Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath or MDM) is a heavy metal music style that combines elements from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) with elements of death metal. The style was developed during the early and mid-1990s, primarily in England and Scandinavia. Scandinavia in particular did much to popularize the style, which soon centered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and spawned a local music scene called Gothenburg metal. This "Gothenburg" style subsequently inspired many bands in the United States, which led to a flourishing movement in that country.

Musical characteristics[link]

Melodic death metal uses components of NWOBHM, in particular the fast riffing and harmonic guitar lines, but also is influenced by the characteristics of death metal like heavily distorted guitars, fast double-bass drum patterns and sometimes blast beats.^[1] The vocal style of the genre is a combination of harsh screaming, clean vocals, and death growls.^[2]

Origins (early 1990s)[link]

Credit for the popularity of melodic death metal can be attributed to the mid-90s releases of In Flames, At the Gates, and Dark Tranquillity, which laid the foundation for the Gothenburg metal scene.^[2]

Carcass, shown here performing at Gods of Metal festival in Bologna, Italy (2008), helped define the melodic death metal genre with their 1993 album Heartwork.^[3]

Another key band in the definition of melodic death metal was the British band Carcass, who started out playing grindcore but morphed into a death metal style and helped pioneer the melodic death metal genre with their 1993 album Heartwork and define melodic death metal as an authentic genre.^[3][4]

Late '90s and influence on other genres[link]

Since the late '90s, melodic death metal bands have added more melodic choruses and riffs and have used keyboards more prominently than other death metal bands; their lyrics, unlike those of death metal, did not focus on death, violence, gore, horror, or blood for the most part.^[5] Its influence lead to the diversification of modern metalcore, with melodic metalcore gaining prominence in the 2000s, especially in the United States.

Gothenburg metal[link]

Many bands that are considered melodic death metal are part of a Swedish death metal movement called "Gothenburg metal" that originated in Gothenburg, Sweden. This movement was born in the Scandinavian death metal scene, based primarily in Stockholm and Gothenburg. Swedish and Finnish bands in the scene used grindcore-based riffs and began incorporating progressive rock flourishes in their music, and in the mid 1990s the Swedish scene moved from Stockholm to Gothenburg, where bands like At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames added New Wave of British Heavy Metal elements and popularized the Gothenburg style. Stewart Mason of Allmusic states that this "increasingly melodic" style of Swedish death metal combines the post-hardcore aggression and guttural vocals of black metal with melodic and technically proficient guitar lines. Stewart Mason claims the style has become very popular in the United States, using the term "Swedecore" to describe Scandinavian-style metal as played by non-Nordic bands.^[6]

See also[link]

• List of melodic death metal bands
• Swedish death metal

References[link]

v t e Heavy metal Subgenres Alternative metal Black metal Cello rock Celtic metal Christian metal Crossover thrash Crust punk Deathgrind Death metal Death 'n' roll Deathcore Death/doom Djent Doom metal Drone metal Extreme metal Experimental metal Folk metal Funeral doom Funk metal Glam metal Goregrind Gothic metal Grindcore Groove metal Grunge Industrial metal Mathcore Medieval metal Melodic death metal Metalcore Neo-classical metal Nintendocore Nu metal Pagan metal Pornogrind Post-metal Power metal Progressive metal Rap metal Sludge metal Speed metal Stoner metal Symphonic black metal Symphonic metal Technical death metal Thrash metal Traditional heavy metal Unblack metal Viking metal Notable scenes New Wave of British Heavy Metal Mediterranean scene Norwegian black metal Swedish death metal Gothenburg metal Bay Area thrash metal Brazilian thrash metal Teutonic thrash metal Australian heavy metal New Orleans heavy metal New Wave of American Heavy Metal Neue Deutsche Härte Culture Heavy metal subculture Fashion Subgenres Bands Festivals Umlaut Headbanging Sign of the horns Portal

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes.

Building from the musical structure of thrash metal and early black metal, death metal emerged during the mid 1980s.^[2] Metal acts such as Slayer,^[3][4] Kreator,^[5] Celtic Frost,^[6] and Venom were very important influences to the crafting of the genre.^[2] Possessed^[7] and Death,^[8][9][10] along with bands such as Obituary, Carcass, Deicide and Morbid Angel are often considered pioneers of the genre.^[11] In the late 1980s and early 1990s, death metal gained more media attention as popular genre niche record labels like Combat, Earache and Roadrunner began to sign death metal bands at a rapid rate.^[12] Since then, death metal has diversified, spawning a variety of subgenres.^[13]

History[link]

Emergence and early history[link]

English heavy metal band Venom, from Newcastle, crystallized the elements of what later became known as thrash metal, death metal and black metal, with their 1981 album Welcome to Hell.^[14] Their dark, blistering sound, harsh vocals, and macabre, proudly Satanic imagery proved a major inspiration for extreme metal bands.^[15] Another highly influential band, Slayer, formed in 1981. Although the band was a thrash metal act, Slayer's music was more violent than their thrash contemporaries Metallica, Megadeth and Exodus.^[16] Their breakneck speed and instrumental prowess combined with lyrics about death, violence, war and Satanism won Slayer a rabid cult following.^[17] According to Allmusic, Slayer's third album Reign in Blood "inspired the entire death metal genre".^[18] It had a big impact on the genre leaders.^[16]

Jeff Becerra of Possessed, who christened the term "Death Metal" in 1983 on the band's 1984 demo of the same name.^[19][20]

Possessed, a band that formed in the San Francisco Bay Area during 1983, was attributed by Allmusic as "connecting the dots" between thrash metal and death metal with their 1985 debut album, Seven Churches.^[21] While attributed as having a Slayer influence,^[22] current and former members of the band had actually cited Venom and Motorhead, as well as early work by Exodus, as the main influences of their sound.^[23][24] Although the group had released only 2 studio albums in their formative years, they have been described by both music journalists and musicians as either being "monumental" in developing the death metal style,^[25] or as being the first death metal band.^[26][27][28] Earache Records noted that "....the likes of Trey Azagthoth and Morbid Angel based what they were doing in their formative years on the Possessed blueprint laid down on the legendary Seven Churches recording. Possessed arguably did more to further the cause of 'Death Metal' than any of the early acts on the scene back in the mid-late 80's."^[29]

Chuck Schuldiner (1967–2001) of Death, during a 1992 tour in Scotland in support of the album Human.

During the same period as the dawn of Possessed, a second influential metal band was formed in Florida: Death. Death, originally called Mantas, was formed during 1983 by Chuck Schuldiner, Kam Lee, and Rick Rozz. In 1984 they released their first demo entitled Death by Metal, followed by several more. The tapes circulated through the tape trader world, quickly establishing the band's name. With Death guitarist Schuldiner adopting vocal duties, the band made a major impact on the scene. The fast minor-key riffs and solos were complemented with fast drumming, creating a style that would catch on in tape trading circles.^[30][31] Schuldiner has been attributed by Allmusic's Eduardo Rivadavia as being "widely recognized as the Father of Death Metal".^[32] Death's 1987 debut release, Scream Bloody Gore, has been described by About.com's Chad Bowar as being the "evolution from thrash metal to death metal",^[33] and "the first true death metal record" by the San Francisco Chronicle.^[34]

Along with Possessed and Death, other pioneers of death metal in the United States include Autopsy, Necrophagia, Master, Morbid Angel, Massacre, Atheist, Post Mortem,^[35][36][37] Obituary and Deicide.

Growing popularity[link]

By 1989, many bands had been signed by eager record labels wanting to cash in on the subgenre, including Florida's Obituary, Morbid Angel and Deicide. This collective of death metal bands hailing from Florida are often labeled as "Florida death metal". Death metal spread to Sweden in the late 1980s, flourishing with pioneers such as Carnage, God Macabre, Entombed, Dismember and Unleashed. In the early 1990s, the rise of typically melodic "Gothenburg metal" was recognized, with bands such as Dark Tranquillity, At the Gates, and In Flames.

	"Death Metal" noicon Music sample of Possessed's "Death Metal" from the album Seven Churches (1985).
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

	"Blessed Are the Sick" noicon Music sample of Morbid Angel's "Blessed Are the Sick" from the live album Entangled in Chaos (1996).
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Following the original death metal innovators, new subgenres began by the end of the decade. British band Napalm Death became increasingly associated with death metal, in particular, on 1990's Harmony Corruption. This album displays aggressive and fairly technical guitar riffing, complex rhythmics, a sophisticated growling vocal delivery by Mark "Barney" Greenway, and socially aware lyrical subjects, leading to a merging with the "grindcore" subgenre. Other bands contributing significantly to this early movement include Britain's Bolt Thrower and Carcass, and New York's Suffocation.

To close the circle, Death released their fourth album Human in 1991, an example of modern death metal. Death's founder Schuldiner helped push the boundaries of uncompromising speed and technical virtuosity, mixing technical and intricate rhythm guitar work with complex arrangements and emotive guitar solos.^[38] Other examples are Carcass's Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious, Suffocation's Effigy of the Forgotten and Entombed's Clandestine from 1991. At this point, all the above characteristics are present: abrupt tempo and count changes, on occasion extremely fast drumming, morbid lyrics and growling vocal delivery.

Earache Records, Relativity Records and Roadrunner Records became the genre's most important labels,^[39] with Earache releasing albums by Carcass, Napalm Death, Morbid Angel, and Entombed, and Roadrunner releasing albums by Obituary, and Pestilence. Although these labels had not been death metal labels, initially, they became the genre's flagship labels in the beginning of the 1990s. In addition to these, other labels formed as well, such as Nuclear Blast, Century Media, and Peaceville. Many of these labels would go on to achieve successes in other genres of metal throughout the 1990s.

In September 1990, Death's manager Eric Greif held one of the first North American death metal festivals, Day of Death, in Milwaukee suburb Waukesha, Wisconsin, and featured 26 bands including Autopsy, Broken Hope, Hellwitch, Obliveon, Revenant, Viogression, Immolation, Atheist, and Cynic.^[40]

Later history[link]

Death metal's popularity achieved its initial peak between the 1992–93 era, with some bands such as Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse and Obituary enjoying mild commercial successes. However, the genre as a whole never broke in to the mainstream. The genre's mounting popularity may have been partly responsible for a strong rivalry between Norwegian black metal and Swedish death metal scenes. Fenriz of Darkthrone has noted that Norwegian black metal musicians were "fed up with the whole death metal scene" at the time.^[41] Death metal diversified in the 1990s, spawning a rich variety of subgenres which still have a large "underground" following at the present.

Characteristics[link]

Instrumentation[link]

The setup most frequently used within the death metal genre is two guitarists, a bass player, a vocalist and a drummer often using "hyper double-bass blast beats".^[42][43] Although this is the standard setup, bands have been known to occasionally incorporate other instruments such as electronic keyboards.^[44]

The genre is often identified by fast, highly distorted and droptuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking. The percussion is usually aggressive, and powerful; exceedingly fast drum patterns frequently add to the complexity of the genre.^[45]

Death metal is known for its abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes. Death metal may include chromatic chord progressions and a varied song structure, often shunning the standard verse-chorus arrangement. In some circumstances, the style will incorporate melodic riffs and harmonies for effect. This incorporation of melody and harmonious playing was even further used in the creation of melodic death metal. These compositions tend to emphasize an ongoing development of themes and motifs.

Vocals and lyrics[link]

Death metal vocals are often guttural roars, grunts, snarls, and low growls colloquially known as death growls. Death growling is mistakenly thought to be a form of screaming using the lowest vocal register known as vocal fry, however vocal fry is actually a form of overtone screaming, and while growling can be performed this way by experienced vocalists who use the fry screaming technique, "true" death growling is in fact created by an altogether different technique.^{[46][specify]} The three major methods of harsh vocalization used in the genre are often mistaken for each other, encompassing vocal fry screaming, false chord screaming, and "true" death growls.^{[47][Full citation needed]} Growling is sometimes also referred to as Cookie Monster vocals, tongue-in-cheek, due to the vocal similarity to the voice of the popular Sesame Street character of the same name.^[48] Although often criticized, death growls serve the aesthetic purpose of matching death metal's aggressive lyrical content.^[49] High-pitched screaming is occasionally utilized in death metal, being heard in songs by Death, Exhumed, Dying Fetus, Cannibal Corpse, Job for a Cowboy and Deicide.

The lyrical themes of death metal may invoke slasher film-stylized violence,^[50] but may also extend to topics like Satanism, anti-religion, occultism, nature, mysticism, philosophy, science fiction, and politics.^[51][52] Although violence may be explored in various other genres as well, death metal may elaborate on the details of extreme acts, including mutilation, dissection, torture, rape and necrophilia. Sociologist Keith Kahn-Harris commented this apparent glamorization of violence may be attributed to a "fascination" with the human body that all people share to some degree, a fascination which mixes desire and disgust.^[53] Heavy metal author Gavin Baddeley also stated there does seem to be a connection between "how acquainted one is with their own mortality" and "how much they crave images of death and violence" via the media.^[54] Additionally, contributing artists to the genre often defend death metal as little more than an extreme form of art and entertainment, similar to horror films in the motion picture industry.^[2] This explanation has brought such musicians under fire from activists internationally, who claim that this is often lost on a large number of adolescents, who are left with the glamorization of such violence without social context or awareness of why such imagery is stimulating.^[2]

According to Alex Webster, bassist of Cannibal Corpse, "The gory lyrics are probably not, as much as people say, [what's keeping us] from being mainstream. Like, 'death metal would never go into the mainstream because the lyrics are too gory?' I think it's really the music, because violent entertainment is totally mainstream."^[55]

Origin of the term[link]

The most popular theory of the subgenre's christening is Possessed's 1984 demo, Death Metal; the song from the eponymous demo would also be featured on the band's 1985 debut album, Seven Churches.^[56] Possessed vocalist/bassist Jeff Becerra said he coined the term in early 1983 for a high school English class assignment.^[57] Another possible origin is a fanzine called Death Metal, started by Thomas Fischer and Martin Ain of Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. The name was later given to the 1984 compilation Death Metal released by Noise Records.^[58][59] The term might also have originated from other recordings. A demo released by Death in 1984 is called Death by Metal.^[60]

Subgenres[link]

It should be noted that cited examples are not necessarily exclusive to one particular style. Many bands can easily be placed in two or more of the following categories, and a band's specific categorization is often a source of contention due to personal opinion and interpretation.

• Melodic death metal: Scandinavian death metal could be considered the forerunner of "melodic death metal". Melodic death metal, sometimes referred to as "melodeath", is heavy metal music mixed with some death metal elements. Unlike most other death metal, melodeath usually features screams instead of growls, slower tempos, much more melody and even clean vocals are heard at rare times. Carcass is sometimes credited with releasing the first melodic death metal album with 1993's Heartwork, although Swedish bands In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, and At the Gates are usually mentioned as the main pioneers of the genre and of the Gothenburg metal sound.

• Technical death metal: Technical death metal and "progressive death metal" are related terms that refer to bands distinguished by the complexity of their music. Common traits are dynamic song structures, uncommon time signatures, atypical rhythms and unusual harmonies and melodies. Bands described as technical death metal or progressive death metal usually fuse common death metal aesthetics with elements of progressive rock, jazz or classical music. While the term technical death metal is sometimes used to describe bands that focus on speed and extremity as well as complexity, the line between progressive and technical death metal is thin. "Tech death" and "prog death", for short, are terms commonly applied to such bands as Nile, Edge of Sanity, Opeth, Origin and Sadist. Cynic, Atheist, Pestilence and Gorguts are examples of bands noted for creating jazz-influenced death metal. Necrophagist and Spawn of Possession are known for a classical music-influenced death metal style. Death metal pioneers Death also refined their style in a more progressive direction in their final years. The Polish band Decapitated gained recognition as one of Europe's primary modern technical death metal acts.^[61][62]

• Deathcore: With the rise in popularity of metalcore, some of its traits have been incorporated into death metal. Bands such as Suicide Silence, Salt the Wound and the early works from Job for a Cowboy combine metalcore with death metal influences. Characteristics of death metal, such as fast drumming (including blast beats), down-tuned guitars, tremolo picking and growled vocals, are combined with screamed vocals, melodic riffs and breakdowns. Decibel magazine stated that "One of Suffocation's trademarks, breakdowns, has spawned an entire metal subgenre: deathcore."^[63]

• Death/doom: Death/doom is a style that combines the slow tempos and melancholic atmosphere of doom metal with the deep growling vocals and double-kick drumming of death metal.^[64] The style emerged during the late 1980s and gained a certain amount of popularity during the 1990s.^[64] It was pioneered by bands such as Autopsy, Winter,^[65] Asphyx,^[65] Disembowelment,^[65] Paradise Lost,^[65] and My Dying Bride.^[65]

Aborted are "key contributors to the death-grind genres," according to Allmusic.^[66]

• Goregrind and deathgrind: These styles mix the intensity, speed, and brevity of grindcore with the complexity of death metal. They differ from death metal in that guitar solos are often a rarity, shrieked vocals are more prominent as the main vocal style (though death growls are still utilized and some deathgrind bands make more use of the latter vocal style), and songs are generally shorter in length, usually between one and three minutes. These styles differs from grindcore in the more technical approach and less evident hardcore punk influence and aesthetics. Some notable examples of deathgrind are Brujeria, Cattle Decapitation,^[67] Cephalic Carnage, Pig Destroyer,^[68] Circle of Dead Children and Rotten Sound.

• Death 'n' roll: is a style that combines death metal's growled vocals and highly distorted detuned guitar riffs along with elements of classic rock and roll and 1970s hard rock and heavy metal.^[69][70] Notable examples include Entombed^[69] and Gorefest.^[70]

• Blackened death metal: is a style that combines death metal and black metal.^[71][72] Examples of blackened death metal bands are Belphegor,^[73] Behemoth,^[74] Akercocke,^[75] and Sacramentum.^[76]

Other fusions and subgenres[link]

There are other heavy metal music subgenres that have come from fusions between death metal and other non-metal genres, such as the fusion of death metal and jazz. Atheist and Cynic are two examples; the former went so far as to include jazz-style drum solos on albums, while the latter incorporated elements of jazz fusion. Nile have also incorporated Egyptian music and Middle Eastern themes into their work, while Alchemist have incorporated psychedelia along with Aboriginal music. Some groups, such as Nightfall, Septic Flesh, and Eternal Tears of Sorrow, have incorporated keyboards and symphonic elements, creating a fusion of symphonic metal and death metal, sometimes referred to as symphonic death metal.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Death metal

• List of death metal bands

References[link]

Literature[link]

• Ekeroth, Daniel (2008). Swedish Death Metal. Bazillion Points Books. ISBN 978-0-9796163-1-0
• Albert Mudrian, Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore (Feral House) ISBN 978-1-932595-04-8
• Kahn-Harris, Keith 'Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge' Berg, http://soulremnants.com, ISBN 1-84520-399-2
• Purcell, Natalie J. 'Death Metal Music: The Passion and Politics of a Subculture' McFarland & Company, ISBN 0-7864-1585-1
• Ian Christe. Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal. (New York, NY. Harper Collins, 2003) ISBN 978-0-380-81127-4
• Harrell, Jack. "The Poetics of Destruction: Death Metal Rock." Popular Music and Society. Spring 1995. Republished, April, 1996 in the Social Issues Resources Series (SIRS) database.

v t e Heavy metal Subgenres Alternative metal Black metal Cello rock Celtic metal Christian metal Crossover thrash Crust punk Deathgrind Death metal Death 'n' roll Deathcore Death/doom Djent Doom metal Drone metal Extreme metal Experimental metal Folk metal Funeral doom Funk metal Glam metal Goregrind Gothic metal Grindcore Groove metal Grunge Industrial metal Mathcore Medieval metal Melodic death metal Metalcore Neo-classical metal Nintendocore Nu metal Pagan metal Pornogrind Post-metal Power metal Progressive metal Rap metal Sludge metal Speed metal Stoner metal Symphonic black metal Symphonic metal Technical death metal Thrash metal Traditional heavy metal Unblack metal Viking metal Notable scenes New Wave of British Heavy Metal Mediterranean scene Norwegian black metal Swedish death metal Gothenburg metal Bay Area thrash metal Brazilian thrash metal Teutonic thrash metal Australian heavy metal New Orleans heavy metal New Wave of American Heavy Metal Neue Deutsche Härte Culture Heavy metal subculture Fashion Subgenres Bands Festivals Umlaut Headbanging Sign of the horns Portal