Death Metal....whats it all about?!

John

Pugsley wrote:

If you want to chill out to some sludge I cant recommend Pelican enough, the best sludge band I have heard by a fair margin, all their albums are excellent but I would probably rate 'Australasia' as their best.

Great band. I prefer the newer album to Australasia though.

John

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

Isis have a new album coming don't they?

Yup and possibly an Irish date. I've heard rumours of them playing the UK in July.

Shiminay

Pugsley wrote:

If you want to chill out to some sludge I cant recommend Pelican enough, the best sludge band I have heard by a fair margin, all their albums are excellent but I would probably rate 'Australasia' as their best.

I've seen 'em live V good band (but on the night Ipreferred the support band; Ten Past Seven). Cult of Luna fall roughly into that category too - saw them last night and was impressed.

Tar.Aldarion

I heard they were good, but better than Pelican?
What type of metal are they?

John

I have to say, prefer Ten Past Seven on disc than that gig. I wasn't mad on them that night but I'm glad I bought the CD.

John

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

What type of metal are they?

They remind me of The Dillinger Escape Plan but fun.

nosmo

Karl Hungus wrote:

I wouldn't mind what other people think tbh.

I'm not usually one for metal purism ("yeah, their earlier stuff is way better"), but.. yeah, their earlier stuff is way better. I just can't get used to GR, it's overproduced and flat at points, and those sour me greatly, probably overriding better parts of the album. It's a great album, don't get me wrong. But listening to songs like Black Rose Immortal or The Moor is an almost religious experience for me, where as stuff like Baying of the Hounds, while still being enjoyable, seems flat and lifeless compared.

LightofDarkness

I haet it when people say they can't hear the "Music" in death metal or it's just noise. Death metal is some of the most densely layered, technically astounding music ever. BTW, I wouldn't recommend stuff like latter day Death and Atheist and Cynic to a newer death metal inductee or even someone who wants to know what DM is all about, because they don't portray death metal in an accurate light (BTW, I find Pestilence's "Spheres" to be quite lacklustre compared to earlier work and a clear attempt to hop on the Death/Atheist/Cynic style of progressive metal, they were better off as straight up death like "Consuming Impulse" \m/). There can be some very heated arguments as to whether or not Cynic are even death metal (some would even deny post-Human Death).

While melodies contained in mainstream music tend to use more commonly used chord progressions, (the ionian mode in pop, aeolian/phrygian in mainstream metal) death metal likes to step outside the boundaries of common practice in music and concentrate on exerimenting with mode usage (modes are used to evoke an emotion from the listener, DM bands used to experiment with modes to evoke darker emotions or just something fresh and aggressive sounding). Some of the music behind death metal is more complicated than anything you'll ever hear on a radio or even see on TV, but as previous posters have said, it takes a while to "hear" what's going on. I had no idea what I was listening to when I first heard Cryptopsy (I almost ripped out the speakers when I heard the vocals) but I began to hear the subtle melodies on subsequent listens and became hooked. Pavor are a good band to check out for what I'm talking about.

Brutal (often technical too) Death: Suffocation, Cryptopsy, Decrepit Birth, Severed Saviour, Spawn of Possession, Lust of Decay etc.

Progressive/Technical Death : Death (post-Human), Atheist, Necrophagist, Continuo Renacer, The Shattering, Wormed, Pavor, Pan.Thy.Monium etc.

Death/Grind : Dying Fetus, Lividity, (might include Cryptopsy in here too) Aborted, Psycroptic, Dripping, Psychofagist, !T.O.O.H.!(progressive as they are) etc.

Melodic Death : Arsis, Man Must Die, Insomnium, Black Dahlia Murder, At The Gates, (early) In Flames, Warbreed etc.

Ye Olde Death Metal : Possessed(more resembles "hyper" thrash), Obituary, early Death, Deicide, Pavor, Infester, Incantation, Morbid Angel, Pestilence (mostly), Autopsy etc.

I wish we all went back to Ye Olde, where few bands sounded very alike and death metal was just an idea with no blueprint to follow, no ground work set by previous death metal bands for you to copy/"be inspired" from (except good old thrash metal). Alot of death metal nowadays consists of Suffo-clones and TeH Br00t@l Def M3tar (which is sounding increasingly without variation). There's my thoughts, feel free to flame/agree/****.

LightofDarkness

I haet it when people say they can't hear the "Music" in death metal or it's just noise. Death metal is some of the most densely layered, technically astounding music ever. BTW, I wouldn't recommend stuff like latter day Death and Atheist and Cynic to a newer death metal inductee or even someone who wants to know what DM is all about, because they don't portray death metal in an accurate light (BTW, I find Pestilence's "Spheres" to be quite lacklustre compared to earlier work and a clear attempt to hop on the Death/Atheist/Cynic style of progressive metal, they were better off as straight up death like "Consuming Impulse" \m/). There can be some very heated arguments as to whether or not Cynic are even death metal (some would even deny post-Human Death).

While melodies contained in mainstream music tend to use more commonly used chord progressions, (the ionian mode in pop, aeolian/phrygian in mainstream metal) death metal likes to step outside the boundaries of common practice in music and concentrate on exerimenting with mode usage (modes are used to evoke an emotion from the listener, DM bands used to experiment with modes to evoke darker emotions or just something fresh and aggressive sounding). Some of the music behind death metal is more complicated than anything you'll ever hear on a radio or even see on TV, but as previous posters have said, it takes a while to "hear" what's going on. I had no idea what I was listening to when I first heard Cryptopsy (I almost ripped out the speakers when I heard the vocals) but I began to hear the subtle melodies on subsequent listens and became hooked. Pavor are a good band to check out for what I'm talking about.

Brutal (often technical too) Death: Suffocation, Cryptopsy, Decrepit Birth, Severed Saviour, Spawn of Possession, Lust of Decay etc.

Progressive/Technical Death : Death (post-Human), Atheist, Necrophagist, Continuo Renacer, The Shattering, Wormed, Pavor, Pan.Thy.Monium etc.

Death/Grind : Dying Fetus, Lividity, (might include Cryptopsy in here too) Aborted, Psycroptic, Dripping, Psychofagist, !T.O.O.H.!(progressive as they are) etc.

Melodic Death : Arsis, Man Must Die, Insomnium, Black Dahlia Murder, At The Gates, (early) In Flames, Warbreed etc.

Ye Olde Death Metal : Possessed(more resembles "hyper" thrash), Obituary, early Death, Deicide, Pavor, Infester, Incantation, Morbid Angel, Pestilence (mostly), Autopsy, Pan.Thy.Monium etc.

I wish we all went back to Ye Olde, where few bands sounded very alike and death metal was just an idea with no blueprint to follow, no ground work set by previous death metal bands for you to copy/"be inspired" from (except good old thrash metal). Alot of death metal nowadays consists of Suffo-clones and TeH Br00t@l Def M3tar (which is sounding increasingly without variation). There's my thoughts, feel free to flame/agree/****.