapidly changing time signatures. It is a term commonly applied to such bands as Atheist, Cryptopsy, Cynic, Decapitated, Dying Fetus, Gorguts, Immolation, Necrophagist, Nile, Origin, Psycroptic and Spawn of Possession.

Progressive death metal

Progressive death metal is a subgenre of death metal that incorporates characteristics such as time signature and mood changes from progressive metal. The overlapping of genres is quite common. The genre typically showcases death metal's growls, blastbeats, chaotic alternating rhythms of progressive metal, acoustic parts and the use of instruments not common to traditional heavy metal such as the saxophone. Amorphis (early), Opeth, Cynic, Akercocke, Death, Pestilence (latest release), Nocturnus and Atheist are seen as progressive death metal. This and technical death metal are closely associated, sharing many of the same traits and often overlapping, but have different emphasis as descriptions.

Brutal death metal

Brutal death metal developed by combining certain aspects of the song structures of grindcore/goregrind with death metal but it should not be confused with deathgrind (grindcore that is very close in form to, and maintains the complexity of, death metal) because it has nothing to do with hardcore punk. The bands in this genre are often categorized as technical death metal. As of now there is a hairline boundary between brutal death metal and technical death metal. Brutal death metal is associated with bands like Cannibal Corpse, Disgorge (US), Deeds of Flesh, Devourment, Disavowed, Krisiun, Nile, Skinless, Suffocation, and Wormed. The death grunts are very low-pitched and the lyrics are usually gore related. In addition, the guitar riffs are usually slow chunky grooves or hyper fast and down-tuned, often with pinched harmonics. Typically, if guitar solos are played, they usually make large use of tremolo picking, varied arpeggios, and wailing harmonics. The drumlines are usually highly varied in style, ranging from slow rhythms to churning blast beats. The sound production on most albums in the brutal death metal genre usually has a very dense sound. Brutal death metal can be considered as the forerunner of all metal genres in terms of heaviness and technicality.

Slam death metal

While similar to brutal death metal, slam death metal differs in the focus shifting away from speed and blast beats and more toward hardcore-styled breakdowns and grooves, although blast beats are used sporadically. Vocals, generally, register no higher than the standard death growl and are usually much lower, often with a "gurgle"-type sound. Guitar tuning is usually dropped B or lower with frequent pinch harmonics and the prevalence of guitar solos many times sacrificed in favor of crunching riffs. Technicality is often used but is not mandatory, while melody, if present at all, is kept to an absolute minimum. The overall sound of slam death metal has a lower register than brutal death metal but is not as fast or complex. Regionally, slam death metal has been predominately associated with the United States, and more specifically, New York and Texas. However, as of recent, the genre has spread world-wide. Because of its similarity to brutal death metal, slam death metal shares a few bands with that subgenre, but there are many slam death metal bands that would not be considered brutal death metal at all and vice versa. Bands usually associated with slam death metal are Devourment, Guttural Secrete, Internal Bleeding, and Soils of Fate.

Death/Doom

Death/doom is a slow and melancholic subgenre inspired by and mixed with classic doom metal. The genre was created by the likes of Autopsy, Sempiternal Deathreign, Asphyx, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost (early), Anathema, Novembers Doom, Winter, and Disembowelment. Whereas traditional doom metal relies heavily on slow tempo to create a melancholic atmosphere, death/doom is slightly faster and emphasizes minor-key melodies to create a similar atmosphere, and usually utilizes a mix of death growls and singing.

Blackened death metal

Blackened death metal is a subgenre of death metal fused with the more fluid and melodic elements of black metal. These bands also tend to adopt some of the thematic characteristics of that genre as well; evil, Satanism, and occultism are all common topics and images. Hypocrisy, Necrophobic, Vital Remains, Goatwhore, Thelema-era Behemoth, Belphegor, Zyklon, and Dissection are examples. Rather than what the name implies, blackened death tends to be black metal played with the intensity and musicianship of death metal, often incorporating more complex and dynamic drumming as well as lower tuned guitars utilizing the heavier attack and percussiveness of death metal guitar playing.

Deathrash

Deathrash (also known as "death/thrash" or "deaththrash") is a form of thrash metal with elements of death metal, including fast drumming, guitar picking techniques such as tremolos, death-themed lyrics and possible "death growl" vocals. In the earliest incarnation this style was the progression from thrash metal to death metal began in 1986. These were the bands that started the "deaththrash" sound from their albums such as: "Reign in Blood" by Slayer, "Beneath the Remains" by Sepultura, "Pleasure to Kill" by Kreator and Dark Angel's "Darkness Descends" which inspired other thrash bands to use a dirtier sound. Some bands in this particular genre are: Pestilence, Epidemic, and Cancer. Because of the experimentation of death metal of Testament's last three albums, they may be considered death thrash in those points.

Deathgrind

Deathgrind is a style that combines a 50/50 combination of death metal and grindcore. Guitar solos are a rarity, death growls are not as prominent and song lengths are generally short as the case in grindcore. There are also less slower and doom metal-esque passages, as bands in this style are more in favor of playing highly high tempo and atonal music. But it separates itself from grindcore by having a more complex musical approach and very little hardcore punk influences. Brujeria, Brutal Truth, Cattle Decapitation, Cephalic Carnage, Exhumed, and Mortician would be considered as the most known bands of this style.

Other fusion genres

On the one hand, there are also other heavy metal sub-genres that have come from fusions between death metal and other non-metal genres, such as the fusion of death metal and jazz played by Pestilence on their Spheres album, or the work of Florida bands Atheist and Cynic, the former of which sometimes went as far as to include jazz-style drum solos on albums, and the latter of which incorporated notable influences from jazz fusion. Gorguts are another band noted for creating jazz-influenced death metal on their Obscura album. Nile have also incorporated Egyptian music and Middle Eastern themes into their style, which has been labeled by founder Karl Sanders as "Ithyphallic".

With the recent rise in popularity of metalcore, musical traits of modern hardcore punk have been utilized in death metal. Bands like Job For a Cowboy, Despised Icon, and The Red Chord combine metalcore with death metal influences. Death metal characteristics such as fast and dynamic drumming (including blast beats), downtuned guitars, tremolo picking and growled vocals are combined with slower groovy riffs and breakdowns. This metalcore/deathmetal hybrid is sometimes referred to as deathcore.

It is also noteworthy that many bands can easily be placed in two or more of the preceding categories, and a band's specific categorization is often a source of contention due to personal opinion and interpretation.

Literature

• Albert Mudrian, Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore (Feral House) ISBN 978-1-932595-04-8
• Kahn-Harris, Keith 'Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge' Berg, ISBN 1-8452-0399-2

See also

• List of death metal bands
• Death growl
• Blast beat
• Extreme metal

External links

• AllMusic