Death metal bands can be described as fast, aggressive and often dark; featuring growling vocals with sinister tones. Tempo and count changes often come abruptly with some musicians pushing the limits of technical virtuosity like Carcass did with their pioneering 1991 release Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious.
Major music scenes tend to emerge in larger cities. But Death’s formation in Tampa gave rise to an entirely new movement.
Origins
Death Metal first gained popularity during the underground music scene of the 1980s and is characterized by fast tempos, heavy guitar riffs and guttural growls or shrieks in vocal style. Death metal bands typically employ palm muting or tremolo picking at fast speeds to achieve this sound; and aggressive drumming to complete their sound.
Early death metal bands drew heavily from both Thrash Metal and First Wave Black Metal for inspiration, but their sound was distinctive due to the use of harsh death growls and shocking lyrics to create an aggressive new sound. Bands such as Death and Possessed still incorporated elements of Thrash Metal such as drumming and guitar work; however they added other characteristics which became defining traits for death metal genre.
By the late 1980s, many underground bands had begun experimenting with death metal music. Bolt Thrower and Carcass were two such groups who made headlines for pioneering it to an entirely new level with complex rhythms and riffing, technical guitar picking techniques, and aggressive growling vocal delivery – taking death metal to new levels altogether.
Napalm Death and Autopsy would push the limits of death metal into even darker and grittier territory, taking its sound into uncharted waters by mixing in elements of grindcore, crust punk and other genres into their music – creating new sounds which helped spread it further across a wider audience. They would eventually coined their genre “deathgrind”.
Death metal music has long been synonymous with pushing boundaries of extremism. Bands strive to stand out and promote themselves with graphic album covers and live shows featuring violent acts, which has brought death metal bands into conflict with groups advocating for minor’s rights; but its imagery also attracts young listeners who find its visual stimulation stimulating.
Characteristics
Death metal music has an image of being violent and disturbing; often featuring harsh vocals with intricate musical riffs that reach beyond imagination. Bands in this genre spend weeks writing, rehearsing and perfecting intricate riffs played at levels far exceeding belief; these bands also become notorious for their aggressive live performances with intense stage personae; yet death metal remains an underground genre of music.
Death metal genre combines the raw sound of punk with fast, complex rhythms of thrash and black metal music. Death metal musicians strive to push the boundaries of technical skill; often featuring songs with complex chord progressions and drumming that features both chromatic chord progressions and drumming patterns. For an intense soundscape, death metal guitarists tune their guitars down lower pitch than usual to produce distortion using techniques such as palm mutting or tremolo picking; vocals may include deep guttural growls to further create this menacing genre.
Death metal bands use their music as a vehicle for expressing antireligious or political opinions; however, most bands focus on intense musical exploration and technical prowess. Cynic and Gorguts used jazz-influenced compositions to introduce more experimental aspects to death metal music and go beyond standard death metal snarls and roars; they even experimented with clean vocal passages and using vocoders to produce alien vocalizations.
Though most death metal bands hail from the US, there are other notable bands worldwide such as Sepultura that created an original blend by mixing death metal with genres such as thrash and groove for an unparalleled sound in South America.
Death metal has had an outsized influence on other forms of metal music, particularly groove metal and black metal. More recently, Nile and Psycroptic have pushed the envelope further by producing intricate death metal with intricate riffs and drumming that may be difficult to comprehend upon first listen.
Influences
At the dawn of the 1980s, California-based Possessed and Florida’s Morbid Angel brought an occultist edge to death metal music with lyrics that denounced religion. By the end of this decade, bands such as Immolation and Incantation had successfully established an antireligion message through their music.
Sepultura made an immeasurable mark in 1989 with their album Beneath the Remains, which introduced North American audiences to this fiery Brazilian band. Through their more aggressive, extreme approach they revolutionized thrash metal, leaving an impressionable mark across death metal circles and beyond.
Death, formed in 1984, are widely recognized as pioneers of death metal music. Their 1987 album Scream Bloody Gore became one of the definitive works ever released in this genre and introduced harsh death growls, shocking lyrics and fast tempos into death metal music – not to mention late lead vocalist Chuck Schuldiner’s legacy!
As death metal became more mainstream, record labels internationally began signing death metal bands at an unprecedented pace. Earache Records quickly emerged as the dominant label, signing such acts as Carcass, Napalm Death and Morbid Angel to their roster; other labels soon started producing death metal albums too.
Arch Enemy helped open many traditional metal fans up to more extreme metal genres through their 1990 release, “Slaughter of the Soul.” The album boasted delicious melodic guitar riffs as well as heavy, brutal sound that helped establish what later came to be known as blackened death metal.
Death and Kreator were two prominent American metal acts gaining increasing fan bases for their aggressive brand of music, known as thrash metal with elements of punk and hardcore that still resonate today’s metal scene.
Paul Ryan of Origin had been playing in Kansas-based bands such as Necrotomy and Thee Abomination before starting his own band and calling it Abomination after another band with the same name. On his first record Abiogenesis – A Coming Into Existence, you’ll hear shorter and harsher songs than the towering prog-tech monstrosities found today with Origin.
Subgenres
Death metal music is defined by abrupt tempo and count changes, fast drumming and growling vocals. Songs typically utilize chromatic chord progressions as opposed to using standard verse-chorus arrangements for verse and chorus structures. Musicians of death metal genre are also recognized for their impressive music theory knowledge as well as technical proficiency; their songs often showcase intricate rhythms and melodies mastered through musical theory studies and technical proficiency training.
Musically, death metal has several subgenres that help differentiate it from other genres of metal music. One such subgenre is blackened death metal; combining fluid guitar work typical of black metal with the more brutal and morbid themes associated with death metal music; notable bands in this subgenre include God Dethroned, Behemoth, Vital Remains and Zyklon as examples of such bands.
Melodic death metal is an influential subgenre that emphasizes emotive melodies rather than brutal, disturbing themes. As such, this genre tends to be more accessible to a general audience than traditional death metal and provides an accessible entryway into this genre without off-putting harsh vocals and harsh drum beats.
Ambient death metal is a more experimental variation on the genre that utilizes music to create emotive soundscapes. Bands like Wolves in the Throne Room and Agalloch use captivating melodies, intricate guitar work and dynamic mood changes to evoke atmosphere and depth into their songs.
While its precise origins remain contested, one fact is undeniable: death metal began its journey as part of an underground scene. Bands during that era frequently recorded their music in low-budget home studios before making copies available through tape trading networks. Shows were often held in nontraditional venues like VFW halls, backyards, and community centers, often with DIY (do-it-yourself) ethos at play that helped foster an atmosphere of authenticity that later would become integral in shaping the genre’s growth. Thematically, bands drew inspiration from horror movies and other macabre sources to craft lyrics that set death metal apart from other metal genres and attracted dedicated followers. This thematic focus contributed to giving death metal its distinct and violent image.