Death metal

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Death metal

Development phase: The mid- 1980s years
Place of origin: Great Britain and USA as well as Sweden
Stylistic precursors
Thrash metal
Instruments typical of the genre
Electric guitar  - electric bass  - drums
Important local scenes
Gothenburg  - Florida  - New York  - Texas  - Stockholm
Subgenres and currents
Melodic Death Metal  - Florida Death Metal  - New York Death Metal  - Technical Death Metal  - Swedish Death Metal - Death 'n' Roll  - Death Doom  - Deathcore

Death Metal is a sub-genre of Metal and belongs to the spectrum of Extreme Metal alongside Black Metal and Thrash Metal . Characteristic are martial melodies, which are played on very deeply tuned electric guitars and electric basses . On drums fast rhythm patterns dominate in combination with a frequent use of double bass - and blast beat techniques. The singing is mostly guttural and is referred to as "growling" or "grunt". The lyrics convey a nihilistic worldview, often combined with resignation . Topics such as death, illness, war, torture, horror and social grievances are often dealt with. Occasionally, philosophical areas such as misanthropy or satanism are sung about.

Death metal has spawned numerous subgenres throughout its history .

history

The style of music emerged from Thrash Metal in the mid-1980s. Only after some time did the awareness of a new musical genre and metal scene develop; At that time, for example, riffs can also be found in the thrash metal band Destruction , which could easily have come from a death metal band.

Chuck Schuldiner in Scotland during the InHuman Tour of the World , 1991

The first pioneers are the bands Possessed , Slaughter , Hellhammer / Celtic Frost , Master / Death Strike , Morbid Angel and, last but not least, Death , whose head Chuck Schuldiner is revered as the “Godfather of Death Metal”.

Most influential in the USA were bands from the Tampa , Florida area (e.g. Death, Morbid Angel, Obituary , Deicide ), the New York and Maryland areas ( Suffocation , Cannibal Corpse , Immolation , Malevolent Creation ), and to a large extent also autopsy . The Morrisound Studios near Tampa, where Scott Burns worked , may have contributed significantly to the formation of the first-mentioned geographical focus ( Florida Death Metal ) . For a long time he was one of the leading death metal producers.

Grindcore , a genre of music that can be assigned to the punk movement, emerged parallel to death metal . This was particularly important in the middle / end of the 1980s in Great Britain and brought forth trend-setting bands such as Napalm Death , Bolt Thrower , Benediction or Carcass , who decisively shaped US Death Metal and increasingly approached Death Metal themselves.

As a European counterpoint to the technically demanding, in later years almost progressive acting US Death Metal, Stockholm ( Sweden ) developed into the stronghold of the decidedly simple, straightforward Death Metal in the late 1980s . Well-known representatives of this direction are Unleashed , Carnage / Dismember , Nihilist / Entombed and Grave . A certain musical influence by the American band Autopsy could be seen here, especially in the nihilist demos.

Another variety of Swedish Death Metal established itself in Gothenburg in the early 1990s : Melodic Death Metal , also known as New Wave of Swedish Death Metal (NWoSDM). At the Gates can be called a pioneer band . One of the best known and most successful bands in this direction are In Flames . In contrast to their older works, the last albums can only be classified as Death Metal to a limited extent. The band's newer albums are increasingly moving away from classic Melodic Death Metal due to the increased use of electronics and screaming. Furthermore, Dark Tranquility should be mentioned as one of the most successful existing bands. The band Children of Bodom is often mentioned as an important band, but their style can only be assigned to Melodic Death Metal to a limited extent. Melodic Death Metal is characterized by emphatically melodic passages and uses elements of the NWoBHM , for example the solos played by two lead guitars with several voices . The typical elements of Melodic Death Metal found their way into the hardcore punk scene years later and are currently experiencing a renaissance under the name Metalcore .

In the mid-1990s, however, a saturation effect set in on the scene with this style of music, which helped the success of Norwegian Black Metal. The public lost interest in death metal. Few bands managed to stay afloat during this time. While the Swedish and Norwegian black metal scene in particular rejected death metal as a “trend” and “commerce”, only a few death metal bands such as Morbid Angel and Deicide were assigned to black metal because of their satanic demeanor and were also popular there . Towards the beginning of the new millennium, however, there is talk of a resurgence of Death Metal.

In Death Metal, deviations from the usual style are often only hesitantly accepted. The singer of Unleashed , Johnny Hedlund, said in an interview in 1993 that bands that also incorporated elements from other musical styles into their work would have to deal with the rejection of the scene after a while. Ironically, with the resurgence of Death Metal, a style explosion set in.

So Death Metal sometimes includes a wide variety of influences. In the early 1990s, death and doom metal bands like Tiamat , My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost incorporated Gothic influences into their music, thus establishing Gothic Metal . In the mid-1990s, bands like Entombed , Gorefest or Crack Up Death Metal combined with reminiscences of old greats like Black Sabbath , Motörhead , AC / DC or even the early Queen ; this style is also known as death 'n' roll . Fear Factory started out as a grindcore / death metal band, but increasingly built samples into their pieces and thus benefited as one of the few death metal bands from the industrial metal wave of that time. Avant-garde bands such as Cynic , Pestilence or Atheist were inspired by jazz , ambient or Latin American music . The US band Nile is characterized by a synthesis of Grindcore-influenced death metal and Egyptian (pseudo) traditional music. The Finnish formation Waltari, on the other hand, recorded a Death Metal symphony in Deep C in 1995 with a 60-piece orchestra and opera singers .

Word origin

The term Death Metal first appeared in 1984. That year the band Possessed released the first demo cassette Death Metal with the title song of the same name, which refers to the music the band plays. The last verse of the song says: "So scream out in fright Death Metal came in the wind" , which means: "So shout it out in fear, Death Metal is on its way". In 1985 Possessed released their debut album with the song Death Metal , which made the name known to a wider audience.

Also in that year a split album called Death Metal was released on Noise Records , on which the bands Hellhammer , Running Wild , Helloween and Dark Avenger are represented with two titles each, and a bloody record cover, which for many Death Metal- Bands is typical. Due to the professional marketing by a label, the term became known to a wider audience.

Even Quorthon of Bathory took claim for themselves, the term goes back to him; he used it in the first Bathory interview, and the debut album Bathory was considered the first death metal album. In 1987, however, he said he simply saw Bathory as a metal band and rejected the term "Death Metal". The term appears in some reviews of the early albums.

A little later (1985) a song called Death Metal appeared on the debut album Power from Hell by the British band Onslaught , in which it says, among other things: "The battlecry headforth men of steel / Death Metal has the power at will" .

However, previous relationships between the concept are already Death ( Engl. "Death") and the genre name Metal recognizable. The demo Death by Metal by the band Mantas was released in 1983 , which renamed itself to Death in 1984 and re-released the demo under the new band name. According to an interview with NunSlaughter , a Florida journalist coined the term in connection with Death. According to Stefan Glas from Rock Hard , only Death and Possessed can be considered as “midwives” for the birth of Death Metal.

Band names like the already mentioned Death or Dream Death may have played a role in the coining of the term. Furthermore, it is assumed today that the 'bloody' lyrics of the aforementioned bands, which often deal with the subject of death, were an important influence on the term Death Metal .

However, awareness of a new musical direction did not emerge until around 1985/86. For example, the 1985 album Seven Churches by the band Possessed was referred to as Hardcore in Rock Hard magazine .

Stylistic features

music

The Polish death metal band Vader

The "typical" Death Metal ranges from slow, rolling riffs (for example with Bolt Thrower or Hypocrisy ) to very fast "clubbing" ( Cannibal Corpse or Morbid Angel ). The guitars are very often tuned down by at least one whole tone, often two or more. Another characteristic that can be seen is abrupt changes in tempo or rhythm .

In Death Metal, extremely distorted, center-reduced and compressed sounds are used for guitar and bass, whereby in this genre transistor sounds or "hard clipping" (sawing sound by radically cutting off the level peaks in the signal) and multiple extreme distortions are used (as with Sunlight Studio sound of the old Entombed / Dismember who worked with the Boss HM-2 distortion effects pedal and a small Peavey Bandit amplifier turned to the limit). In contrast, for example, to Thrash or Power Metal , in which more emphasis is placed on the more harmonious, pure tube sounds and on soft clipping, a gentle dampening of the signal peaks with a less sawing and more "singing" basic sound, and which is often Mesa Boogie Mark IV and similar tube amplifiers are used and where often only slightly distorted bass sounds or clean, "crisp" bass sounds are used. Death Metal guitar sound usually sounds much rougher, more concise and less harmonious, the individual nuances and the dynamics of the guitar playing are often less pronounced or not recognizable due to a strong compression in favor of a more powerful overall sound of the guitars. In addition, the instruments are often relatively loud in relation to the vocals and are more in the foreground of the overall sound than with Thrash and Power Metal.

The lyrics are often difficult to understand due to the predominant guttural style of singing in the genre (“growling”, “grunting”). Bands such as Amorphis and Edge of Sanity introduced clear vocals alternating with typical Death Metal vocals . This innovation, also known as “clean vocals”, came up in the early 1990s. Well known for this style element is the band Opeth from Stockholm , which apart from death metal can be classified as progressive metal .

Subgenres and currents

  • Brutal Death Metal is a term used to distinguish it from other Death Metal currents, especially Melodic Death Metal. Typical features are deep, often extremely difficult to understand growls , many blast beats and very low-pitched string instruments . The New York based band Suffocation is often considered the founder of this genre . Many brutal death metal bands play technically very sophisticated death metal (besides suffocation, for example Origin ), but this does not apply to every band. Also Devourment are often associated with this genre, since the distinction between Slam Death Metal and Brutal Death Metal very difficult.
  • Deathgrind is made up of Death Metal and Grindcore , with the proportions of the respective music styles varying from music group to music group. Frequently used stylistic devices are blast beats, which are combined with typical metal riffing . The omission of blastbeats combined with grindcore riffing, in which guitar solos usually do not occur, is rather rare. Known for this combination of stylistic devices are z. B. the bands Cattle Decapitation or Brujeria . In retrospect, bands such as Napalm Death , Impetigo and Blood, among others, are considered to be the initiators of this subgenre, which with subspecies like the Goregrind (early Carcass , Haemorrhage , Dead Infection , Last Days of Humanity ), the Porngrind ( GUT , Dead ) and the Cybergrind ( The Berzerker ) is not to be confused. The latter can be seen as the most extreme styles from the combination of Death Metal and Grindcore.
  • Death 'n' Roll describes death metal that has rock 'n' roll influences. In the mid-1990s, music groups such as Entombed or Crack Up developed this style, but it soon disappeared again in the underground. However, there are still some bands that follow this style, for example the US American Six Feet Under .
  • Florida Death Metal shows clear similarities to Thrash Metal. In particular, the so-called Bay Area Thrash Metal, as well as the German bands Kreator , Destruction and Sodom , whose style, according to some musicians, already included the first Death Metal trademarks, have contributed to the development of the current. The Florida scene is now considered to be the origin of Death Metal.
  • Melodic Death Metal is a movement that originally came from Scandinavia and is still strongly represented there today. The bands At the Gates , Dark Tranquility and In Flames are considered pioneers. In the recent past some American music bands have also adapted this style and mixed it with hardcore . Well-known representatives are Killswitch Engage and The Black Dahlia Murder . Today this crossover is known as Metalcore .
  • New York Death Metal is a movement that developed around New York State in the United States in the early 1990s. The local bands like Suffocation , Internal Bleeding or Pyrexia mixed death metal with New York hardcore .
  • Old School Death Metal describes the original style, which was mainly played in the mid / late 1980s and at the beginning of the 1990s, to distinguish it from younger, more modern 'currents. Old School stands for “old school” music. In addition to the original groups of that time, for example Master or Morgoth , there are also younger bands who still play this style today based on their role models, for example Death Breath or Necrovation .
  • The Swedish Death Metal is partly seen as a counter-movement to Florida Death Metal or generally to the very technical Death Metal of North America. In contrast to this, the music of the Swedish bands is much more catchy and the song structures are easier to understand. The production in the Sunlight Studio has proven to be a special trademark . The scene is considered to be a trailblazer for Melodic Death Metal and Death 'n' Roll. Local centers are in particular Gothenburg and Stockholm. Early representatives are Treblinka and Morbid , from which u. a. Tiamat and Nihilist emerged . This way of playing was developed around 1990 by bands such as the Nihilist successor bands Entombed , Dismember and Unleashed .
  • Slam Death Metal is considered a further development of New York Death Metal. Characteristic is the use of breakdowns , distorted guttural vocals, as well as the change between blast beats and doom metal borrowings. The pioneers here are the Devourment from Texas, after which the genre is sometimes referred to as Texas Death Metal . Slam Death Metal overlaps strongly with Brutal Death Metal, as Slam Death Metal is also a very extreme variety of Death Metal.
  • Technical Death Metal originated in the USA in the early 1990s and was soon played by European groups. All bands that play technically sophisticated Death Metal are summarized under this name. There are bands that have been influenced by progressive rock , such as Atheist or Dååth . Some groups such as Cynic or Pavor also show parallels to jazz . Golem , Decapitated and Spawn of Possession, on the other hand, refer to classical music in their influencesand the German band Necrophagist also uses neoclassical elements.
  • Death Doom combines Doom Metal with Deathgrunts and other elements of Death Metal. As in other Doom styles, keyboards are often used in this one. The earliest representatives are Dream Death and Goatlord , other well-known representatives are Mourning Beloveth and Katatonia (the early albums). Some bands of this genre such as My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost (the early albums) were also instrumental in the development of Gothic Metal , which is why the music of some groups in this genre is often referred to as Gothic Doom .

Ideology and poetry

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
Please make sure to substantiate or remove the relationship to NS symbols; see disc.

The followers of this style see it as an expression of the negative aspects of the world and see their scene as a counter-concept to a fun culture , but this direction starts at a different point. A typical feature of death metal lyrics is a pessimistic worldview in diametrical opposition to the motif of the "always winning ' good '", which is why death is considered the lyrical pivot of this genre.

Said nihilism was initially expressed almost exclusively in splatter texts , which were always preserved in Death Metal. The use of such poetry in connection with appropriate visualization on record covers is often seen outside of the metal scene as glorifying violence and repulsive. As a result, some albums by death metal bands such as Cannibal Corpse were indexed in Germany and other countries or may no longer be legally sold. On the other hand, it adds to the cult of death metal bands.

Occasionally satanic or anti-Christian symbolism occurs in death metal. This is to be understood as an expression of aversion to a supposedly good world or a Christian society. However, such tendencies are more likely to be found in Black Metal , while evil in Death Metal is characterized by suffering-causing activities such as murder, rape, torture, mutilation and cannibalism. Still, some musicians see Satanism as part of Death Metal: Deicide singer and bassist Glen Benton “proclaimed that Death Metal and Satanism had to go hand in hand.” Darkthrone drummer Fenriz said that Death Metal “has nothing to do with criticism of social Grievances or splatter lyrics to do ”, but for him it means“ occultism , esotericism and dark stories ”. Michayah Belfagor ( Nefandus , Ofermod ) sees Death Metal and Black Metal as identical and defined by Satanism.

There are a few Christian death metal bands such as Mortification .

Similar to Satanism, the use of symbols from the time of National Socialism , such as Siegrunen , swastikas or similar symbols, which are rare in the rather apolitical Death Metal. Most of these symbols are used without a political background, as the aim of said symbols is to express the evil and the bad in the world. Since the time of National Socialism is considered an extremely dark period in human history, they are still used occasionally today, with the “heyday” going from the mid-1980s to the early to mid-1990s. Due to increased indexing and the mainly apolitical attitude of death metal fans, such symbols are used less often today.

Nevertheless, some bands address political and socially critical issues. Especially on the part of the black metal scene, these bands were and are disparagingly referred to as “life metal” or “greenhouse effect death metal”.

With the development of the scene, the texts changed. The topic was approached with differentiated means. A certain similarity to the concept of vanitas as in the baroque era became more and more apparent. For example, parallels can be found between the tears of the fatherland by Andreas Gryphius and Epitaph for Humanity by Vader . Bands like Death , Cynic , Pestilence and Gorefest attacked philosophical and political issues; According to Mystery Flame from the webzine Avant-garde Metal , before Cynic it was “inconceivable to combine spirituality with Death Metal”. Surrealist texts were also used e.g. B. picked up by Darkthrone on their first LP Soulside Journey .

psychology

According to psychological studies from empirical aesthetics , people with a preference for death metal have low values ​​for the personality traits conscientiousness and tolerance . You experience feelings of joy, peace, power, and transcendence while listening. People with a preference for Death Metal who also have little empathy report more often of feelings of power and joy. Individuals who preferred other styles of music report anger and tension when they listen.

gallery

Death metal fans in the Fantasy nightclub, 1994

literature

German

English

Web links

David Noonan: Music: What fans love about Death Metal. In: Spektrum.de. Spectrum of Science, accessed September 5, 2019 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Death Metal (English)
  2. ^ Albert Mudrian: Choosing Death - The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore . ISBN 1-932595-04-X , pp. 55ff.
  3. ^ Bettina Roccor: Heavy Metal - Art. Commerce. Heresy . Iron Pages (IP Verlag Jeske / Mader), Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-931624-07-2 (dissertation), p. 115
  4. ↑ Sympathies
  5. ↑ a b Ignacio Coluccio: NIHILIST - Nihilist - CD - Candlelight Records - 2005  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.maelstrom.nu  
  6. ↑ a b Grim_Rieper, soulsatzero: The AUTOPSY special
  7. ^ Albert Mudrian: Choosing Death - The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore . ISBN 1-932595-04-X , pp. 17ff.
  8. ↑ Varg Vikernes : A Burzum Story: Part I - The Origin And Meaning
  9. ^ Jason Arnopp: "WE ARE BUT SLAVES OF THE ONE WITH HORNS ..." . In Kerrang! , No. 436, March 27, 1993, pp. 42-46
  10. ↑ Brother Clé: Gallery of Dark Icons In Ablaze , No. 5, May / June 1995, p. 56
  11. ↑ jugendszenen.com - Intro ( memento of the original from November 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jugendszenen.com
  12. ↑ Luxi Lahtinen: BATHORY - An Epic Interview With Quorthon
  13. ↑ Death Metal ( Memento from December 31, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ↑ BATHORY ( Memento of March 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ↑ Lenti Chiriac: INTERVIEW FROM HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE # 3, NOVEMBER 1994 . Translated into English by Bogdan Gheoca and Iulian Petrovici
  16. ^ Dave Ling: Assault and Bathory . In Metal Hammer , 1987
  17. ↑ Peter McManus: STRANGER THAN STRANGE - Quorthon uncloacks his secrets in a exclusive interview ... . In Power Metal Magazine , 1987
  18. ^ Bathory - Bathory
  19. ^ Bathory - The Return
  20. ↑ Interview with Don of the Dead of Nunslaughter ( Memento of the original from August 24, 2011 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.crudedude.net
  21. ↑ Stefan Glas: Death | Death By Metal . In: Rock Hard . No. 327 , August 2014, p. 105 .
  22. ↑ Götz Kühnemund : Possessed . Seven Churches. In: Rock Hard . No. 13 ( rockhard.de [accessed on September 23, 2014]).
  23. ↑ Gabe: Review - CYNIC - Focus
  24. ↑ Doom-metal.com: Bandlist Goatlord. Retrieved January 11, 2010 .
  25. ↑ "Black Metal and Death Metal Music [...] are complimentary forms of commodified evil whose respective natures and essences effectively situate them in diametrical opposition to the" good guys always win "motif; and hence to the overly optimistic form of consolation it engenders. In fact, as we have seen, by contrast they suggest to us that the ability to overcome our problems, and cope with the world's atrocities, lies not in the vain hope that justice will prevail, but rather, in embracing evil; and thereby in actively cultivating what will be termed a desensitizing ethos of utter indifference to the plight and suffering of others. "Jason Forster: Commodified Evil's Wayward Children: Black Metal and Death Metal as Purveyors of an Alternative Form of Modern Escapism (PDF; 1 , 2 MB) . University of Canterbury 2006, pp. 130f.
  26. ↑ Indexed sound carriers ( Memento from July 25, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
  27. ↑ “By contrast, for Death Metal, with its lyrical focus on every conceivable variety of murder, rape, sadistic torture, dismemberment and cannibalism, the types of voluntary activities that most characterize the notion of moral evil are those that cause physical suffering. As such, they fall squarely under the rubric of moral evil as it is secularly and contemporarily defined, where the focus and impact of such activities become unequivocally temporal. For, in secular discourse, moral evil is defined as that 'evil that occurs when an intelligent being knowingly and deliberately inflicts suffering upon another sentient being'. ” Jason Forster: Commodified Evil's Wayward Children: Black Metal and Death Metal as Purveyors of an Alternative Form of Modern Escapism . (PDF; 1.2 MB) University of Canterbury 2006, p. 44f.
  28. ↑ Christian Dornbusch , Hans-Peter Killguss: Unheilige Allianzenb . Unrast Verlag, Münster 2005, ISBN 3-89771-817-0 , p. 26 .
  29. ^ Christian Dornbusch, Hans-Peter Killguss: Unheilige Alliances. Black Metal between Satanism, Paganism and Neo-Nazism . Unrast Verlag, Münster 2005, ISBN 3-89771-817-0 , p. 28 .
  30. ↑ Stewart Voegtlinhrsg = TheLeftHandPath.com: Interview: Ofermod. November 14, 2008, accessed November 27, 2009 .
  31. ↑ Bård "Faust" Eithun : BURZUM in "Orcustus - The Shadow Of The Golden Fire" mag in early '92
  32. ↑ Bård "Faust" Eithun: from Bad Faust Mag
  33. ↑ Robert Müller: Satanic Verses . In Metal Hammer , June 1993, p. 160
  34. ↑ Mystery Flame: Negura Bunget - Catching The Light Beyond Transylvania ( Memento of the original from May 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , June 10, 2010, accessed November 27, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.avantgarde-metal.com
  35. ^ William Forde Thompson, Andrew M. Geeves, Kirk N. Olsen: Who enjoys listening to violent music and why? In: Psychology of Popular Media Culture . March 26, 2018, ISSN  2160-4142 , doi : 10.1037 / ppm0000184 .
  36. ↑ David Noonan: Music: What fans love about Death Metal. In: Spektrum.de. Spectrum of Science, accessed September 5, 2019 .
  37. ↑ A. Bohnenstengel, C. Maier: We are a big family . In: Münchner Stadtmagazin , issue 05/1994, pp. 3, 40–44