Death metal

Death metal is a type of heavy metal music with thrash metal influences that emerged in the United States (especially Florida and California), Europe (especially the United Kingdom and Sweden) and Canada in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Related Topics:
Heavy metal music - Thrash metal - United States - Florida - California - Europe - The United Kingdom - Sweden - Canada - 1980s - 1990s

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Death metal has, like most subgenres of heavy metal, proven notoriously difficult to define. Some fans and musicians have a firm concept of the genre, its categories and subcategories. Others consider such categorisation limiting or useless. There is often crossover from one metal genre to another, and the influence of non-metal genres is not uncommon.

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Death metal is usually identified by extreme brutality, intensity and speed. "Blast beats" are frequently used to add to the intensity of the music. The vocals - death grunts, (guttural roars) or "growls", as they are often called, are rough and often incomprehensible. Similarly, those not familiar with the genre sometimes confuse it with "death rock", which is an entirely different musical classification altogether.

Related Topics:
Blast beat - Death grunt - Death rock

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Death metal's subject matter usually deals with the darker side of society that most other musical styles avoid writing about although some bands such as Dying Fetus write mostly political lyrics. The focus on mortality along with the extreme nature of the music likely inspired the naming of this genre as "death" metal. Other bands still take their lyrical inspiration from horror movies, e.g., early Death, Cannibal Corpse, Mortician.

Related Topics:
Dying Fetus - Horror - Death - Cannibal Corpse - Mortician

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Death metal is known for very abrupt tempo and count/time signature changes, and extremely fast and complex guitar and drumwork. Most bands of this genre use downtuned and distorted guitars (usually utilising two), which play both rhythm and lead guitar parts, a downtuned, sometimes distorted bass guitar, a drum set (almost universally using two bass drums), and a vocalist who uses growling vocals, also known as death grunts or vokills (but not to be confused with the screaming vocals used in metalcore bands). Some bands, such as Septic Flesh and early Amorphis, added incidental synthesizers or other instruments for effects. Of all the Metal genres, Death metal and its sister genre grindcore are the most physically demanding of their musicians. In terms of mental demands, Death metal's complexity is often on par with progressive metal, and indeed there is a cross-genre known as Progressive Death Metal, containing bands as diverse as Cynic, Death, Opeth, and Necrophagist.

Related Topics:
Tempo - Drum - Guitar - Rhythm - Lead - Bass guitar - Growling vocals - Metalcore - Septic Flesh - Amorphis - Synthesizer - Grindcore - Progressive metal - Progressive Death Metal - Cynic - Death - Opeth - Necrophagist

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