Death Metal

Karl Hungus · 15-10-2005 3:36pm #1

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 · 15-10-2005 3:42pm

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 · 15-10-2005 4:03pm

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

Civilian_Target · 15-10-2005 5:13pm

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 · 15-10-2005 5:16pm

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 · 15-10-2005 5:22pm

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

Pugsley · 16-10-2005 1:22am

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 · 16-10-2005 9:03am

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 · 16-10-2005 10:15am

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 · 16-10-2005 10:36am

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 · 16-10-2005 10:39am

here

or here

Piste · 16-10-2005 10:47am

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 · 16-10-2005 12:38pm

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 · 16-10-2005 12:43pm

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 · 16-10-2005 1:28pm

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 · 16-10-2005 4:08pm

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 · 16-10-2005 7:09pm

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 · 16-10-2005 7:45pm

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 · 16-10-2005 7:46pm

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 · 16-10-2005 7:48pm

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 · 16-10-2005 7:52pm

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 · 16-10-2005 9:28pm

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 · 18-10-2005 6:54pm

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 · 18-10-2005 9:07pm

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 · 18-10-2005 9:08pm

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 · 18-10-2005 9:22pm

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 · 18-10-2005 10:03pm

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 · 18-10-2005 11:29pm

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 · 19-10-2005 9:17am

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 · 19-10-2005 10:01am

John2 wrote:

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

It has to be Cause of Death.

John · 19-10-2005 1:45pm

Ancient1 wrote:

It has to be Cause of Death.

Cheers ancient

Ancient1 · 19-10-2005 1:54pm

Actually, John, i forgot to mention that most of Obituary's back catalogue has been reissued by Roadrunner with the Two From The Vault series.

You'll be able to pick up two albums on a single disc for the price of one (provided you avoid HMV etc of course).

Check it out:

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.co.uk/artists/Obituary/disc.aspx

John · 19-10-2005 2:06pm

Thanks again ancient but I had actually seen these yesterday. I didn't know where to start so I asked here. It'll probably be a couple of weeks before I get round to buying it.

Doctor J · 19-10-2005 2:07pm

2003 - "Slowly We Rot/Cause Of Death"
Two From the Vault
Label: Roadrunner Records

Fantastic! If I didn't have them already, that is :rolleyes:

Undergod · 19-10-2005 7:05pm

Atheist were also re-released recently, weren't they? What would a good album to begin listening to them on be?

Doctor J · 19-10-2005 7:16pm

Just get all three. Seriously, they all sound very different. Piece Of Time is the most death metal sounding. Unquestionable Presence is their best but most hard to get into and Elements is the most straightforward.

All three are top drawer.

Undergod · 19-10-2005 7:21pm

Doctor J wrote:

Elements is the most straightforward

As in most accessible? I'll probably start off with that then, as I'm not very well versed in death.

Aporia · 19-10-2005 10:48pm

My favourite DM bands would be Cryptopsy and Decapitated. I only got into Decapitated recentley but their quite a band...I would'nt consider myself a big DM fan though... more into Blackmetal.
Oh and just to add Cannibal corpse suck theres just nothing poetic about them and their very repetitive :eek:

Shiminay · 20-10-2005 11:04pm

Ruaidhri wrote:

it all started for me with Cryptopsy. Heard slit your huts, was hooked!

Jabba wouldn't be pleased!!! LOL The only reason I laugh so much is because that's the very same song that hooked me on Death Metal!

I love Death Metal for the pure rush of intensity it gives me. I mostly listen to the likes of Suffocation (saw them live - insane), Deicide (saw them live and seeing them again this Sunday, also class), Skinless (guess what? Saw them too), Obituary (ditto), Cryptopsy (haven't seen them, would dearly love to) and Opeth for chilling out.

I suppose I haven't really opened myself to the more progressive (ye gods I don't really like that word) sides of thing, I'll grab some tunes from some of the afore-mentioned bands - thanks for that ladies and gentlemen

I can see some people's point about Death Metal being sometimes repetitive, certainly to a casual listener (even of metal) it appears so, but I think it's fair to say the pace and intensity is as much a part of it as anything else and so if a new song from a band sounds similar to the other one on that other album, ask yourself this? "Would I punch a complete stranger in the face if I was listening to this live?"
If you can answer Yes, it's a winner

Karl Hungus · 20-10-2005 11:25pm

Kharn, get yourself the new Atheist re-issues, some of the most phenominal Death ever put to record. If Unquestionable Prescence doesn't frazzle your mind from the first spin, then there's some deeply wrong.

cournioni · 21-10-2005 7:21am

The very first Death Metal band I got into was Morbid Angel. How did I get into them? Beavis and Butthead believe it or not, I remember seeing God of Emptiness on one of their shows and I just paused for a second and went "wow!". I'd never heard anything like it before and I gradually started getting into them from there.

I have to say I wasn't really into any of the other bands until I heard some Obituary which was a good few years later. I just loved the riffage and the slimey type of sound they had. Brilliant stuff altogether.

From there I got into a number of bands like Decapitated, Opeth, Death, Atheist, Cryptopsy, and Suffocation. I have to admit, I don't listen to it as much as I used to but I still give at least one of them a spin every week. Depending on my mood. Looking forward to seeing Obituary in the TBMC in January though!

Doctor J · 21-10-2005 8:27am

If you love Obituary you owe it to yourself to check out some early Celtic Frost (Morbid Tales and To Mega Therion). If ever one band too their inspiration from another, it is Obituary from Celtic Frost. Not saying they're ripping them off, just that the influence of the early Celtic Frost stuff on Obituary is undeniable in a good way

John · 21-10-2005 11:51am

Got Slowly We Rot/Cause of Death by Obituary today. It gets two thumbs up from me.

Ancient1 · 21-10-2005 1:35pm

Good stuff, John!

Next - book tickets for January!

John · 21-10-2005 1:55pm

Ooh, where they playing? And how much?

Ancient1 · 21-10-2005 1:58pm

9th January @ TBMC.

Tickets are 30, i think, and the support is Samael (i think you might like these guys actually).

John · 21-10-2005 2:01pm

Cool, I'll be coming along to this. I'll have to get some new stuff so I can sing along heheh.

Ancient1 · 21-10-2005 2:03pm

Just make sure i'm tanked up before you start singing along with Mr. Tardy

John · 21-10-2005 2:19pm

Are ticekts on sale? I can't find them online

Ph3n0m · 21-10-2005 2:24pm

http://www.emeraldpromotions.8m.com/index2.html - this is who to buy tickets from.

Or if you are in Dublin, from the Sound Cellar

Ancient1 · 21-10-2005 2:24pm

Nah, it's still early days i think.

Bookmark this and check it periodically.

Edit: Ph3n0m beat me to it!

Death Metal

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