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Death metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal that evolved out of thrash metal during the early 1980s.

Characteristics

Commonly recognized characteristics include usually violent or dark lyrics which focus on death as a nihilistic metaphor (although lately more philosophy-based lyrics, such as those of later Death have become popular as well), chromatic progressions and a narrative or "story telling" song structure such that there is not a verse-chorus cycle as much as an ongoing development of themes and motifs. It is usually identified by downtuned rhythm guitars, fast percussion, and dynamic intensity. "Blast beats" are frequently used to add to the ferocity of the modern music. The vocals are commonly low gurgles named death grunt, growl, or death growl. This kind of vocalising is distorted by use of the throat and guts, unlike traditional singing techniques which discourages this technique. Some people consider it similar to the overtone style of singing. Music journalist Chad Bowar notes that, because of the similarity of the vocals to "unintelligible yelling", the style is sometimes described as "Cookie monster vocals".

Death metal's subject matter usually addresses more nihilistic themes than any other genre (alongside black metal), usually using metaphors of a gruesome nature to represent a larger concept. The genre was founded as the branch of metal praising 'death.' The focus on mortality along with the extreme nature of the music (as well as Possessed's "Death Metal") likely inspired the naming of this genre.

Death metal is occasionally known for abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes, and extremely fast and complex guitar and drumwork, although this is not always the case. Bands of this genre frequently utilize downtuned and distorted guitars, a downtuned, sometimes distorted bass guitar, a drum set (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. Death metal is very physically demanding of its musicians, especially in its more "technical" forms. Indeed, it is said by many familiar with death metal that much of the genre's oeuvre rivals classical and fusion jazz in difficulty; in particular, drummers in the style are almost universally required to have immense ability, as all but the most basic death metal requires incredible speed and accuracy, as well as the ability to play in odd meters and remember constant changes.

There are two widely-based theories on the origin of the term "death metal." The first being 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), and a song made famous on the underground tape-trading circuit shortly before. The other is that the name of death metal pioneers Death was made into the genre's name, where their 1987 debut album Scream Bloody Gore made death metal a more recognised style of music. Their simplistic name has said to have been adopted into 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.

Early history (up to 1989)

Death metal is a subgenre of heavy metal. Growling vocals are the primary identifier for death metal for the newer generation. But this by itself also includes works such as Welcome to Hell from 1981 by British metal group Venom where the vocals may be mostly "growling", but the music is not what is generally meant by "death metal" today. Venom never labelled what they did, but their album Black Metal became the basis for labelling music with 'Satanic' lyrics and growling vocals as "black metal".

Genres are not usually identified solely by aesthetic form, and black or death metal labels are not easy to apply to some bands. One example of this is the American band Slayer, a pioneering thrash metal band. This genre (one that predates death metal), is also characterized by complex rhythmics and heavy guitar riffing. Slayer is not usually classified as a death metal band, and have never labelled themselves as such. Even so, with Reign in Blood from 1986, and subsequent works, they certainly influenced many early death metal bands.

Around 1983, aggressive U.S. bands such as Florida's Death, 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 from 1986 and early demotapes by Death, followed by Death's album Scream Bloody Gore from 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) and Grave. The debut albums of these bands were mostly released in the early 1990s and characterised by a distinct guitar sound, which is heavly inspired by the sound of the UK grindcore act Unseen Terror.

However, other death metal historians maintain that the 1985 brand of "early death metal" is more aptly summarised by the moniker "post-thrash" and that the band Death receives inflated credit partly because of its name. In particular, the music flora around 1985, although fitting the above description of "extreme brutality and speed" for its time, did not create anything significantly new compared to their immediate predecessors, and one would be hard pressed to identify strong and specific musical differences between, say Death's debut album from 1987 and same-period work by thrash metal bands such as the Brazilian Sepultura or even the aforementioned Venom, except perhaps slightly "growlier" vocals.

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 in 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 (and most of the band members) 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, certainly 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.

Later history (1991-)

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During the 1990s, death metal grew in many directions, spawning a rich variety of subgenres, including the following:

Melodic death metal

Melodic death metal, where harmonies and melodies are much more present in the guitarwork. Although more melodic, it can sound more raw than the more precise sounding American variety. This subgenre is mostly associated with Sweden, especially in Gothenburg, as well as Norway and Finland (see Scandinavian death metal). The genre finds its best representation in At the Gates, Hypocrisy, In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, and Arch Enemy.

Scandinavian death metal

Scandinavian death metal, which could be called the forerunner of melodic death metal with bands like Entombed, Dismember, Unleashed, Opeth, and the aforementioned At the Gates. Entombed (ex-Nihilist) was the band, which started to combine punk and death/thrash riffs and set a trademark "Sunlight studios" guitar sound - formed by linking together two distortion boxes to create 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 are more rigid and percussive than the Swedish 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 Slayer/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 Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Malevolent Creation, Monstrosity, Obituary, 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. It should be noted, however, that much death metal requires considerable instrumental skill to perform. In fact, some consider the term "technical death metal" misleading, as it suggests that artistry and songwriting are given less focus than virtuosity and instrumental skill. Nonetheless, it is a term commonly applied to such bands as Gorguts, Immolation, Necrophagist, Death, Cynic, Atheist, Pestilence, Cryptopsy, Nile, Spawn of Possession, Neglected Fields and Dying Fetus.

Progressive death metal

Progressive death metal, is a subgenre of death metal that incorporates characteristics such as time signatures 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. Opeth, Death, Pestilence, and Atheist are seen as Progressive death metal.

Brutal death metal

Brutal death metal (also known as "percussive death metal") developed by combining certain aspects of the song structures of grindcore/goregrind with death metal. This genre tends to be highly technical (see above). Brutal death metal is associated with bands like Krisiun, Disgorge, Agiel, Dying Fetus, Devourment, Vital Remains, early Penetralia, and Suffocation. One main characteristic of brutal death is the vocal style, called death grunt, which are almost always very low-pitched. The lyrics are mostly gore related, sung in a slow and choppy manner. In addition, the guitar riffs are usually chunky grooves or hyper fast and down-tuned, often with pinch harmonics. The drumming is usually highly varied in style, ranging from slow and churning to blast beat, as is often the case in grindcore; New York bands such as Suffocation and Morpheus Descends, and Florida bands such as Deicide can be considered the origins of this style.

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 Asphyx, Disembowelment, My Dying Bride, Anathema, and Paradise Lost.

Blackened death metal

Blackened death metal, which is death metal fused with the Satanic elements of black metal, is most defined by the vocals and riffing style. Necrophobic, Goatwhore, Behemoth, Deicide, Zyklon, and Dissection are prime examples of this genre, as is Emperor on their IX Equilibrium album.

Deathrash

Deathrash (also known as "Death/thrash") is a form of thrash metal with elements of death metal, including speed, guitar picking techniques, and vocals. In the earliest incarnation this style was the progression from thrash metal to death metal. Some bands in this particular genre are: Possessed, Benediction, Pestilence and Sepultura with their early albums, Epidemic, Cancer and the first two Sinister albums.

Grindcore

Grindcore is considered by some to be an even more extreme variant of death metal and hardcore punk. However, many fans of grindcore and music historians would place it in a genre by itself, since the genre historically developed in parallel to death metal (both developed in the 1980s, death metal from thrash metal and grindcore from hardcore punk), each influencing the development of the other, but with early grindcore having a much more obvious hardcore punk, crossover thrash, and anarcho-punk influence. Early grindcore bands include Napalm Death (considered by many to be the founder of the genre), Carcass, Impetigo, Fear of God, Terrorizer, and Extreme Noise Terror.

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 fusion. Nile have also incorporated Egyptian music and Middle Eastern themes into their style. Also such genres as Thrash Death metal exist, and Viking Metal such as Amon Amarth.

With the recent rise in popularity of metalcore, strong modern hardcore punk influences have also been utilized in death metal. Dying Fetus is one such band, with a handful of members having been active at times in their local hardcore scene, and even releasing an EP with a cover song by their hardcore peers, Next Step Up. Other notable acts openly fusing death and hardcore include Pyrexia, Bleeding Through, and Deceased, who put out an entire album of hardcore and punk rock cover songs.

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.

Key artists

Key death metal bands include: Atheist, Autopsy, Bolt Thrower, Carcass, Death, Deicide, Dismember, Entombed, Immolation, Morbid Angel, Napalm Death, Obituary, Possessed, and Suffocation.

References

1. "Cookie Monster Vocals". about.com. Retrieved January 21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help). See further examples of this usage at "The cookie monster vocal explained". rocknerd. Retrieved January 21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help) and "The categorization of death metal". metalstorm.ee. Retrieved January 21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help).

See also

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

• Death metal
• Metal subgenres
• Transgressive art