Appreciate Death Metal

While most people associate death metal music with a bunch of guys screaming and creating random noise, there's a multitude of reasons why this genre maintains a strong following and earns the fierce loyalty of many listeners worldwide. Here's why.

Steps

  1. Listen beyond the tearing guitars and unusual vocals. Although the rough guitar sound and guttural vocals that permeate much of death metal can take a little getting used to (especially if your ears are accustomed to softer sounds), it's more than just idiotic noise. There are melodies, patterns, and complexities to be realized and appreciated if enough time is spent soaking it all in.
  2. Watch a live death metal performance. Observe how the group members manipulate the instruments. It can be quite an experience especially since the shows are often small and you can walk near or behind the stage to observe the musicians up close. If you've ever tried to play those instruments yourself, you'll probably be amazed with how skillfully they play. It takes practice and dedication, which challenges the stereotype of metal heads being lazy and careless. You might also be surprised about how energetic some of the performers are.
  3. Remember that in death metal, unlike many other genres, each band almost always writes their own music. That includes the riffs, drums, solos, and lyrics. Writing your own music demonstrates another dimension of instrumental mastery and talent, as well as making the music more personal and less manufactured.
  4. Don't take the context and subject matter personally. Death metal lyrics and themes aren't intended to be taken literally. They document the outer extremes of human experience which other genres don't dare touch, such as the motivations of serial killers, the activities of the walking dead, death itself, and isolation. Also, many bands will cover other topics not usually associated with death, such as Norse mythology. Many bands explore political and religious issues, and write about historical events.
    • Keep in mind that some death metal lyrics, especially the gore and brutal varieties, often, but not always, elaborate on the details of extreme acts, including mutilation, dissection, rape and necrophilia. To many people, these subjects are extremely disturbing, upsetting and off-putting, even to many metalheads. Use your best judgment, including independent online band and album reviews, as well as skimming lyrical content before buying, if you are particularly concerned about the issue.
    • Be careful not to completely rule out a listening test based solely on lyrical content. Many online music stores have thirty-second clips that can demonstrate the groove of a song, and if the musical content sparks your interest, perhaps the lyrics can be taken more lightly.
    • Look up the lyrics. A common misconception of heavy metal is that all heavy metal bands lyrics are very vulgar, using a lot of bad language. You might be surprised by the complexity and large vocabulary found in the lyrics in some death metal bands.
  5. Learn about the subgenres. Not all death metal is the same. The genre contains many subgenres that can frequently mix and intermingle with each other. As a result, it may be difficult to ascribe a band under a single subgenre. Here's a general guideline to get you started:
    • Blackened - adopts thematic and musical elements of black metal: Akercocke, Behemoth, Belphegor, Dissection, God Dethroned, Firdous Angelcorpse, Sacramentum, Zyklon, Crimson Thorn, Mayhem and many others
    • Brutal: Aborted, Cryptopsy, Cannibal Corpse, Blood Red Throne, Deeds of Flesh, Degrade, Deranged, Disavowed, Disgorge, Guttural Secrete, Hate Eternal, Immolation, Internal Suffering, Origin, Skinless, Spawn of Possession, Suffocation, The Genocide Architect, Wormed and many others
    • Death/Doom - slow tempos, melancholic atmosphere, deep growling vocals double-kick drumming: Anathema (earlier works), Asphyx, Autopsy, Paradise Lost, Disembowelment, Cathedral (early works), Swallow the Sun, My Dying Bride and Winter.
    • Goregrind/Deathgrind - intense, brief, rare guitar solos, more prominent shrieked vocals: Regurgitate, Carcass (earlier work), Terminally Your Aborted Ghost, Dead Infection, Anal Bleeding, Decomposing Serenity, XXX Maniak
    • Industrial - Borrowing elements from industrial elements such as writing patterns, synths and technical rhythms: Noein, The Berzerker, Synthetic Breed, Grenoeur, Oblivion Machine
    • Melodic - Iron Maiden-esque guitar harmonies and melodies with typically higher-pitched growls: Children Of Bodom (earlier work), Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, The Black Dahlia Murder, At Odds with God, At the Gates, Carcass (later work), Dark Tranquillity, Desultory, Dethklok, Disarmonia Mundi, Ensiferum, Hilastherion, Hypocrisy, Immortal Souls, Kalmah, Norther, Souls, In Flames (earlier work), Sacrilege, Wintersun, Scar Symmetry, Insomnium, Noumena, Rapture, and Daylight Dies.
    • Symphonic - Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Nightsleep and Septic Flesh
    • Technical/Progressive - dynamic song structures, uncommon time signatures, sometimes includes clean vocals and acoustic guitars, atypical rhythms and unusual harmonies and melodies: Amoral (earlier work), Arsis, Beneath The Massacre, Brain Drill, Cryptopsy, Cynic, Death, Decapitated, Gorguts, Immolation, Job for a Cowboy, Necrophagist, Nile, Ominous, Opeth, Origin, Pestilence, Psycroptic, Sleep terror, Spawn of Possession, The Faceless, Visceral Bleeding, Meshuggah, PsyOpus.
  6. Respect the artists. The greatest death metal musicians almost can't make a living with what they do, and yet the musicians in these bands continue on in spite of their obscurity. Death metal is so non-mainstream that its musicians have to work incredibly hard for their career sales to reach even a million copies (which very few death metal musicians have actually done). Many death metal musicians are highly intelligent people with comprehensive musical training.

Tips

  • Many people call Death Metal and other genres with guttural vocals "Screamo". It is not. Screamo is a sub-genre of Punk.
  • If you're still convinced it's just a bunch of noise, and you call yourself a guitarist, download a tablature of just about any Vital Remains song and try to keep up.
  • Many excellent death metal bands never had a big record company behind them to support and promote their music. They are hidden treasures. Look around and discover what's mostly ignored.
  • Keep in mind that all genres and sub-genres are under heated debate, so do not adhere to a single definition too seriously.
  • Another great reference is "Metal : A Headbangers Journey." It is a great documentary and really shows you how metal has evolved.
  • Don't be afraid to ask a fan about their experience with death metal. Death metal fans are very nice and approachable, since they prefer to relieve their stress and anger in mosh pits.
  • If you're concerned that the lyrics and imagery make the musicians "bad people", consider looking at it like horror novels or movies mixed with music. When's the last time we considered an author to be "evil" for the books he writes or an actor for the roles he plays? (i.e., Stephen King or Christoper Lee)
  • Many countries and scenes have various interpretations of the Death Metal sound, such as the Floridian and Swedish scenes. The former opting for a slower and thicker sound in contrast to the latter which opts for faster and a more refined sound.

Warnings

  • Do not take all things you hear in the lyrics of a death metal song seriously. This is especially true with bands like Cannibal Corpse. Use discretion when listening to songs like "Meat Hook Sodomy" and "Hammer Smashed Face" (both songs by Cannibal Corpse). Cannibal Corpse, among other bands, have even said their lyrics are totally fictional and not to be followed. These songs and all other extreme death metal songs are entirely works of fiction and are not condoned by the authors or the band.
  • On a practical note, death metal is not a good approach to understanding death.

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