death metal
An extreme subgenre of heavy metal characterized by guttural vocals, heavily distorted guitars, blast beat drumming, and dark lyrical themes.
In Depth
Death metal coalesced in the mid-1980s from the extreme edges of thrash metal, with bands like Death, Possessed, and Morbid Angel pushing the boundaries of speed, heaviness, and vocal extremity. The genre is defined by its "growled" or "death grunt" vocal style, down-tuned guitars played with rapid tremolo picking, and blast beat drumming that can exceed 200 BPM. Song structures are often complex, with frequent tempo changes and technical instrumental passages.
Regional scenes developed distinctive characteristics: Florida death metal (Death, Cannibal Corpse) emphasized brutality and technicality; Swedish death metal (Entombed, At the Gates) featured a distinctive "buzzsaw" guitar tone from the Sunlight Studios; and New York death metal (Suffocation, Immolation) pioneered the use of breakdowns and complex rhythmic patterns. The genre's technical demands have produced some of the most skilled instrumentalists in popular music.
Chuck Schuldiner of the band Death, widely called "the godfather of death metal," was also a cat lover who bred and showed Persian cats.