As you all can see this blog is all about DEATH METAL and Grindcore. The most extreme of all musical Genres.
This is my new blog and i will be posting DEATH METAL and its sub-genres also.


About The Genre:

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs fast tempos, heavily distorted guitars, deep growling vocals, morbid lyrics, blast beat drumming, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes.

Building off the speed and complexity of thrash metal, death metal emerged during the mid 1980s.It was mainly inspired by thrash acts like Slayer, Kreator and Celtic Frost. Along with the band Death and its frontman Chuck Schuldiner (who is often hailed as "the father of death metal"), bands like Possessed, and Morbid Angel are often considered pioneers of the genre. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, death metal gained more media attention as popular record labels like Earache Records and Roadrunner Records began to sign death metal bands at a rapid rate. Since then, death metal has diversified, spawning a rich variety of sub genres.

Death metal is considered an "underground" form of music, and has been met with considerable hostility from mainstream culture, mainly because of the socially unattractive themes, imagery and stage personae surrounding many bands.

Characteristics

Instrumentation

The setup most frequently used in death metal is two electric guitars, a bass guitar, a vocalist and a drum kit almost universally using two bass drums or a double bass drum pedal. Although this is the standard setup, bands have been known to incorporate other instruments such as electronic keyboards.

The genre is often identified by fast, highly distorted and downtuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking. The percussion is usually fast and dynamic; blast beats, double bass and exceedingly fast drum patterns frequently add to the ferocity of the genre.

Death metal is known for its abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes, as well as fast and complex guitar and drumwork. Death metal may include chromatic chord progressions and a varied song structure, rarely employing the standard verse-chorus arrangement. These compositions tend to emphasize an ongoing development of themes and motifs.

Vocals and lyrics

Death metal vocals are often guttural roars, grunts, snarls, and low gurgles colloquially called death grunts or death growls. This vocal style is sometimes referred to as Cookie Monster vocals, tongue-in-cheek, because of the similarity with the popular Sesame Street character of the same name. Although often criticized, death growls serve the aesthetic purpose of matching death metal's violent or bleak lyrical content.

Death metal's lyrical themes typically invoke Z-grade slasher and splatter movie violence,^[23] but may also extend to contain themes of Satanism, criticism of religion, Occultism, mysticism, and/or social commentary. Although violence may be explored in various other genres as well, death metal elaborates on the details of extreme acts, including mutilation, dissection, torture, rape and necrophilia. Sociologist Keith Kahn-Harris (author of Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge) commented that this may be attributed to a "fascination" with the human body that all people share to some degree, a "primal desire", and that although the genre often glamorizes violence and obscurities, there is equally as much fear and disgust amid the exploration. Heavy metal author Gavin Baddeley also stated that 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. 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. Needless to say, this 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.

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."

Origin of the term

There are several theories how the term "death metal" originated. One theory is that the name originates from an early pioneer of the genre, Death. A Florida journalist explained to his readers that Death play their own kind of metal: "Death's Metal". Others contest that Death is not the origin, but that the harsh vocals and morbid lyrical content generally inspired the genre. Another possible origin is a fanzine called "Death Metal", started by Thomas Fischer and Martin Ain of the band Hellhammer (later Celtic Frost). The name was later given to the 1984 compilation Death Metal released by Hellhammer's label Noise Records. The term might also have originated from other recordings. Possessed's 1984 demo is called Death Metal, and a song with the same name is featured on their 1985 debut album Seven Churches. A demo released by Death in 1983 is called Death by Metal.

Later history (1991–present)

Death metal's popularity achieved its 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. Many recall 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. Death metal diversified in the 1990s, spawning a rich variety of subgenres.

Subgenres

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, such as growled vocals and the liberal use of blastbeats. Songs are typically based around Iron Maiden-esque guitar harmonies and melodies with typically higher-pitched growls, as opposed to traditional death metal's brutal riffs and much lower death grunts. 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. Additionally, Afflicted, Entombed, Amon Amarth, Unleashed and Tiamat helped to define the sound that would evolve into common melodic death metal.

• 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 Cryptopsy, 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.

• Brutal death metal: Brutal death metal developed by combining death metal with aspects of grindcore, and took death metal to greater extremes in terms of speed and aggression. Brutal death metal tends to be drum-heavy and rhythm oriented leaving little room for melody and harmony. Typically, guitar riffs make use of fast tremolo picking, and heavy palm muting for a percussive effect. The drum lines are fast and blast beats are predominant. Brutal death metal vocalists employ low-pitched death grunts and the lyrics are often, but not always gore related. Some bands occasionally alternate fast and aggressive parts with slower grooves and breakdowns. Bands who focus more on these slower groovy parts and breakdowns are sometimes referred to as slam death metal. Certain bands in this genre, for example Nile and Suffocation, have also been categorized as technical death metal. There is a sizable overlap between the two genres, as some bands not only focus on speed and aggression but also incorporate technical and progressive elements. Brutal death metal is also associated with bands like Cannibal Corpse, Disgorge and Hate Eternal.

• Death/Doom : Death/doom (also known as doom/death) 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. The style emerged during the late 1980s and gained a certain amount of popularity during the 1990s. It was pioneered by bands such as Autopsy, Winter, Asphyx, Disembowelment, Paradise Lost, and My Dying Bride. Death doom subsequently gave rise to the gothic metal genre.

• Blackened death metal: Blackened death metal is a subgenre of death metal fused with the more fluid and melodic elements of black metal. These bands also tend to adopt some of the thematic characteristics of that genre as well: evil, Satanism, and occultism are all common topics and images. Early influences for blackened death metal include death metal bands such as Deicide, Acheron, and Immolation. Some examples of this subgenre include Akercocke, Behemoth, Belphegor , Zyklon, and Sacramentum.

  

  Zyklon are popular contributors to
  

  the blackened death metal subgenre.

• Deathgrind: Deathgrind mixes the intensity, speed, and brevity of grindcore with the complexity of death metal. It differs 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. The style 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, Cephalic Carnage, Soilent Green, Pig Destroyer, Circle of Dead Children and Rotten Sound.

• Deathcore: With the rise in popularity of melodic metalcore, some of its traits have been incorporated into death metal. Bands like Job for a Cowboy (on their first EP Doom) and Suicide Silence combine melodic metalcore with death metal influences. Death metal characteristics, such as fast drumming (including blast beats), down-tuned guitars, tremolo picking and partially growled vocals, are combined with melodic riffs and breakdowns. In the case of some groups such as Despised Icon and Bring Me the Horizon, lyrical themes are less focused on gore and violence, and more on personal issues.

Other fusion subgenres

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 of went as far as to include jazz-style drum solos on albums, and 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 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. Industrial metal has also been fused with death metal on Fear Factory's early albums.

Chuck Schuldiner known to be "Father Of Death Metal".