Death Metal

Sub-genre of heavy metal developed in the early and mid 80s. Although the term had appeared in three notable instances between 1983 and 1985 (Death's "Death by Metal" demo, the German "Death Metal" compilation record and a track from Onslaught's "Power From Hell" LP), it is the Possessed debut "Seven Churches" that is widely regarded as kicking off the movement. Possessed's use of abrupt tempo changes, gutteral vocals, unusual phrasing and Satanic overtones separated them from the more light hearted, punkish sound of thrash metal. The death metal template would continue to develop as Necrophagia, Death, Morbid Angel, Obituary and Autopsy released their respective debuts. These groups generally focused on horror-movie inspired blood and gore as well as occultist themes. By the 1990s, death metal had exploded in the underground and a number of influential bands rose to prominence. Additionally, if anyone wanted to call themselves death metal, extreme distortion, low guitar tunings and excessively fast tempos were mandatory. Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Dying Fetus and Deicide presented a percussively driven flavor of death metal, while Death, Cynic, Hypocrisy, Atheist and others prided themselves on more intricate and melodic guitar work, as well as lyrics dealing with social and political issues. Among the most extreme bands included both major Disgorges (USA and Mexico, respectively), Devourment and Mortician, who focused on very low tones, both in the guitar tunings and vocal approach. This was in direct contrast to melodic death metal bands such as At the Gates, the later work of Carcass, and In Flames, who often explored tones above middle C, rather than primarily or exclusively focusing on the bass strings. The accessibility of melodic death metal (and the public's exposure to increasingly aggressive rock) has lead to deathcore, in which groups such as Job For a Cowboy, Winds of Plague and the recent work of Cryptopsy combine the death metal aesthetic with modern hardcore and other accessible styles. There are a number of other fusion styles that have developed over the years, including the black metal/death metal hybrid "blackened death metal" (Archgoat, Angelcorpse, Blasphemy). Deathgrind or death grind combines death metal with grindcore (Aborted, Circle of Dead Children, Origin). There are also experimental groups such as Portal, Gorguts and Negativa, who use death metal as a basis to explore a number of unusual rock stylings.