Death Metal

Karl Hungus

Just stuck on some Morbid Angel, and got thinking to myself. Death Metal is an odd genre, isn't it? I mean, we've got some rather silly bands like Cannibal Corpse, who sing about gore and suchlike, yet we've got some extremely intelligent musicians who create some extremely intelligent music, such as Cynic and Atheist to name but a few.

It's funny with me, because for quite a long time, I kept up a notion that I hated Death Metal, usually because of bands like CC, whom I just didn't like, and kind of tarred the whole genre with the same brush. Of course, because of my interest in the more progressive side of Metal, all the roads seemed to lean towards Death Metal. So while I loved bands like Death, and Opeth, I still mentioned them more as an exception to the rule, and Death Metal just wasn't my scene. It ended up, I got into it so much that it was bands like Cannibal Corpse that became the expection to the rule.

So, lets here it for Death Metal.

Any favorite bands? How'd you get into it, and so forth.

Silverfish

For me it all started with my first boyfriend who listened to Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse, Entombed etc etc - found that some of the songs were growing on me, and after we broke up he went on to listen to Ace of Base, and I spent my weekends in Sound Cellar.

Presumably it needs to be passed on, because I got a friend of mine listening to all that music - then I stopped. ( Sort of.).

Hey, did anyone else know there was a Death Metal band called 'Drogheda'?

Töpher

Mmmmm.... Cynic and Atheist. In the same sentence! Yummeh!

Civilian_Target

Entombed are death metal?! I'd have just said they were really good.

Would Dimmu Borgir be considered death metal? I can't really see where the lines between Metal, Death Metal and Black Metal really are. (But to be honest, I don't think I care)

Mystic Fibrosis

It started with Opeth, with Still Life. Then nosmo showed me Carcass. I was hooked.

It's my favorite genre of metal, for sure. I think it's a mix of the extremism and technical ability needed to play it. Still though, my favorite death metal bands are mainly those who push the envelope a bit. For example:

Anata. Great band with a class drummer, he's got a really good sense of groove. Kind of a mix of the Swedish and American scenes. I demand you get Under A Stone With No Inscription.

Hate Eternal. I love these guys just for the sheer tornado of noise they make. Erik Rutan really likes to take our definition of "extreme" and toy with it.

Behemoth. Occultism! Groove! Ripping solos! Poland!

Zyklon. The band who really got me into death metal, after Carcass (who aren't really death but let's not get pedantic here.) I thought Carcass were fast bastards. Zyklon are faster. And better than you.

*Insert obligatory rant about Cynic, Death, Disincarnate etc

There's tons of other bands I could sing the praises of but I'm lazy and there's a stirfry in front of me.

Tar.Aldarion

What genre's are Carcass,Slayer,Sepultura,isis,pelican?
Whatever they are,they are great.

Pugsley

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

What genre's are Carcass,Slayer,Sepultura,isis,pelican?
Whatever they are,they are great.

Slayer are Thrash, Isis and Pelican are Sludge Metal. Pelican are an excellent band, really good music to work with. Dimmu Borgir are symphonic death metal, so yea their close enough too.

Honestly dont listen to that much death metal,Athiest, In Flames and Dark Tranquility, with bits of Morbid Angel now and again. Would also put a good word in for Amon Amarth, its viking metal, but still, excellent stuff.

Doctor J

Celtic Frost started it for me, though not strictly Death Metal, they laid the foundations tbh. Got Morbid Tales/Emperors Return on vinyl, To Mega Therion on tape, they influenced so many bands and are still one of my favourites, totally underrated and often overlooked. Heard Open Casket on the radio back in late 88/early 89, hadn't heard anything like it in my life. Amazing revelation tbh. Got into Death, loved Spiritual Healing. Fell in love witht he whole Florida thing, especially the first two Obituary albums. From there, Deicide whose gig in McGonagles still rates as one of the finest I've ever been to, Nocturnus, Immolation, Massacre, Maceration and Pestilence. Human and Atheist, leading to Cynic. I didn't really like the first Morbid Angel album, still don't, though I loved Blessed Are The Sick and Covenant and Domination are classics. For me, a lot of Metal through the 90's just regurgitated what had come before, so I lost interest in a lot of it. Kept up with subsequent Death, Obituary and Morbid Angel releases. There was/is a lot of crap in this area though the stuff that is good is so very, very good.

John

I've never really liked any death metal until recently. Anything I had heard was awful, stuff like Cannibal Corpse and Deicide. I liked Opeth but are they even death metal anymore? The Doc and KH has got me onto Cynic and Death so from looking at this thread Atheist, Obituary and Morbid Angel seem to be what I have to hit next.

Gonzo

I just recently listended to Cynic and their album Focus for the first time and it has totally blown me away I love it. However I havent been able to track this album down in the shops, anyone know where I can buy it?

I must give Atheist a listen, havent heard their stuff yet.

John

here

or here

Piste

Who makes up all these sub-genres of Metal? I can understand a few like Thrash Metal, but where is the line between Black Metal and Death Metal? I would have thought Opeth were more Black Metal than Death Metal. And Sludge Metal? What in all God's name is that?

Tar.Aldarion

Piste wrote:

And Sludge Metal? What in all God's name is that?

D'oh it's a genre just for isis and pelican
If anything I would have called them classy metal!
Anyway, Genres mean nothing to me.A band is good or not good,in my opinion.To be more accurate, a song is good or not in my opinion.Genre is just to help me find the stuff in shops.
'Dude where do keep your math metal.

Karl Hungus

Piste wrote:

Who makes up all these sub-genres of Metal? I can understand a few like Thrash Metal, but where is the line between Black Metal and Death Metal? I would have thought Opeth were more Black Metal than Death Metal. And Sludge Metal? What in all God's name is that?

I wouldn't get to worked up over sub-genres tbh. They exist more as an extremely rough description these days, hence Sludge Metal being something slow and plodding, if you dig. It kinda gives you an idea of what the band might sound like.

The line between Death and Black Metal is huge though, but if you though that Opeth were Black then you're way off the mark there. Black Metal would be the likes of Burzum, early Mayhem, Emperor, Immortal and so forth. It's a whole different style altogether.

Ruaidhri

it all started for me with Cryptopsy. Heard slit your huts, was hooked! these days i listen to a wide range of death, the usual bands that were mentioned, plus the likes of Coprofago ( Jazzy Death, totally excellent, www.coprofago.com ), Extol ( Christian Death www.undeceived.net ) and, of course, Gorguts ( just go listen to Obscura! www.gorguts.com ).

Death is a strange little genre alright. the diversity of sound and idea's within the genre itself it nuts! And Ken, i dont think CC are death, more trash.

Deadwing

lol thanks for reminding me of gorguts, i heard them years ago, god they were awful, sounded like a bad cannibal corpse rip off. TBH i just find bands like CC comical, i have a few songs downloaded that i listen to purely for comedy value, 'i cum blood' is always guaranteed to give you a chuckle.
Opeth are just on such a higher level you couldnt even put the 2 bands into the same 'death metal' genre. But by and large i just cant listen to that sh!t..someone screaming for 45 minutes on an album? No thanks.

The Free Man

not into much death metal myself, i prefer the prog side too, like opeth.
i listen to nile, because they really know their stuff about ancient egypt, which rocks...

Ancient1

The very first DM album i bought was Cancer's "Death Shall Rise". I just bought it coz i thought the cover looked cool, i had no idea what to expect. And that was that, i was transformed.

John

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

D'oh it's a genre just for isis and pelican

I wouldn't class Isis as sludge at all. They sound too clean and polished and aren't slow enough. Sludge would be Boris and The Melvins (especially on albums like Lysol). It's the middle ground between stoner and doom.

Doctor J

Ancient1 wrote:

The very first DM album i bought was Cancer's "Death Shall Rise". I just bought it coz i thought the cover looked cool, i had no idea what to expect. And that was that, i was transformed.

I bought it because James Murphy played on it

Ancient1

I had no idea who he was when i got the album, i was 13!
But it all fell into place when i got my hands on Cause of Death.

Scratch Acid

John2 wrote:

I wouldn't class Isis as sludge at all. They sound too clean and polished and aren't slow enough. Sludge would be Boris and The Melvins (especially on albums like Lysol). It's the middle ground between stoner and doom.

Ahhh Boris. What a band...

Undergod

I've only heard Opeth (thanks to Nosmo, Mystic Fibrosis and mostly It wasn't me!) Cynic (It wasn't me!) and Carcass (thanks to same, Exhume to Consume, what a song). Do Arcturus count?, I listened to a song KarlHungus posted here a while ago.

I can't wait til I get some more, Atheist is on my list.

Tar.Aldarion

John2 wrote:

I wouldn't class Isis as sludge at all. They sound too clean and polished and aren't slow enough. Sludge would be Boris and The Melvins (especially on albums like Lysol). It's the middle ground between stoner and doom.

I was just going on what the guy told me,no idea of genres tbh because they are just something that amuse me.Now back to my hair metal

John

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

I was just going on what the guy told me,no idea of genres tbh because they are just something that amuse me.Now back to my hair metal

Don't worry, I was just having a little rant.

Ok, what Obituary album should I buy as an introduction?

mp3guy

Karl Hungus wrote:

The line between Death and Black Metal is huge though, but if you though that Opeth were Black then you're way off the mark there.

Opeth are Progressive Death Metal, right?

Karl Hungus

mp3guy wrote:

Opeth are Progressive Death Metal, right?

Yeah, that would be a good estimation of the band.

Undergod wrote:

Do Arcturus count?, I listened to a song KarlHungus posted here a while ago.

No, Arcturus wouldn't be considered Death Metal.

evad_lhorg

i dont even know what would be considered death metal. my music taste is very wide but i tend not to really like bands that growl. Opeth took a while to grow on me but i love them now.
disillusion are pretty good too. anything else i have heard that may be considered "death metal" i dont really enjoy.

Mr. CooL ICE

I said i was a fan of death metal to piss my parents off, but i first considered myself a fan when i got Ravenous and Pinball Map by Arch Enemy and In Flames on a metal hammer cd, and that got me into the scandinavian metal scene, and i bought albums by bands like deicide and carcass as experiments. Thanks to boards.ie, i got into Death and recently bought cds from Atheist and Cynic (havent listened to them properly yet).

I need to buy some cds from the old norwegian BM scene, cos ive gotten mp3s from mayhem and emperor recently which are weird but interesting, and am convinced that the only bm i knew of (CoF, dimmu borgir) could be better. I dont like obituary, the vocals really piss me off, sounds wayyy too strained and inconfident to me. I have yet to experiment with listening to doom and sludge, but am not too pushed, as i much prefer the faster side of music, and mp3s that ive gotten of bands like Mourning Beloveth just bore the hell outta me.

Ancient1

John2 wrote:

Ok, what Obituary album should I buy as an introduction?

It has to be Cause of Death.

John

Ancient1 wrote:

It has to be Cause of Death.

Cheers ancient