Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, featuring double kick and blast beat techniques; minor keys or atonality; abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes; and chromatic chord progressions. The lyrical themes of death metal may include slasher film-style violence, political conflict, religion, nature, philosophy, true crime and science fiction.
Edge of Sanity was a Swedish death metal band that, alongside Opeth, is commonly regarded as being the first to fuse extreme metal styles like death and black metal with progressive rock. The group was founded by Dan Swanö in 1989 and ended in 2003.
Atheist is an American death metal band from Florida, founded in 1987 by the vocalist and rhythm guitarist Kelly Shaefer, lead guitarist Rand Burkey, bassist Roger Patterson and drummer Steve Flynn. The band is known for its highly technical playing style, and its 1991 album Unquestionable Presence is regarded as a landmark of the technical death metal genre. After disbanding in 1994, the group reformed in 2006 and has since released one studio album and a live DVD.
Fleshcrawl is a German death metal band formed in Illertissen, Bavaria, in 1987. Their most recent album, Into the Catacombs of Flesh, was released in 2019 under Apostasy Records.
Pestilence is a Dutch death metal band from Enschede, founded in 1986. There have been numerous lineup changes with the band over their 37-year career, with guitarist and vocalist Patrick Mameli as the only constant member. After disbanding in order to pursue other musical directions in 1994, Pestilence reunited in 2008, and was put on a "permanent hold" in July 2014. However, the band reunited once again in October 2016. To date, Pestilence has released nine studio albums, and they are often known as part of "progressive death metal's Big Four", along with Death, Atheist, and Cynic.
Psycroptic are an Australian technical death metal band formed in Hobart, Australia in 1999. Mainstay members are Dave Haley on drums and his brother Joe Haley on guitar. Their lead vocalist, Jason Peppiatt, joined in 2004. In 2008 they signed to Nuclear Blast. As of August 2022, the band have released eight studio albums. They have undertaken Australian national tours supporting international acts, Incantation, Decapitated, Origin and Misery Index. Psycroptic have also toured Europe with Nile and with Deicide. In February 2019, the band started a co-headlining tour alongside Aversions Crown and support bands Within Destruction, Hadal Maw and Hollow World across Europe. They also headlined a 2019 tour in the United States in support of their album As the Kingdom Drowns.
Ceremonial Oath is a Swedish death metal band who formed in 1989 under the name "Desecrator", changed their name to Ceremonial Oath in 1991 and disbanded in 1996. During their short career they released three demos, one EP and two albums. Their influence is greater than their short lifespan suggests: several of the band members would later create or join metal bands that would gain fame and fortune on the future metal scene, such as In Flames, an influential band to the melodic death metal genre; and HammerFall, a band who would greatly influence the awakened interest in power metal and traditional heavy metal.
Illdisposed is a Danish death metal band from Aarhus, that was formed in 1991 by vocalist Bo Summer and guitarist Lasse Bak. As of 2020, the band consists of vocalist Bo Summer, guitarists Jakob Batten and Rasmus Henriksen, bassist Kussen and drummer Rasmus Schmidt.
Focus is the debut studio album by American metal band Cynic, released September 14, 1993 through Roadrunner Records. A remastered version of the album was released in 2004.
Eucharist is a Swedish melodic death metal band, which released two albums in the 1990s, and a third in 2022.
Sacramentum is a melodic black metal band from Falköping, Sweden, formed by Nisse Karlén (vocals/guitar) in the summer of 1990 under the name of Tumulus. The band released three full-length studio albums and two demos. They are best known for their debut album Far Away from the Sun, which is often considered one of the best early melodic black metal releases.
Avulsed is a Spanish death metal band, formed in August 1991 in Madrid by Dave Rotten.
Cynic is an American progressive metal band formed in Miami, Florida in 1987 and later re-formed in Los Angeles, California in 2007, where the sole surviving member, Paul Masvidal remains to this day. Cynic incorporates elements of progressive rock, alternative, and metal.
Switchblade were an Australian five-piece metal band from Sydney, Australia, formed in 2001 and ending in 2011. Switchblade were the support act for bands such as Slayer, Machine Head, Exodus, Trivium and Nevermore during their respective Australian tours and released two albums. They also appeared at Metal for the Brain and the Come Together Music Festival.
Inquisition is an American black metal band that formed in Cali, Colombia in 1988 and later relocated to Seattle, Washington. The band possessed a thrash metal sound on its earliest recordings, but began incorporating more black metal influences in 1996 with its first extended play Incense of Rest.
Defeated Sanity is a German technical death metal band from Dachsbach, Bavaria that was conceived in 1993 by guitarist Wolfgang Teske and his son, drummer Lille Gruber. The group's lineup currently consists of Gruber (drums), Jacob Schmidt, Josh Welshman (vocals), and Vaughn Stoffey (guitar). The band is known for their very brutal, abrasive and intricate style of death metal, while at the same time maintaining almost jazz fusion style influences. Defeated Sanity's genre has also sometimes been categorized as progressive death metal.
The Neurotic Deathfest was an annual music festival dedicated to death metal. Formerly known as the Rotterdam Deathfest, it was created by Neurotic Records and has since been relocated to Tilburg.
Carceri is a Dutch death metal band from Delft, Netherlands, formed in 2000. The band comprises vocalist Kees de Vlieger, guitarist Ivar Useinov and Yoram Danneleit, bassist Rogier van Kleef and drummer Josha Nuis. Carceri released a debut album, The Good Must Suffer The Wicked, in 2011 via Armada Productions. In 2012 the band played at Neurotic Deathfest and toured as opening act on the Reborn of Death 2012 tour with Suffocation, Blood Red Throne, Cattle Decapitation Sadist and Cerebral Bore in the UK, Ireland and France.
Florida death metal is a regional scene and stylistic subdivision of death metal. Some of the most significantly pioneering and best-selling death metal acts emerged in Florida, especially in the Tampa Bay area. As a result, Tampa is unofficially known by many death metal fans as the "capital of death metal." The scene coalesced in the mid-1980s through early 1990s around the output of bands such as Death, Nasty Savage, Deicide, Monstrosity, Morbid Angel, Atheist, Obituary, and others. The producer Scott Burns and the studio Morrisound Recording were also instrumental in developing and popularizing the Florida scene. Some bands which originated outside of Florida, such as Malevolent Creation and Cannibal Corpse, relocated to the state in order to participate in this burgeoning scene. The Florida bands featured a more technical approach to the evolving death metal sound, a style which spread beyond the confines of the state, and some were instrumental in creating the progressive death metal subgenre. The death metal genre as a whole, including the Florida scene, declined in popularity in the second half of the 1990s, but many bands within the Florida scene persisted and the scene resurged in popularity in subsequent decades.
Beyond Creation is a Canadian technical death metal band from Montreal, Quebec. They are currently signed to Season of Mist records. The group has released three studio albums to date: The Aura (2011), Earthborn Evolution (2014), and Algorhythm (2018). They have toured extensively in Europe, the United States and Japan, supporting bands such as Obscura and Dying Fetus, while headlining tours alongside acts such as Revocation, Psycroptic and Virvum.
