An Introduction to Death Metal

By the word "Death" it can be guessed that this genre of metal is violent and extreme.In fact it is so extreme that if we look at its history then we will find that it has been blamed for all its violent activities from the burning of churches to the killing of fellow band members.Due to the extreme measures set by the band,most of the bands are banned not only from touring but also from selling their own records.Their music usually contains dark and violent lyrics related to death,murder,demons,hell and satanic rights.The music is usually about praising death and overthrowing Christian religion.With music of death,destruction,violence and overthrowing popular religions,its considered as one of the most heaviest,explicit and gruesome genres of metal.
                                Death Metal is a very fast paced music with heavy blast beats and fast rhythmic guitar chords.The vocals are usually a low gurgle which is also called "death gurl" or high pitched screams and growling.It is distorted by using throat and guts.To further enhance the storytelling of the lyrics,the bands use keyboard to add a more classical sound.It is also a very demanding style to play for the artists due to constant chord changing and its fast paced style and it also takes a heavy toll on your throat and gut while creating the vocal styles.

                                        
                           Most bands have an image dealing closely with their lyrics usually are.They usually wear black leather pants with studded shin guards and boots with a band T-shirt And like most metal bands,they too have lots of tattoos on their bodies. During concerts they also do extreme things as live animal sacrifices.They also use blood as their aspect and symbol in concerts.Some extreme bands even perform satanic rituals.Due to these activities they are termed as the most violent genre of metal.In the past 20 years,many people have contributed to Death Metal for what it is known today.The most known is probably Varg Kislin Larsson Vikernes.He is known for burning churches in Norway in the early 90s and killing a fellow musician in a recording contract.For his actions,some people view him as a hero and some as an animal.He was in a completely solo band called Burzum and played vocals,guitar,bass and drums for the band.He is currently incarcerated for the murder of Euronymous of Mayhem in 1993 and burning of 4 churches in Norway.In 2003,he attempted to escape from a Norwegian prison but proved unsuccessful.

They are many sub genres of metal but the two main ones are considered to be melodic death metal and technical death metal.Melodic death metal is considered as the mixture of British metal and Scandinavian metal.Unlike common death metal,is has melodic sound with common and lengthy guitar solos.On the other hand, technical death metal is a very rare genre and a very few band try to create this style.It is influenced by the other genres of music such as Jazz and European Classical.

Metal and its Types

Metal music is a worldwide form of music that has held the attention of younger generations for over 50 years. Metal music has branched off into different sub genres, but one thing is the main motivator for the survival of metal music through all the generations. That is a need for younger generations to rebel against the status quo, to express themselves and their frustration of an outdated way of life. Black Sabbath were the first real metal band, and become the inspiration for the sub genre Doom Metal. Metal went on through Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, while other bands such as Motorhead, Iron Maiden Metallica belonged to the sub genre, infused punk.
Metal bands began to look further from the blues scale that Black Sabbath used and went on to use diatonic modes. This sparked a new phenomenon that spread through nearly all of the sub genres of metal.
In the 80s, the sub genre of thrash metal evolved into death metal. Some of the prominent death metal bands of that time were Possessed and Death. Traditional metal also began in the 80s and bands like Fates Warning and Queensrysce were accepted into the mainstream of music.
More sub genres of metal surfaced quickly in the 90s, including Stoner Metal and Sludge Metal.

Sub Genres Of Metal Music:
Metal, much like rock, is made up of many sub-genres. Metal genres can at times be difficult to differentiate as they seem similar but have small changes in overall structural, temperamental, instrumental and vocal changes. This is made even more difficult to differentiate, as often sub genres are similar to each other in other genres.

Black Metal: Black metal evolved from thrash metal. Black metal is not as cold and brutal as thrash, although it is still considered to be an extreme genre. The sound is a combination of tremolo bass and vocals are usually screamed or yelled by performers. Themes of Black metal are usually supernatural or occult in nature. 

Death Metal: Death metal is closely related to thrash metal. It tends to be more brutal in nature, with odd chord progressions and mixed up time changes. Like many genres of metal, the words of the songs include themes that relate to the occult and the darker side of human nature.

Doom Metal: Doom metal emphasizes emotion, melancholy and depression. Tempos are usually slower with somber harmonies. Doom metal has the same type of vocals as death and black metal. Classical instruments are also used a lot in Doom metal to enhance the mood of the music.

Folk Metal: Folk metal started out as a fusion of folk rock, power metal and black metal. Now it is a term given to folk-themed bands that use folk based lyrics and themes, including instruments.

Glam Metal: Glam metal was popular in the 80s and was also known as hair metal. Many of the band members used makeup, similar to the 70s glam rock bands and Idols such as Alice Cooper.

Gothic Metal: Goth Metal had the same style as doom, black and death metal, but used heavy keyboard sounds with romantic story like words. Goth metal often used two vocalists.

Grindcore: Grindcore is like thrash metal with tones of hardcore and punk. Vocals are a lot like death metal and the songs tended to be very short. Grindcore today is mostly influenced by death metal.

Heavy Metal: Heavy metal is the origin of the genres and where metal music got its name. Loud rasping vocals and long solos with the guitar characterize heavy metal. The words of the songs are often unfocused on any particular theme.

 
Industrial Metal: Industrial metal uses Distortion of guitar sounds, synthesizers and drum machines. Industrial is heavily influenced by techno and industrial music.

Metalcore: Metal core bands use the vocals and beat of American Hardcore metal with the instruments, such as guitars that are used in European thrash metal.
Neoclassical Metal: Neo-Classical uses parts of classical music in normal metal music.

Nu Metal: Nu Metal has very little to do with heavy metal and is largely influenced by Hip Hop.

Power Metal: Power metal is more upbeat and uses clear vocals. Power metal uses science fiction or fantasy themes and is inspiring to the listener.

Progressive Metal: Progressive metal is sophisticated and complex. Vocals are clean and often lean towards philosophy or politics. Progressive metal is very much like progressive rock.

Thrash Metal: Thrash Metal is heavy metal combined with hardcore punk. Thrash is usually complex with many tempo add time changes. The words are usually yelled, although they remain in tune and melodic. Thrash was also the first metal genre to use double bass drums in their music.

The New Metal

Metal was nearly declared dead in the late 1980s.It was then when it all started again.Metal had lost its popularity.There were still a few metal bands that were doing really well but they still couldn't uplift its popularity among the people like those olden times.The band that actually saved  metal was Pantera.Pantera was something that really drove people crazy.They were the best of their generation.They were somehow unstoppable.People really seemed to like them.Their tracks are considered to be some of the best in Metal History.The band was originally named Pantera's Metal Magic and was consisted of Donnie Hart on vocals, Dimebag Darrell (then known as Diamond Darell) and Pat on guitar, Tommy Bradford on bass, and Vinnie Paul on drums. In 1982, the band was renamed Pantera in order to shorten the name and to settle an agreement between all band members. Hart left the band because he didnt agree with the bands' ethics and Glaze became the group's vocalist, leaving Darrell as the sole guitarist. Later that year Bradford also departed and was replaced by Rex Brown (then known as Rexx Rocker). Pantera became an underground favorite, though its regional tours in this era never took them beyond Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana

The Old Metal

Olden metal music had got popular thanks to some old bands like Led Zeppelin,Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath.These bands were really making people bang their heads.People seemed to enjoy listening to their music a lot.Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in 1968, consisting of Jimmy Page (guitar), Robert Plant (vocals, harmonica), John Paul Jones (bass guitar, keyboards, mandolin), and John Bonham (drums). With their heavy, guitar-driven blues-rock sound, Led Zeppelin are regularly cited as one of the progenitors of heavy metal and hard rock. However, the band's individualistic style drew from many sources and transcends any one music genre.The amazing vocal of Robert Plant and the charismatic guitar playing of Jimmy Page seemed to attract people a lot.Led Zeppelin was one of the most popular metal bands in those olden times.
                    Black Sabbath are an English rock band, formed in Birmingham in 1968 by Ozzy Osbourne (lead vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass guitar), and Bill Ward (drums). The band has since experienced multiple lineup changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of twenty-two musicians have at one time been members of Black Sabbath. Originally formed as a heavy blues-rock band named Earth, the band began incorporating occult- and horror-inspired lyrics with tuned-down guitars, changing their name to Black Sabbath and achieving multiple platinum records in the 1970s. Despite an association with occult and horror themes, Black Sabbath also composed songs dealing with social and political issues such as drugs and war.


As one of the first and most influential heavy metal bands of all time, Black Sabbath helped define the genre with releases such as quadruple-platinum Paranoid, released in 1970. They were ranked by MTV as the "Greatest Metal Band" of all time,and placed second in VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" list, behind Led Zeppelin.They have sold over 15 million records in the United States alone.Rolling Stone has posited the band as 'the heavy-metal kings of the '70s'.They have sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

Metal Music

Metal is a genre of rock music that was developed in the late 1960s.Those days it was mostly popular in the United States and in the United Kingdom.Unlike before,these days it is popular in many places around the world.Metal has created its seperate identity in music as a "Headbanger's Music".When you are into metal then all you know is shredding your guitar and banging your heads irrespective of what others may think about your behaviour.The sound of the heavily distorted guitars,the double bass drums and the lion's roar-like vocals just makes you shake terribly.Its the kind of music which just proves the other genres of music "lame"and "slow" ahead of it.The early bands which made metal popular are Led Zeppelin,Black Sabbath and Deep Purple.Since then metal has made its way through the hearts and minds of many peoples in a couple of decades.Even now metal continues to reign as people bang their heads on the tracks of Pantera,Metallica,Megadeth,Children of Bodom and many more.Metal music has rocked the concert stadiums like nothing else has.When you are in a metal concert then all you know is to bang your heads and throw yourselves into others.Broken noses,swollen eyes and some crazy pushings are what you get in a metal concert.If you are a parent then you definitely don't want your children to go to a metal concert.Despite all these things that seem violent,insane and "not human",metal has still been able to maintain its identity as a popular music.