Death Metal

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

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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.

Read more at Wikipedia.org