Death metal is, along with Black metal, probably one of the least accessible divisions of heavy metal... And it probably isn't without good reason. Death metal is often associated with cookie monster vocals, chaotic guitar riffs/solos that have no melody, heavy guitar tones, and lyrics that are often gory or unpleasant. I'm not going to lie, cookie monster vocals, and downtuned guitars with chaotic riffs are what make death metal, death metal.
Now there are a few scenarios:
*1. You accept the heavy guitar tones, and chaotic riffs along with the cookie monster vocals. *2. You don't accept the heavy guitar tones, and chaotic riffs, but are going to put up with the vocals *3. You hate everything
In scenario 1, you are well upon your way to appreciating death metal! In scenario 2, you want to Ctrl F, and look for the Melodic Death metal section of the guide. In scenario 3, you'll probably rate this blog a 1, disregard the entire post, and write some meaningless post about how death metal is for brutes and stupid metalheads. I suggest you go listen to the power metal, fag!
Death metal, like almost all metal, has cloudy and debated beginnings. I'm going to tell you my version which you may or may not agree with.
Most people agree that Slayer, along with the other extreme thrash metal acts like Kreator, and Dark Angel were major contributers to death metal. Slayer in particular helped usher in many elements that are now considered death metal. Lombardo was an extremely fast drummer who may or may not have popularized the blast beat in metal, King and Hanneman wrote twisted melodies and chaotic riffs with their down tuned gutiars, and the lyrics were pretty gory for their time. The same can be said for Kreator who's first two albums were extremely influential, and for Dark Angel's Gene Hoglan who advanced drumming technique further.
This should be quite obvious, as many death metal bands choose to cover Slayer and extreme thrash songs. Other thrash metal bands like Metallica and Exodus obviously also contributed to death metal, just not as much.
Then in 1985, Possessed released "Seven Churches", often considered to be one of the first death metal albums. It featured growled vocals, which were completely new, and also had the high speed, and gory (often satanic) lyrics of death metal.
Meanwhile, Chuck Schuldiner formed Death in 1984/1985, and released a million demos from 1985-1987. With the release of Death's Scream Bloody Gore in 1987, death metal was officially started.
From here on out there is a great splinter of Death metal which really messes things up.
Florida *The most notable death metal scene, legends like Death, Morbid Angel, Decide, Obituary, Cannibal Corpse and Atheist popped up. There isn't a uniform sound, but Morbid Angel, Death's early albums, Deicide, and Obituary are often considered the death metal originals. Cannibal corpse helped develop Brutal Death Metal and are notable for their album themes...(more on that later), and Atheist was the Jazz influenced Technical death metal band.
New York *Another important death metal scene that spawned legends like Suffocation, Incantation, and Immolation (notice the -tions!). They also don't share too much in sound, but they are known to be heavier (and in Incantation's case, slower) than most other dm scenes. Suffocation also helped develop brutal death metal, and is often considered the main influence of the genre.
Great Britain *Often forgotten, Great Britain also has some to offer! Names like Cancer, Bolt Thrower, Carcass, and Napalm Death are often what British DM is known for. It is a hopelessly diverse group of bands, but all of them are very notable. Bolt Thrower is video game/battle themed, and Napalm Death was originally more of a grindcore band.
Sweden *I consider Sweden to be the often estranged cousin of the other scenes, but that's just me. Sweden is mainly know for 2 things, Opeth, and Melodic death metal (which includes names like In Flames, At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, Scar Symmetry, Amon Amarth, and Soilwork). Melodic death is the genre for those who can take the grunted vocals, want some clean singing, and like riffs with melody! Opeth is for retards. Seriously. A lesser known Swedish band is Entombed/Nihilist who created Death n Roll, a strange fusion.
Others There are, of course other bands who are very notable, which don't belong in what I call the 4 major scenes. They are
Malevolent Creation (could be Florida or NY, beats me) which has a thrash edge to their death metal. Pestilence, a danish death metal band who later incorporated jazz elements into their music. Vader, a Polish band aptly named after Darth Vader who is known for using odd scales. Autopsy, a band from San Francisco which merged doom elements to create a heavy wall of music.
*Morbid Angel - they are often regarded as the one of the greatest death metal bands of all time. Altars of Madness and Blessed are the Sick are always considered classics of the death metal genre.
eath (up until the album Spiritual Healing) - Death is another death metal legend. Chuck Schuldiner's band created the archetype of death metal before progressing on to more technical sounds.
*Obituary (first two) - Slowly We Rot and Cause of Death are remarkably heavy for death metal, as Obituary's peers in Florida opted for higher screeched vocals. John Tardy produced a low, guttural growl which would become a staple of the genre. The albums themselves with the guitar work were also very bass heavy.
eicide - Deicide are really notable for two things. One is being extremely anti-christian. The other is how much of a faggot Glen Benton is.
*Bolt Thrower - Almost universally praised, Bolt Thrower writes simple, catchy riffs that are generally very heavy. An easy band to like, and their album Realm of Chaos is a death metal classic.
*Autopsy - The most notable of the death/doom bands, Autopsy's Severed Survival and Mental Funeral are the equivalent of Tiger tanks. They just roll on. SS is a bit lighter (like, a bit), and a bit faster while Mental Funeral is just extremely heavy, and fairly slow.
*Asphyx - A Dutch death/doom band that is similar to Autopsy in the crushing riffs, though definitely not as bass heavy as Autopsy.
*Late Death (Human and onwards) - Chuck had other things going in his head. He soon shed the gore lyrics, and relatively song structures, and moved toward a progressive direction. The lyrics are more mature and the riffs more complicated.
*Atheist - As a band that incorporates Jazz elements, of course you would have a technical death band. Unlike many other prog death bands (I'm looking at you Opeth/Cynic), Autopsy didn't shed their death metal roots for the progressive elements and retains the heaviness and the vocals.
*Opeth - As one of the most well known death metal bands and one that many people like, Opeth's post Morningrise material is surprisingly bad. Mostly because they abandoned their old sound which was quite satisfying.
*Suffocation - Often considered the most important influence on brutal death metal, Suffocation has a very clean, and consistent record. They are technical, very heavy, and use blast beats very well (a good blast beat is kinda rare now)
*Immolation - Immolation has a strange harmony thing going that is often very intricate, and technical. Immolation is anti-religious and it shows in their lyrics. However, unlike Deicide, they don't come off as complete bigots.
*Incantation - Incantation plays a strange death metal indeed. With odd tempo changes, Incantation goes from very fast, to very slow within seconds. I'm not a big fan to be honest.
*In Flames - In Flames is often considered THE melodic death band. With solid releases early in their career, In Flames has cemented their reputation. I recommend not listening to anything after Reroute to Remain except their latest album.
*At the Gates - My personal favorite melodeath band, they cemented their reputation with their debut, and their last. Often heavier than other melodeath acts.
ark Tranquillity - I'm not quite familiar with Dark Tranquillity, but they seem to be consistent as a whole.
*Amon Amarth - I can see why people like Amon Amarth. These viking wannabes write infectious, yet simple melodies, but that's all they are. The band lacks talent as a whole, and generally releases the same monotonous records.
*Arch Enemy - A highly praised thrash/melodeath hybrid, I don't see what's so great about them since the girl can't growl worth shit.
*Malevolent Creation - My personal favorite death metal band. Since I am a thrash fan first, death metal second, Malevolent Creation appeals to me. Malevolent Creation does not write the most technical riffs. However, the riffs are generally very satisfying, and fairly catchy. They are heavily influenced by Slayer.
*Cancer - A British death/thrash band which released Death Shall Rise, and The Sins of Mankind. There are relatively simple riffs, that follow a thrash formula.
There are some albums which are considered to be essential albums for anybody who listens to death metal. Here is my version:
Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness Morbid Angel - Blessed are the Sick Death - Scream Bloody Gore Death - Leprosy Death - Symbolic Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten Suffocation - Pierced From Within Pestilence - Consuming Impulse Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos Possessed - Seven Churches Immolation - Dawn of Possession Immolation - Here in After Deicide - Legion Opeth - Orchid Atheist - Piece of Time Atheist - Unquestionable Presence Obituary - Cause of Death Obituary - Slowly We Rot In Flames - The Jester Race At the Gates - Slaughter of Souls Dark Tranquillity - The Gallery Autopsy - Severed Survival Autopsy - Mental Funeral Malevolent Creation - Ten Commandments Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the Mutilated Napalm Death - Harmony Corruption
1. Malevolent Creation - Retribution 2. Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness 3. Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten 4. Autopsy - Mental Funeral 5. Immolation - Here in After 6. Death - Leprosy 7. Pestilence - Consuming Impulse 8. Malevolent Creation - The Will to Kill 9. Suffocation - Pierced from Within 10. Immolation - Close to a World Below 11. Death - Symbolic 12. Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos 13. Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal 14. Obituary - Cause of Death 15. Morgoth - Resurrection Absurd
Brutal Death Metal is a subdivision of Death Metal that is mostly known for its lyrical matter (usually gore), it's heaviness, and for being even more inaccessible then Death Metal. It pretty much started off through bands like Repudilation, Suffocation, Immolation (alot of ion's), and Internal Bleeding. These bands were noticeably heavier then their peers, and went on to influence countless bands, like Disgorge, Devourment, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Hour of Penance, etc.
Brutal Death Metal itself split into three paths.
Brutal Death Metal, ala Disgorge/Abysmal Torment, which are high speed, heavily downtuned bands, which can be extremely technical, at the same time of being groovy. I recommend: Disgorge - Cranial Impalement Disgorge - Consume the Forsaken Abysmal Torment - Epoch Of Methodic Carnage Disavow - Perceptive Deception
NYDM, ala Suffocation / Dying Fetus. These bands are a lot more groovier, and play off a mixture of Suffobreakdowns, and Blast's. Usually not as technical as BDM, but they keep up the speed. I recommend: Suffocation - Any Album before their S/T Dying Fetus - Any Album really. Repudilation - Best Of Compilation (Their stuff is hard to find)
Slam Death, ala Devourment / Abominable Putridity. An extremely controversial subgenre. It is heavily influenced by Suffocation, but the first real Slam band was Internal Bleeding, although Devourment perfected it. It is typically in the same vein as BDM, but it impliments "Slams", which are groovy, usually offtime breakdowns. This genre is given a bad name mainly because of the band "Waking the Cadaver", which tries to pass itself off as Slam, or the many Deathcore bands that try to be slam. I recommend : Devourment - 1.3.8 Devourment - Butcher The Weak Devourment - Unleash The Carnivore Cephalotripsy - Uterovaginal Insertion of Extirpated Anomalies
Note: I did not include Deathcore, or grindcore. Deathcore cuz it sucks, and grindcore because I don't feel it has a huge tie in other than Napalm Death and a few other bands.
Last edit: 2009-07-21 12:26:27
*TL CJ Entusman #40* "like scissors does anything to paper except MAKE IT MORE NUMEROUS" -paper
super nice writeup - although on some of the bands that start with D where you put a * before ended up turning into a smiley(like eath). also, it's ok as i'm pretty sure anyone on this forum considers deathcore to be shit anyways. and grind isn't really connected to dm anyways, haha.
i would have to say, though, that insomnium would be a good choice to put in the melodeath section; at least a better choice than amon amarth t.t
nice writeup, i hope you do another one that gets into this a little deeper
Last edit: 2009-07-21 11:51:09
i hate everything http://boesthius.tumblr.com/
ZZangDreamjOy Canada. July 21 2009 11:51. Posts 910
O, pretty nice writeup. Metal fan myself. I think you're giving Amon Amarth a little too little credit, but I can see where you're coming from from a technical point of view (they certainly aren't the most technical out there), but w.e it's opinion, if someone wants to check out some metal I do would def. recommend Amon Amarth, it's fairly more accessible with the catchier melodies.
I would put a mention of Behemoth. Their very early stuff were black metal, but they've evolved into a blackened-death metal style and are one of the more popular ones.
Children of Bodom is also pretty popular, but I prefer others to them.
Don't know if At the Gates toured Taiwan, but did anyone else catch their reunion tour? Unbelievably fucking amazing.
Also anybody know any Chinese metal? I saw some youtube videos way back (wow this one skinny little chick could growl) but I can't find anything to download D=.
Last edit: 2009-07-21 12:09:17
ZZangDreamjOy Canada. July 21 2009 12:09. Posts 910
Chinese metal is obscure, and I haven't found any good bands tbh.
I don't like Behemoth at all, and their genre is a bit hard to pin down so I chose to leave them out. Bodom is more of a power metal band. Alexei doesn't really growl as much as he screams/yells.
*TL CJ Entusman #40* "like scissors does anything to paper except MAKE IT MORE NUMEROUS" -paper
TheFallofTroy Canada. July 21 2009 12:16. Posts 780
yet its not true. while regular death metal may capture utter brutality, opeth takes a whole different path. The heavy, brutal passages mixed with the melodic, forlorn clean passages covers a larger gamut of music. Either can stand alone, yet the two mixed together form a new level of music. your complaint is that opeth isn't all death metal... which is a verity that defines opeth. if youre complaining that opeth is for retards because it isn't heavy all throughout and not "true" to death metal, you are: #1 - missing the depth/emotion that the mellower passages have to offer in conjunction with the brutality of the heavy sections. #2 - badmouthing the band for not being conventional... hello, its progressive death metal! it is true that they have been incorporating more mellow passages in their works in more recent albums... if you are complaining about it, then you are truly missing #1.
let's take the album "Still Life", for instance. The concept album is a story about the exiled protagonist, banished for questioning the church in the middle ages, returning to his old homeland in order to run away with his love Melinda. His hate/contempt/conflict with those who condemned him are represented by the heavy, dark riffs + growl vocals, yet the tenderness of Melinda and his feelings for her are represented by the mellow, acoustic, clean vocal passages. The combination of heavy+mellow allows this story to connect much better with people, because men obviously are not wholly angry/dark/evil/hateful, but nor are they wholly tender/good... thus a measure of humanity is added to the works of this band.
Opeth's lyrics also mean a lot more than regular death metal bands... cannibal corpse etc, is purely about gore/gruesomeness. Melodic death metal like bodom have lyrics about the grim reaper (every time i die), feeling fucked up (needled 24/7, blooddrunk), wanting to fuck someone up etc (are you dead yet)..etcetc.. yet opeth's lyrics are deeper and more meaningful... they cover love (still life album), despondency (damnation album), rage (serenity painted death, the moor), the occult (forest of october, the grand conjuration), heartbreak (a theme of my arms your hearse, burden), guilt (deliverance album) , isolation (ghost reveries album captures this pretty well), longing (still life)... thus, the value in opeth is not solely in the music, but in the themes/messages it portrays, and how well the music expresses these things.
Seriously, before you hate on opeth, I think you should listen to some more of their post-morningrise stuff…ill link you to some of the heavier stuff
This first song is sort of a morbid angel tribute by opeth (one of their favorite death metal bands)
This next song is off of watershed, their most recent album… there are bits of acoustic and keys in there, but vocals are growl-only.
This one … the first half is heavy, very death metally and has a clean break for a few minutes that you so dislike… but have a listen to at least the beginning
whether these change your feeling about the band or not... you cant trash a band just because you don't like their style...
ZZangDreamjOy Canada. July 21 2009 12:21. Posts 910
Brutal Death Metal is a subdivision of Death Metal that is mostly known for its lyrical matter (usually gore), it's heaviness, and for being even more inaccessible then Death Metal. It pretty much started off through bands like Repudilation, Suffocation, Immolation (alot of ion's), and Internal Bleeding. These bands were noticeably heavier then their peers, and went on to influence countless bands, like Disgorge, Devourment, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Hour of Penance, etc.
Brutal Death Metal itself split into three paths.
Brutal Death Metal, ala Disgorge/Abysmal Torment, which are high speed, heavily downtuned bands, which can be extremely technical, at the same time of being groovy. I recommend: Disgorge - Cranial Impalement Disgorge - Consume the Forsaken Abysmal Torment - Epoch Of Methodic Carnage Disavow - Perceptive Deception
NYDM, ala Suffocation / Dying Fetus. These bands are a lot more groovier, and play off a mixture of Suffobreakdowns, and Blast's. Usually not as technical as BDM, but they keep up the speed. I recommend: Suffocation - Any Album before their S/T Dying Fetus - Any Album really. Repudilation - Best Of Compilation (Their stuff is hard to find)
Slam Death, ala Devourment / Abominable Putridity. An extremely controversial subgenre. It is heavily influenced by Suffocation, but the first real Slam band was Internal Bleeding, although Devourment perfected it. It is typically in the same vein as BDM, but it impliments "Slams", which are groovy, usually offtime breakdowns. This genre is given a bad name mainly because of the band "Waking the Cadaver", which tries to pass itself off as Slam, or the many Deathcore bands that try to be slam. I recommend : Devourment - 1.3.8 Devourment - Butcher The Weak Devourment - Unleash The Carnivore Cephalotripsy - Uterovaginal Insertion of Extirpated Anomalies
I hope that's good FragKrag. I'm not used to making write ups.
http://last.fm/user/loganterriah
ZZangDreamjOy Canada. July 21 2009 12:23. Posts 910
yet its not true. while regular death metal may capture utter brutality, opeth takes a whole different path. The heavy, brutal passages mixed with the melodic, forlorn clean passages covers a larger gamut of music. Either can stand alone, yet the two mixed together form a new level of music. your complaint is that opeth isn't all death metal... which is a verity that defines opeth. if youre complaining that opeth is for retards because it isn't heavy all throughout and not "true" to death metal, you are: #1 - missing the depth/emotion that the mellower passages have to offer in conjunction with the brutality of the heavy sections. #2 - badmouthing the band for not being conventional... hello, its progressive death metal! it is true that they have been incorporating more mellow passages in their works in more recent albums... if you are complaining about it, then you are truly missing #1.
let's take the album "Still Life", for instance. The concept album is a story about the exiled protagonist, banished for questioning the church in the middle ages, returning to his old homeland in order to run away with his love Melinda. His hate/contempt/conflict with those who condemned him are represented by the heavy, dark riffs + growl vocals, yet the tenderness of Melinda and his feelings for her are represented by the mellow, acoustic, clean vocal passages. The combination of heavy+mellow allows this story to connect much better with people, because men obviously are not wholly angry/dark/evil/hateful, but nor are they wholly tender/good... thus a measure of humanity is added to the works of this band.
Opeth's lyrics also mean a lot more than regular death metal bands... cannibal corpse etc, is purely about gore/gruesomeness. Melodic death metal like bodom have lyrics about the grim reaper (every time i die), feeling fucked up (needled 24/7, blooddrunk), wanting to fuck someone up etc (are you dead yet)..etcetc.. yet opeth's lyrics are deeper and more meaningful... they cover love (still life album), despondency (damnation album), rage (serenity painted death, the moor), the occult (forest of october, the grand conjuration), heartbreak (a theme of my arms your hearse, burden), guilt (deliverance album) , isolation (ghost reveries album captures this pretty well), longing (still life)... thus, the value in opeth is not solely in the music, but in the themes/messages it portrays, and how well the music expresses these things.
Seriously, before you hate on opeth, I think you should listen to some more of their post-morningrise stuff…ill link you to some of the heavier stuff
This first song is sort of a morbid angel tribute by opeth (one of their favorite death metal bands)
This next song is off of watershed, their most recent album… there are bits of acoustic and keys in there, but vocals are growl-only.
This one … the first half is heavy, very death metally and has a clean break for a few minutes that you so dislike… but have a listen to at least the beginning
whether these change your feeling about the band or not... you cant trash a band just because you don't like their style...
Yes, you can trash a band because you hate their style, It's called an opinion.
I kinda stand in the middle grounds concerning Opeth. I can't really consider them Death Metal because they are way too soft, can't consider them progressive because they HAVEN'T (And don't even try to argue this) progressed SINCE morningrise. Don't even get me started on their songwriting. They just get a bunch of ideas, then slam them together in a clusterfuck of a song, which goes nowhere, and means nothing.
Nahemah are superior Prog Death in every way.
http://last.fm/user/loganterriah
FragKrag United States. July 21 2009 12:25. Posts 11068
Opeth had a distinct sound with Morningrise and Orchid, but they threw it all away for some reason. The music itself is bland. It doesn't matter what they're talking about if they can't make the music good enough to actually keep somebody interested. I may have put a bit blunt, because some of their Blackwater Park and Damnation material is actually decent, but for the most part, it has been disappointing.
btw zzang, added!
*TL CJ Entusman #40* "like scissors does anything to paper except MAKE IT MORE NUMEROUS" -paper
yet its not true. while regular death metal may capture utter brutality, opeth takes a whole different path. The heavy, brutal passages mixed with the melodic, forlorn clean passages covers a larger gamut of music. Either can stand alone, yet the two mixed together form a new level of music. your complaint is that opeth isn't all death metal... which is a verity that defines opeth. if youre complaining that opeth is for retards because it isn't heavy all throughout and not "true" to death metal, you are: #1 - missing the depth/emotion that the mellower passages have to offer in conjunction with the brutality of the heavy sections. #2 - badmouthing the band for not being conventional... hello, its progressive death metal! it is true that they have been incorporating more mellow passages in their works in more recent albums... if you are complaining about it, then you are truly missing #1.
let's take the album "Still Life", for instance. The concept album is a story about the exiled protagonist, banished for questioning the church in the middle ages, returning to his old homeland in order to run away with his love Melinda. His hate/contempt/conflict with those who condemned him are represented by the heavy, dark riffs + growl vocals, yet the tenderness of Melinda and his feelings for her are represented by the mellow, acoustic, clean vocal passages. The combination of heavy+mellow allows this story to connect much better with people, because men obviously are not wholly angry/dark/evil/hateful, but nor are they wholly tender/good... thus a measure of humanity is added to the works of this band.
Opeth's lyrics also mean a lot more than regular death metal bands... cannibal corpse etc, is purely about gore/gruesomeness. Melodic death metal like bodom have lyrics about the grim reaper (every time i die), feeling fucked up (needled 24/7, blooddrunk), wanting to fuck someone up etc (are you dead yet)..etcetc.. yet opeth's lyrics are deeper and more meaningful... they cover love (still life album), despondency (damnation album), rage (serenity painted death, the moor), the occult (forest of october, the grand conjuration), heartbreak (a theme of my arms your hearse, burden), guilt (deliverance album) , isolation (ghost reveries album captures this pretty well), longing (still life)... thus, the value in opeth is not solely in the music, but in the themes/messages it portrays, and how well the music expresses these things.
Seriously, before you hate on opeth, I think you should listen to some more of their post-morningrise stuff…ill link you to some of the heavier stuff
This first song is sort of a morbid angel tribute by opeth (one of their favorite death metal bands)
This next song is off of watershed, their most recent album… there are bits of acoustic and keys in there, but vocals are growl-only.
This one … the first half is heavy, very death metally and has a clean break for a few minutes that you so dislike… but have a listen to at least the beginning
whether these change your feeling about the band or not... you cant trash a band just because you don't like their style...
Yes, you can trash a band because you hate their style, It's called an opinion.
I kinda stand in the middle grounds concerning Opeth. I can't really consider them Death Metal because they are way too soft, can't consider them progressive because they HAVEN'T (And don't even try to argue this) progressed SINCE morningrise. Don't even get me started on their songwriting. They just get a bunch of ideas, then slam them together in a clusterfuck of a song, which goes nowhere, and means nothing.
Nahemah are superior Prog Death in every way.
if opeth is "way too soft", i dont see how nahemah is much heavier (than opeth's non acoustic tracks)
ZZangDreamjOy Canada. July 21 2009 12:28. Posts 910
On July 21 2009 12:25 FragKrag wrote: Opeth had a distinct sound with Morningrise and Orchid, but they threw it all away for some reason. The music itself is bland. It doesn't matter what they're talking about if they can't make the music good enough to actually keep somebody interested. I may have put a bit blunt, because some of their Blackwater Park and Damnation material is actually decent, but for the most part, it has been disappointing.
btw zzang, added!
Some of their material is decent, but past morningrise/orchid, they have gone downhill, and most of their songs would only have one/two good parts, and 20 shit parts. -_-
I hope you liked my write up, I could of done it quite a bit better, but I'm tired. t_T
yet its not true. while regular death metal may capture utter brutality, opeth takes a whole different path. The heavy, brutal passages mixed with the melodic, forlorn clean passages covers a larger gamut of music. Either can stand alone, yet the two mixed together form a new level of music. your complaint is that opeth isn't all death metal... which is a verity that defines opeth. if youre complaining that opeth is for retards because it isn't heavy all throughout and not "true" to death metal, you are: #1 - missing the depth/emotion that the mellower passages have to offer in conjunction with the brutality of the heavy sections. #2 - badmouthing the band for not being conventional... hello, its progressive death metal! it is true that they have been incorporating more mellow passages in their works in more recent albums... if you are complaining about it, then you are truly missing #1.
let's take the album "Still Life", for instance. The concept album is a story about the exiled protagonist, banished for questioning the church in the middle ages, returning to his old homeland in order to run away with his love Melinda. His hate/contempt/conflict with those who condemned him are represented by the heavy, dark riffs + growl vocals, yet the tenderness of Melinda and his feelings for her are represented by the mellow, acoustic, clean vocal passages. The combination of heavy+mellow allows this story to connect much better with people, because men obviously are not wholly angry/dark/evil/hateful, but nor are they wholly tender/good... thus a measure of humanity is added to the works of this band.
Opeth's lyrics also mean a lot more than regular death metal bands... cannibal corpse etc, is purely about gore/gruesomeness. Melodic death metal like bodom have lyrics about the grim reaper (every time i die), feeling fucked up (needled 24/7, blooddrunk), wanting to fuck someone up etc (are you dead yet)..etcetc.. yet opeth's lyrics are deeper and more meaningful... they cover love (still life album), despondency (damnation album), rage (serenity painted death, the moor), the occult (forest of october, the grand conjuration), heartbreak (a theme of my arms your hearse, burden), guilt (deliverance album) , isolation (ghost reveries album captures this pretty well), longing (still life)... thus, the value in opeth is not solely in the music, but in the themes/messages it portrays, and how well the music expresses these things.
Seriously, before you hate on opeth, I think you should listen to some more of their post-morningrise stuff…ill link you to some of the heavier stuff
This first song is sort of a morbid angel tribute by opeth (one of their favorite death metal bands)
This next song is off of watershed, their most recent album… there are bits of acoustic and keys in there, but vocals are growl-only.
This one … the first half is heavy, very death metally and has a clean break for a few minutes that you so dislike… but have a listen to at least the beginning
whether these change your feeling about the band or not... you cant trash a band just because you don't like their style...
Yes, you can trash a band because you hate their style, It's called an opinion.
I kinda stand in the middle grounds concerning Opeth. I can't really consider them Death Metal because they are way too soft, can't consider them progressive because they HAVEN'T (And don't even try to argue this) progressed SINCE morningrise. Don't even get me started on their songwriting. They just get a bunch of ideas, then slam them together in a clusterfuck of a song, which goes nowhere, and means nothing.
Nahemah are superior Prog Death in every way.
if opeth is "way too soft", i dont see how nahemah is much heavier (than opeth's non acoustic tracks)
Nahemah isn't heavier at all, but they pull off Opeth's brand of "prog death" much better.
http://last.fm/user/loganterriah
ZZangDreamjOy Canada. July 21 2009 12:30. Posts 910
On July 21 2009 12:29 .Ix wrote: Good stuff guys. Someone make a TDM writeup. Origin / Necrophagist / Decapitated / Nile should really be somewhere in this thread.
I'd do a write up on Tech Death, but beyond the four bands you've mentioned, and Gorguts/Old Cryptopsy, all the bands in that genre are overly redundant, and get boring fast. --
http://last.fm/user/loganterriah
FragKrag United States. July 21 2009 12:31. Posts 11068
On July 21 2009 12:29 .Ix wrote: Good stuff guys. Someone make a TDM writeup. Origin / Necrophagist / Decapitated / Nile should really be somewhere in this thread.
hm, they slipped my mind. I've only really listened to Necorphagist and Nile, so if somebody else would want to contribute, I'd be happy to add it.
*TL CJ Entusman #40* "like scissors does anything to paper except MAKE IT MORE NUMEROUS" -paper
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eath (up until the album Spiritual Healing) - Death is another death metal legend. Chuck Schuldiner's band created the archetype of death metal before progressing on to more technical sounds.
boesthius United States. July 21 2009 11:50. Posts 9787
TheFallofTroy Canada. July 21 2009 12:16. Posts 780
